Croix de chemin are simply part of the rural landscape.

Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada.

This image is one in a series of croix de chemin (roadside crosses). There are between 2,500 and 3,000 croix de chemin scattered all over rural Québec, the historic centre of North American Catholicism. Croix de chemin are large (15 to 20 feet tall) and were “erected to fulfill a vow, to sacralize the land, or to ward off calamities” (Kaell, “Marking Memory”, p. 135). Croix de chemin are most often made of wood and are decorated with iconography of the Passion. There are three main types: (1) the simple croix de chemin which may have some decorative elements at the end or centre, (2) the croix de chemin featuring instruments of the Passion which are decorated with a lance, nails, hammer, whip, ladder, crown of thorns, and/or rooster and (3) the calvaire, which depicts the crucifixion scene.

I wrote a blog post about my December 2022 photographic trip to the rural areas of Chaudière-Appalaches (Beauce) and Bas-Saint-Laurent, south and east of Québec City. If you'd like to see some behind the scene shots, video and read some stories about how I shot these images, take a look.

If you'd like to see the rest of the images from this trip, take a look at my Québec album and if you'd like to see the series within the series - the croix de chemin - there's an album for croix, as well.


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Make:	NIKON CORPORATION
Model:	NIKON Z 7
Exposure:	0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture:	f/11.0
ISO Speed:	64
Focal Length:	24 mm
Lens:	NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S