***Sienna wanted to take pictures of her stuffed animals. I ended up taking a few of her with them too. Tickle Me Elmo still scares her and it she only plays with it without the sound & actions. The drum is called denden drum. Something Sienna and I learned in our Kindermusik class. :)
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***Yesterday we got to go to my favorite festival: The Heritage Festival. I LOVE IT!!!! It's in a really big park near downtown, by the river. There were 54 countries/areas of the world represented. There's dancing, merchandise and food from these countries. The festival goers are from various ethnic groups as well. Everyone is enjoying the festival together, peacefully. There's a great spirit about this festival. For a few days you get a glimpse of what it might be like if everyone got along and lived in peace with each other. Y
We always drive our car to the nearest bus depot and take the bus from there. It's part of the whole deal and I always enjoy my one and only yearly bus ride.
The first thing we saw was the Canadian aboriginal performances. This girl did a hoop dance. It is such a fun dance to watch. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that somehow Sienna would get interested in this part of her inheritance (she's 25% Squamish) and maybe even want to learn some of the aboriginal dances. I won't force anything on her, of course, but I'm hoping. :)
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***I always enjoy this guy's performance. Last year's pictures of him were much better. I'll try to find the time to label last year's posting as "heritage festival" as well so it'll always be easy to find these pictures.
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***My first stop is usually the Scandinavian tent so that I won't miss the Karjalan piirakka & sima. :) This year they had some viking fighting as well. This boy was so cute. Siella on myos aina isot peikko tytto & poika maskotitkin ja viikinkilaiva.
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***This handsome dude (or should I say dudes) was in the Thailand tent. It's weird reddish/orangy hue is due to the tent it was in. I always love to visit the Thailand tent and admire their beautifully cut fruit (see last year's picture).
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***Thai dancers. Lotus dance. Lotus flower represents purity.
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***Pakistan performance.
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***They invited the audience to come and dance too at the end and guess who went right away of course. Robin's always got his groove on. :) They even gave him a yellow scarf to dance with. (hi Karly ;) )
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***One of my favorites is always the Cambodian dancers. They are so beautiful and graceful. Their dance is slow and elegant. The girl on the left was so pretty! Amazing eyes.
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***The young Cambodian dancers doing their cute "dimple" move.
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***Beautiful!
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***Can't have a festival without dragon dance. The ending was awesome when the dragon stood on it's backfeet (= the front dancer was on the shoulders of the dancer behind him).
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***This year I found something new (there's no way to see it all at once, you always find something new). I think this was my favorite: dancing from Eritrea. The music was so rhytmic and I could have listened to it for hours. It almost puts you in some sort of trance. I kept dreaming of a Eritrean night club where I could dance for hours. :) Jay thought it was boring after awhile and moved on with Sienna. :) I on the other hand wished I would have asked if they have music for sale. The people from this country seemed so beautiful. Really tall. There was a sweet old man playing a big drum and dancing. At the end everyone danced in a big group, jam packed. Loved it!!!
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***Two of the gorgeous Eritrean dancers.
By the way, sometimes Finnish people think others are a bit clueless when they don't know where Finland is. Well, I didn't have a clue where Eritrea is and didn't know anything about this country. I had to look it up in my Atlas. Now I'm totally intrigued by this country. To find out what it's all about. Fun! There are so many countries in this world of ours. Can't keep track of them all. Unless you're a professional geographer. :)
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***These were on top of the Japan tent.
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***Sienna didn't get a nap yesterday so she passed out on the bus on the way home.
What a fun day. Did I mention how much I love this festival?!!!!!!!! :D
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ps. Click on the pictures!! :D
Welcome my Scandinavium sister!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J8Lazz9m6o
Wow, this festival sounds real interesting! Eritrea - just looked it up on the net too. I once had a colleague from Ethiopia - she looks a lot like the girl on the right on your photo - so smiley! And she too was really tall and absolutely beautiful with her white teeth and huge smile. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the trip around the world! ;)
Voi miten hauskat festarit ja kauniita ihmisia! Me ei olla pitkaan aikaa oikein tehty mitaan tuollaista kevytta kivaa, pitaakin varmaan vahan alkaa houkuttelemaan tata meidan sakkia johonkin suuntaan.
ReplyDeleteIhania kuvia taalla taas muutenkin vaikka kuinka.
david: Thanks for reminding me of You Tube. I went there to check out many of the Eritrean dances.
ReplyDeletem'man: Beautiful people, that's for sure. I couldn't get to your blog and thought I lost you. Now I've linked your new blog to my list again. See you there. :)
stina: On se piristavaa tehda aina jotain arjesta poikkeavaa. Toivon aina etta KAIKKI paasisivat Heritage festarille. On se niin mahtava juttu joka kesa. Me kaytiin myos street performers festarissa kun siskoni oli taalla. En muistanut ottaa kameraa mukaan ja odottelen viela siskolta niita kuvia. Kavin siskon tyttoni kanssa maalauttamassa naamat jopa. Siella on vaikka mita esiintyjia aina ympari maailmaa. Sitten tassa kuussa on viela "Fringe" eli teatteri festivaali. Siella joskus kayn vaan kojuissa ostoksilla mutten kylla mene teatteriesityksia katsomaan. Monet niista on melko sairaita nykyaan. Sienna kun vanhenee vahan niin pitaa kayda etsimassa joku lasten teatteri naytos sitten. Eniveis... :)
Hieno kuvasarja, tosi mielenkiintoinen! Kuvablogeja on kaikkein mukavin käydä lukemassa.
ReplyDelete