CELPIP Reading Part 3 Practice Test: The Quebec Winter Carnival and Its Traditions

Paragraph A

Long before cheap flights made winter getaways common, the people of Quebec City found their own way of coping with the coldest weeks of the year: they threw a party. The word “carnival” itself points to the event’s roots in the festive days that Catholic communities traditionally enjoyed just before Lent, the season of fasting that leads up to Easter. Quebec City staged several large winter carnivals in the late nineteenth century, but these were held only occasionally. In 1955, a group of local business people revived the idea as an annual event, hoping that a few weeks of celebration would lift residents’ spirits and draw visitors, and their spending, to the city at a quiet time of year. The plan worked. Today the Quebec Winter Carnival is regarded as one of the largest winter festivals in the world.

Paragraph B

The festival’s best-known figure appeared in that same year. Bonhomme Carnaval, a cheerful snowman, wears a red tuque and a colourful woven belt known as the ceinture fléchée, or arrow sash, a garment associated with the voyageurs and rural workers of earlier centuries. Bonhomme is treated less as a mascot than as the carnival’s official host. At the opening of the festivities, he is traditionally presented with the keys to the city, and for the length of the carnival he is said to live in an ice palace built in the heart of town. Visitors who want to take part in many of the main events buy a small plastic figure of Bonhomme, called an effigy, and wear it on their coats, where it serves as an entry pass.

Paragraph C

Of all the carnival’s competitions, none is more closely tied to local history than the ice canoe race on the St. Lawrence River. For generations, the river was clogged with drifting ice for much of the winter, yet people still needed to cross between Quebec City and Lévis on the opposite shore. Crews of canoeists carried mail, supplies and passengers, paddling through stretches of open water and then climbing out to push and drag their boats over floating slabs of ice. Long after the crossing stopped being a necessity, the skill survived as a sport. Today’s racers face the same difficulties their predecessors did. Strong currents and tides constantly rearrange the ice, so a passage that looks clear one moment may be closed the next.

Paragraph D

Other carnival traditions are more light-hearted. Night parades of illuminated floats wind through the streets, and an international snow sculpture competition brings teams from many countries, who turn enormous blocks of packed snow into detailed works of art in a matter of days. Among the most daring events is the snow bath, in which participants wearing little more than swimsuits roll and play in the snow while crowds cheer them on. Many spectators keep warm with caribou, a sweet, strong drink traditionally made by mixing red wine with spirits and often sold in hollow plastic canes. For the city’s hotels, restaurants and shops, the result is a welcome rush of customers in a season that would otherwise be one of the slowest of the year.