May 5 was East Indian Arrival Day. I went with sister Juman and she explained the festivities. Here we were on a ferris wheel. It was her first time on one and she kept her eyes closed the whole time. There was traditional dancing, floats depicting the history of the people, music, dancing, traditional costume, food and all sorts of cultural mixes. It was fun and there is so much to learn about these people. And this is just the East Indians.
The East Indians comprise of the Hindus, the Muslums and the Christians. Each with their own traditions. But they all get along because they all came as endured servants 171 years ago. They share that important part of history.
These children represent the early school children. They don't dress like this now, but all the students here from kindergarden up through high school do wear uniforms.
Apparently, these children on this float represent the way the early hindu people were married. They had arranged marriages of children and later, when they were older, lived together. The boy here wasn't too happy about the whole thing, but the girl seemed pretty happy.
This was just one of the performing groups. It is all drums. And frankly...... I don't get it. It sounds to me like 10 minutes of the same beat. So I must be missing something. But they seemed to know what they were doing. We also watched the Haricrishna groups play and dance. They might be hindus that believe in Christ. I'll have to look into that more.
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