Tag: Independence Day

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15th of September Post 1: CHILDREN!

I’m still sorting the 600+ photos from a wonderful nearly 3-hour parade for Independence Day here with lots of bands and flags and children. Tonight I share just a few of my children shots, some in the parade and many watching it. This satisfies what I wanted to photograph in last night’s lantern parade and did not accomplish. Children are so photogenic!

Watching the parade with me at Gelly’s

Representing one of the schools in the parade

Nicole, 6 or 7, is already a drummer in a band!
Son of my Spanish teacher, in band I raised $ for.

Some of the dancers weren’t so good, but
this group was great, with traditional dancing!

I watched this boy sneak under the railing to sit on curb for closer view!
The red, white & blue traditional dress is most
typical for Independence Day and I’ll show
adults wearing them another day.

And this is the typical traditional dress for boys and men.
I wore a hat like this but no bandanna, just a red, white & blue shirt!
Another traditional dress for 15th of September!
All of these are made by parents or a seamstress,
you cannot buy them in stores.

And finally, a father-son bonding moment on the parade route.
This may be my favorite photo from the parade.

I have lots of photos of a lot of bands and really a lot of flags I’ll share a few of, plus some adult costumes and some “different” things in the parade in future posts.

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Lanterns Parade – desfile de linternas

The night before the Independence Day Celebration the children march in a parade with decorated lanterns that have now become elaborate works of art in some cases. With hovering Moms, it was a confusing mess and then the parade didn’t march down the street where I was waiting, but the other side of the park. So I grabbed a few shots as they dispersed and one on my way to town. Hope I do better tomorrow for the big parade with bands and flags!

As I walked to town I passed this family of 3 kids with their lanterns.
The kids all met at Escuela Central to start the parade, so I went to Central Park.

Many of the girls had “doll lanterns” (light inside) in traditional dress.
The boys had old fashion lanterns or oxcart lanterns mostly.

Several just waited for the parade
holding their lanterns. 
Some were held high and others in their hands.
And some of the kids wore traditional clothing
making it colorful, though a confusing crowd of people
mostly parents hovering around their kids.

And no one ever seems to know the parade route in advance so you can get a good place to see. There were a hundred or more of us on the west side of the park waiting and they marched only on the east and north side! Grrrr!

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Preparing for 15 September

Escuela Central older students prepare for Independence Day Parade

This is the primary school and these were learning to march with flag poles (sans flags) which will be part of how their school participates in the 15 September Independence Day Parade. This morning at the same school the band was practice marching in this same place but I couldn’t stop, running late for my class. All the high school bands are preparing too as I can hear their drummers and we have a community band that will also participate in the parade next Tuesday morning.

On the night before there will be a lights parade with prizes given for the best decorated lanterns.

Hoy aprendo verbos saber y conocer en Aprendo Español en Atenas.