How this Nova Scotia community keeps the tradition of making Christmas wreaths alive

Viola Cain remembers the first time she gathered branches of fir with her mother. 

"We would go back here, just behind the house, with the lantern. Didn't matter what time it was."

Cain, 72, lives in North Preston, N.S, the oldest and largest black community in Canada, according to the City of Halifax. For her, making Christmas wreaths has been a family tradition for generations.

Each year around the holidays, her dining room is filled with family and friends who have gathered to make the festive, handmade wreaths.

But wreath-making isn't just a seasonal hobby for these women. For many, selling them is a way to put food on the table and presents under the tree at Christmas time. 

"The reason why I started making wreaths is because we needed Christmas presents," said Elaine Cain, Viola's niece. "I learned how to do the wreaths so we could go out and sell them."

The wreaths are often sold the traditional way: by going door-to-door, asking neighbours if they'd like to purchase one. 

"We're out there knockin' on doors. People buy them, but a lot of people say no," said Maisie Simmonds, one of the local women who often makes wreaths with Viola. 

"We're not rich. So we have to make our means, and this is how we do it."

Many of the local North Preston wreath makers see big-box grocery stores — their shelves full of mass-market wreaths — as cutting into their business.

"I feel that the tradition has been taken from us," said longtime wreath maker Ronelda Downey. "We're doing it by hand and they're doing it factory made. It just makes you a little reluctant to go out and sell them like you used to."

Making the fragrant wreaths is a labour of love — and it's labour-intensive. Branches and materials are picked from the nearby woods throughout the autumn and early winter. 

"You go out into the woods and get a branch, but it has to be able to bend, so you have to get it from the swamp. You get your cord, you wrap it tightly, and then after you wrap it you decorate it however you like."

But even though the wreaths are difficult to make and increasingly hard to sell, Viola and her family are not ready to give up on their Christmas tradition just yet. Sitting at her dining room table, she smiled as she reminisced about making wreaths throughout the years. 

"We sit down with a big pot of soup. We sit there and play lovely music. And we just have a ball. Happy, happy, happy. We a happy family!"

Originally aired in December, 2018