Folkmoot 2007 - International Day

We woke to a steady downpour. Weather reported 70% chance of rain all day in Waynesville. To go or not? It’s only an hour drive so we took off in the rain. We drove all the way in rain and parked in the rain and then walked to Main Street in the rain under a dark, heavy sky.

But performers were gathering across from the courthouse. These were the South Korean women we had seen a couple of nights before at HCC. Now their kimonos were splattered with raindrops. Stage hands finished pushing parts of the impromptu stage together. Wire connectors were snapped tight, and drums were set upon the stage. Two young ladies appeared with strange looking horns and seated themselves oblivious of the drizzle. Dancers arranged themselves in the wet street as the audience assembled around them in the rain. A gong sounded “WOONNNGGG!”. Everyone stood still and looked at the dancers as the air trembled. “WOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGG!”” Then the strange horns blared stridently as if issuing a command to some unseen being. The three dancers who were arranged in front of the stage each slowly raised two polished mohagany sticks with brass rings on the end, they then spun full circle and brought those sticks together in a loud “whack!” and the sun came out and they began dancing. There was no more rain all the rest of day and the music never stopped.

We bought grand-kid presents for birthdays and Christmas. Even got one or two for their parents. The gift possibilities ranged from trinkets to much more expensive works of art and included quilts, bedspteads, furniture and even fly-fishing gear. I filmed video of the sights and sounds of the street carnival, recording the songs, music, the patter and hubbub.

Hawaii carried this hot day’s best performance like a cool sea breeze. A bit of a hula dance was followed by “Hula Instruction Camp”, wherein two young ladies instructed a line of young participants (all under 10 probably) how to do the hula. They were shown how to depict the waving palm trees, the arrival of the waves on shore, and the famous hip swing (“pretend you are inside a dirty barrel and you are going to clean it out with just your hips.”)

Then the Hoop Dancer came out and cleaned out everything else. This guy was here last year and has just gotten better. He puts on a magnificent show and then he goes way beyond that. THEN, as he is dancing with probably 20 or so hoops, another 20 or 30 appear and he works them into the routine. When he is finished everyone in the crowd is too. That’s when we noticed how hot it was.

We ate lunch at Nick’s and Nate’s. We both had pizza brunch which included 4 or 5 of their slices and I also had a little bit of barbecue, a spare rib, some beans and slaw. Then another pizza slice made a fine dessert. We also had Alley Cat Ale and the Great White Lager. There was plenty of other food available too. Funnel cake, corn dogs, Polish sausages, barbecue, curley-cut crinkle fries, drippy-juicy sugar-things. Asian food, Greek food, Italian food, native-American food was everywhere, all anyone could ever want in hyper-caloric trans-fat destructive happy food..

So the afternoon was a kaleidoscope of dances and presents. The turnout of people who visited and participatged was high. One of the finest aspects of the International Day is the opportunity to mingle with those who have come from other countries and talk with them. Most of them know English and can speak it from a range of poorly to better than I can. Finally we gathered our presents, found our car and went home. Lots of good presents, memories, pictures and video tape went along with us.