--Gavril
In all of my travels, I have never encountered anything quite like the spectacle I was witness to yesterday. Never have I seen so many Gypsy groups, elephants, llamas, emus, strange vardos, and people falling out of the sky all in one place. All to celebrate the flag of this particular nation.
Now don't get me wrong, it's a pretty flag--with colorful stripes and stars--but it is also a little too symmetrical and void of any catchy icons like eagles or lions or wagon wheels. I do not understand why such a boring flag would generate so much fuss and bother.
How much fuss and bother, I hear you ask. Well, the highlight of the day was to watch this man descend from the air (released by some giant, unseen dragon I suppose) and carry with him an enormous version of this unimaginative flag with him. We could cover all of our vardos and tents with this one flag, it was so huge. The rest of the day was in celebration of this cherished national symbol.
And then there was the accompanying entertainment. Oh yea, there was the requisite twangy songs they call Country and/or Western that we have commonly heard from the shire with fingers in our ears. But for the most part, the day's events centered around groups and activities one would not normally associate with this country. Mexican hat dancing, Indian folk dancing, and a swarm of Middle Eastern groups including us dominated the event.
Perhaps this was due to the festival's promoter being of Arab descent. But no matter, the patriotic pride of the United States of America was typified by the undulation of about fifty belly dancers throughout the day.
We were among the first to perform. Strange alchemy allowed our music to be carried across several shires. Alexis' flute for once was overpowering. The deep bass of the African drums wielded by Michael and myself shook the earth. The dancers were lovely and graceful as ever. Long after our show was concluded, we constantly received compliments even in light of the other performances.
Alas, while we were to perform on the stage a second time, the demons of mismanagement and inconsideration conspired against us. We were even to perform at another venue not too far from this event, but it too was cancelled due to a lack of customers. The Gypsies had little choice but to pack up our vardos and head to whatever plot of land we call home. Perchance some day people will hold a celebration for our banner!
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