My gardener was very excited about the parade for all local villages organised by our local authority. The new director of the local municipality turned out to be a very hard working man with the intention of bringing all various villages together as a big community. So, he organised a festival with parade for these villagers to show off their special cultural heritage. This would give an opportunity for each village to become enthusiastic and participate in this important social gathering. My gardener told me that such a festival which included all fourteen villages did take place once over thirty years ago!
Our new municipal director had the power of persuasion and very good personal relationships with leaders in these villages. In addition, he also had the support of the provincial governor who promised lots of material support such as the construction of a pavilion for organisers and administrators of the festival. All the fake green grass carpets and the loud speakers with sound systems were also provided by the governor. So, this event was considered a historical landmark for these villages and local leaderships. This festival would give rise to many stories for years to come.
My gardener came to pick me up on time for the festivity and the arrival of the first procession. Usually I would avoid loud parties in small space but this event took place along the whole road in the village so I wouldn’t feel claustrophobic. I didn’t know what to expect so the arrival of the first procession took me by surprise. Many people came to cheer their village’s procession and parade as their friends and families were members of dancing troops and parade.
That was the day when strangers from all villages had the chance to make new friends and enjoy the festive atmosphere after two years’ lockdown. People were letting their hair down and indulge in freedom in open space, music and dancing. The hosting villagers worked quite hard to make the occasion as festive as possible so that people would request for the festival next year. The remarkable feature among local villagers was their deep suntan on their faces and arms. I was quite shocked as I was concerned about the possibility of skin cancer among these hard working villagers in the long run. But most villagers often died of liver cancer as they were too fond of the local moonshine. Surprisingly, there was no alcohol sold by vendors along this road; I guessed the organisers didn’t allow alcohol during the festivity for fear of teenagers’ brawls.
My gardener gave me an hour to walk about taking photos; then she would give me a lift home. She wanted to join the festivity till late evening with her neighbours. So, I walked fast through the crowds and tried to get close to the processions and dancers. The weather was very grey with heavy rain clouds. We were warned of possible rain storm later in the evening. I was quite impressed by the jolly atmosphere and excitement among children and their parents. I never use the cloth mask while staying in the countryside; many villagers also refused to use the blue or green masks as they couldn’t breathe. It took quite a while before my gardener would not be afraid of fear mongering spouting in TV every morning. Some old villagers were wise enough to see the game played by drug pushers. But some fearful villagers could still be seen with masks. Most people just gave up critical thinking and questioning mind.
I could see that each village tried their best to put on a good show of local dancing talents and local produce from their community. Some villages are known for weaving old style mats from local plants. Some villagers still weave their own cloth in old patterns and dyed their yarns with tree barks. It seemed that there were more older villagers leading the troops of traditional dancers. They were probably the teacher generation who tried to pass along their knowledge and skills to younger generations.
Along both sides of the road, people were cheering their friends participating in the dancing procession. My clothing and body language made local people knew that I was an outsider, a stranger or a tourist from the city. Villagers tended to dress up in bright colours for festivity. But I preferred to be in my gardening gears ready to tackle any weeds on my way. They would never wear working cloths to festivals. People were very generous to let me walk up to the front of the procession for taking my photos. I knew I would be quickly nipping in and out so I didn’t bother to wait behind walls of standing people. I had already disappeared before anyone could catch my back. It was good fun dodging between gaps along the road to take quick snaps.
There were three trampolines for children to enjoy themselves inside the local temple’s car park. I was very tempted to take off my shoes and jump up there. But I decided not to frighten all the kids away or make them cry. So, I had better be on the safe side and behave respectfully for the occasion. I tried my best to avoid meeting local officials in the crowd so I stayed away from the official pavilion where all the big wigs were congregated for the occasion. I had known some local civil servants during the process of building my farmhouse; they were quite curious about my decision to settle down in the countryside. These officials were typical provincial result of long established systems of government in the countryside. They were mostly very conservative and good followers of rules, a bit similar to military training. Luckily these people had the intention of bringing progress to their villages.
The humidity and heat were quite heavy on my head so I started looking for some cold drink to cool down. There were many snack vendors on wheels selling various food and local preserved fruits like tamarind. Some were selling homemade fireworks and rockets. I almost bought some rockets but my gardener wouldn’t approve and help me with lighting up the rocket by the river. We could never know how the hand made rocket would spark up! So, I continued with my search for some smoothies.
Finally, I spotted a vendor of coconut ice cream. That really saved me from hydrating too fast. The home made ice cream was very light and refreshing. The vendor was kind and have me extra scoops of ice cream. I was very impressed by the delicious taste with the fragrance of coconut. The lady vendor gave me her name card just in case I might want to order a whole bucket of coconut ice cream for my private function or party. I found this really odd: how could she knew I might like to order one bucket of ice cream one day. A few years ago, I use to sponsor a bucket of coconut ice cream for the students at a primary school in the village on children’s day. This happened to be the school where children from poorer families would be attending as almost everything was free. The two kids I knew there had gone to other upper schools so the connection with the old school has gone.
I walked around the festivity trying to keep the whole atmosphere imprinted on my memories. I have learned my lessons of how precious each moment was and things always kept on changing. Whenever I had a good time or enjoying a lively atmosphere, I would tell myself to be grateful for these special moments. The smiling faces of children and their excitement at the festivity were very cheerful to my heart. It was good to see so many happy and exciting faces around the area. Life seemed to be trying to make amend for their long months of depressing lockdown.
I do hope more local people would become wiser and less passive about the informal mandate of taking booster shots. I have done my parts in disseminating information to some people closed to a local politician so that at least some good people wouldn’t fall prey to the culling effort. I had tried to informed educated and local professional people on alternative sources of information for their own research. In this way, several healthy people could be saved and their families would not have to suffer from painful repercussions. Lots of villagers had refused to get the third jabs as they could see people getting sick and badly affected after the second jab. I just hoped that more people would be able to detox and improve their health so that there would be long parade and processions with lots more people having a more colourful gathering next year.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.