Cambridge Carnival

September 13th I went down to the Cambridge Carnival with some BU friends. Every year African, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-Brazilian immigrant groups in Boston get together to celebrate their heritage, eat tons of delicious food, listen to great music, and hold a carnival parade.

The band up on stage was an all female Haitian group. Though I'm not sure they were all actually from Haiti.


At the front of the parade were Panamanian girls in their traditional dresses.




Then came the huge headdresses that reminded me of Mardi Gras Indians.

This first girl was soooo tired by the time she came to where we were at the end of the route.


Her friend helped her carry the outfit when he could


But she was a good sport and took pictures with anyone who wanted. These two Japanese girls obviously weren't part of the festival but the juxtaposition of cultures made for a great shot.


Close up of some detail work on her outfit.


This guy kept dancing suggestively and pointing to Cedony. She made a friend.



Some more beautiful outfits. I don't know which country they represented so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.






















And lastly, I have to give this older lady props. That headdress looked heavy and yet she was still trucking after walking the whole route.

Demolition Derby

Over Labor Day Weekend, Aunt Kap and Uncle Jon took Dan and me to the Hopkinton State Fair to see our first demolition derby. Now, Aunt Kap and Uncle Jon go to a demo derby every year so they are old pros, but Dan and I had never been. The fair was much like any other country fair with greasy fried delicacies, games that may or may not be rigged, and lots of interesting people watching. The demolition derby was in a dirt stadium set apart from the midway. The field was long and narrow with bleachers along its length for the mobs to cheer and jeer the competitors. A truck drenched the field in water before each match, creating a muddy mess for the fight. A line of brightly painted yet dented and rusted cars made its way into the arena to the excitement of the crowd.



These redneck bulls lined up along the edge of the field, roaring their engines and expelling puffs of smoke to intimidate their competition. Tension mounted as the time to begin grew near, and finally the announcer had the audience count down to start. As the crowd shouted "GO!" the cars took off with a rumble, and began their manic mission to smash into one another over and over again until finally theirs was the only car left.





Three rounds eliminated many of the painted heaps until finally there were only the top four from each heat left. They limped into the field for a final fight, smoke at times clouding their movements and bursts of fire erupting alarmingly from their engines.



In the end, only one gladiator remained, but to the disappointment of the crowd it was number 28 who had earned his disrespect for his cowardly actions earlier. The audience called for his head, but there was nothing to be done and we filed out and made our ways home.

St. Anthony's Feast 2009

Every year the North End throws a three day festival for St. Anthony. Aunt Kap and Uncle Jon decided to check it out Friday evening and invited us along.

There were tons of booths with food, games, souvenirs, and samples. It was fun just to walk around the neighborhood exploring the booths, smelling the aromas of Italian food and people watching.


There was a stage with a band set up on one end of the festival.


There was also a band that marched along with the statue of St. Anthony as they paraded up and down the streets. At some point they released a ton of confetti to great fanfare, but because the associate speech was all in Italian I have no idea what was really going on. It was exciting though.


The statue of St. Anthony is paraded up and down the streets for ten hours. It was hard to get close because there was always a swell of people around him, but I did manage to take a few decent shots.







If you're interested, you can learn more at the society's webpage: http://www.stanthonysfeast.com/

Carolyn and Christa Visit

A couple of weekends ago Dan's mom Carolyn and his brother's wife Christa came for a visit. It was the first time they had visited us in Boston so on top of being excited just to see everyone it was fun to show them around our new home.

Their first full day here we took them on a Duck Boat Tour. For those who don't know, duck boats are a bit of a Boston icon around here but they also have an interesting history. During WWII, the Allied Forces needed a way to transport men and supplies across water but often docks had been destroyed making it difficult. Then the duck boat was born - a vehicle that can travel on land and water. Despite their slow response in the water, they were very important for operations in places such as Normandy. These vehicles have now been repurposed and renovated for tourism, and new ones have been built specifically for that purpose.

Here is a duck boat ambling along the Charles River.


Our duck boat was the Longfellow Bridget. Each duck boat is named after something to do with Boston history, personalities, or places.


Another shot of our ride.


Each tour guide plays a crazy silly character in order to make the history lesson more exciting. Our guide was Extreme Eddie Airtime. See his bio at their website.



Christa and Carolyn on the duck boat


Carolyn on the duck boat


Christa on the duck boat


The duck boats have the signatures of military vets on the roofs to honor their sacrifice and remind everyone of the vehicles' history.


After driving around Boston and seeing many of the famous and historical sites, we took to the water.


The city from the Charles River


Once we were out in the water, our guide let some of the tourists drive the boat. Carolyn, Christa and Dan all got a chance to drive it. What luck!

Dan driving the duck boat


Dan driving the boat


Carolyn driving the boat. Extreme Airtime Eddie took pictures of each person if they wanted.


Carolyn


Carolyn driving


Christa driving


That evening we went to Al Dente, a great restaurant in the Italian district. Afterwards, we stumbled upon a procession honoring the Madonna Della Cava.



Every summer they have numerous Saints' Festivals in Italian district, which shouldn't be terribly surprising since they are predominately Catholic.

Here is a banner/flag for the madonna. Apparently in the past this is all they would use, but now they have a statue too.


The statue of the madonna was placed on a decorated throne that was carried by young men on a litter.



At each square (i.e. intersection in Boston), an older gentleman placed a wreath.


This guy was directing traffic. The gold chain, chest carpet, and cigar were just so awesome I had to take a picture.


After second-lining for a few minutes, we went to Mike's Pastry for dessert. Mike's is hugely popular and all the tourists that go there usually make for lines down the street. But thanks to the religious festival most of them were snapping photos and we got in and out fairly quickly.


Despite our heavy Italian dinner we purchased a ton of sweets. This seemed to be a reoccurring theme for the visit.

All ours:


Saturday, we walked along the Freedom Trail. Since I had done it a few times already, I didn't take that many pictures (you can check out an earlier post to see some I have taken.)

We started in the Public Gardens. Built in 1837, it has beautiful roses, statues, and ponds.

There was a swan tending to her eggs.


And a little baby bird being fed periodically by a concerned mother


Then we went on to the Boston Common, founded in 1634, and on through the first half of the Freedom Trail.

Here we are at the site of the Boston Massacre


The grave of "Mother Goose"


Death vs Father Time


Christa gets a picture with the elusive Obama-man. Complete with proof that he and Obama are not the same person, ensuring that his secret identity is protected. I wonder why Superman never thought of the cut-out-in-the-window ruse?


Sunday we relaxed at Copley Square. On the left is the Boston Public Library and on the right is the Old South Church.


Christa and Carolyn laughing on the park bench.


The Trinity Church with a glimpse of the Hancock building in the background.



The inner garden area at the Trinity Church. It looked so peaceful.