37th anniversary
tuvalu | travelled in 2015 | posted on nov 25, 2015
usualy there is not much going on in tuvalu, with the exception of special days. so what could be better than having a birthday party? having a big one, because is not only a single person's but instead the nation's birthday.
october 1st, the day of my arrival, was the 37th anniversary of tuvalu's independence. so there was quite a little bit happening on the island for some days.
when our plane arrived, there was already a delegation of tuvalu's government waiting to welcome the celebration's special guest: the president of kiribati who had been travelling on the same plane.
of course, some speaches had to be given, and there was also a parade on the airport's runway, but the main celebrations took place in the evenings in the main meeting hall. representatives from all outer islands had come to funafuti to perform traditional songs and dances. each group wanted to show the best performance. this ended up in a fun competition where the contestants tried to outperform the other groups. and of course a lot of teasing and laughing was part of the show.
it was also great to see presidents and state secretaries happily putting on raffia skirts and join the dancing groups.
what would be like, if state representatives from my country visited tuvalu? angela merkel dancing and wearing a... gosh.
so better don't try to imagine this and listen to the music instead while watching the images - it won’t stop when you open the images.
