A captivating history of folk traditions, beliefs, and culturally diverse customs in the early homesteading era on the Canadian Prairies.

The homesteading era on the Canadian Prairies (1867–1914) was a dynamic period of history, when hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children, migrating primarily from northwestern and eastern Europe, descended nascent provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Some were lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership, while others were fleeing war, famine, and persecution.

Homesteaders have been studied and written about extensively, often within the context of “settling” the Canadian West and the displacement of Indigenous populations. These narratives, while crucial to our understanding of Canada’s national identity and colonial past, tend to obscure the personal stories, beliefs, and mindsets of those individuals who came to this part of the world and made a life there.

Drawing on a treasure trove of archival sources, historian Sandra Rollings-Magnusson presents a vivid and deeply personal collection of Prairie folklife, revealing stories full of humour, superstition, fear, and hope. She gives insight into homesteaders’ daily lives, including instances of water-witching, signs of good and bad luck, neighbourly practical jokes, and popular pastimes. Through adaptation, hardship, homesickness, and a sense of adventure, they built communities with others from different backgrounds, creating a unique culture that blended the old with the new.

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Sandra Rollings-Magnusson is an Associate Professor of Sociology at MacEwan University. She has studied western Canadian homesteaders for over thirty years. Since receiving a Master’s Degree from the University of Regina and a PhD from the University of Alberta, she has written numerous academic journal articles on homesteading life and lectured on a number of homesteading topics. She has also written three books: Tales from the Homestead: A History of Prairie Pioneers, 1867–1914 (finalist, Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction); Heavy Burdens on Small Shoulders: The Labour of Pioneer Children on the Canadian Prairies; and The Homesteaders.

Sandra Rollings-Magnusson's profile page

“Engaging, thoroughly documented, and well written, Folklife and Superstition is a significant contribution to the history and folklore of the Prairie west. Offering rare insights into pioneer life on the Prairies, and culled from hundreds of pioneer reminiscences, it addresses facets of frontier life often overlooked in documentary histories.”
—John C. Lehr PhD, author of Community and Frontier: A Ukrainian Settlement in the Canadian Parkland

“Settlers who came to western Canada in the 19th and early 20th centuries overcame unpredictable weather, mud, profound isolation, and much more in making lives for themselves. Drawing on archival memoirs from across the prairies, Rollings-Magnusson offers an engaging and well-documented account of their experiences, thoughts, and actions.”
—Gordon Goldsborough, author of the best-selling Abandoned Manitoba series

“Folklife and Superstition is a wonderful read for all who are interested in the social history of European settlers in the early twentieth century. The chapters on superstitions, the environment, and weather forecasting are particularly illuminating and contain many little-known and surprising details about this aspect of prairie life.”
—Kristin Enns-Kavanagh, Executive Director, Saskatchewan History & Folklore Society

“The delightful and often humorous accounts of pioneer settlers in the Canadian West unearthed by Rollings-Magnusson’s diligent research are further enhanced by the author's wonderful selection of charming archival photographs. Along with their most essential worldly goods, these intrepid newcomers arrived with trunk loads full of stick-to-itiveness, innovation and eccentricity.”
—David Laurence Jones, award-winning author of New World Dreams: Canadian Pacific Railway and the Golden Northwest