This is the big parade entry. There will be a bunch of pictures + a couple of videos. If I have time for it all.

Why did I go to a parade yesterday, you might ask? Mostly because of the kind Anne, who I know through guestbooking and emails. She is part of ”Dunkelfolket”. The website is Danish, but you can click around for some pictures. I love their masks and costumes. Fascinating.

Anyway, Dunkelfolket was part of the parade. It was a big Hans Christian Andersen parade. We’re celebrating his 200th anniversary this year. Lots of festive things going on.

So Anne “invited” me to go to the parade. And I wanted to see Dunkelfolket of course.

I wasn’t sure I was going to go at first, though. I was tired. And I knew there would be masses of people. But I pulled myself together. I had two big reasons to go. First of all Anne has been very nice and supportive to me, I would feel like a jerk if I missed “her” parade. And second of all, this is exactly the sort of thing I need to do for my therapy. Get up, get out, face my fears. Face the world.

So I did. And the second I got out of the door I was glad I decided to go. I had Eels on my MP3 player. “I’m tired of the old shit, let the new shit begin”. Hey man, now you’re really living.

At the bus stop there were two (most likely) underage girls in skimpy outfits. Thongs and bras all over the place. I’m not going to judge. But I can’t help but wonder what it must be like to be that comfortable with your own body? That must be such a sweet freedom. But then on the other hand you always hear about young girls and eating disorders and peer pressure and so on. So maybe they aren’t that comfortable with themselves? But then why would they wear clothes like that?

I can but ponder. It turned out they were going downtown too, I saw them while I was following the parade. Thongs and bras for a Hans Christian Andersen parade. Sometimes life makes me smile.

As I had expected there were lots of people downtown. But once again I had that nice feeling of being… okay. I wasn’t afraid. My social phobia didn’t really come up at all. Amazing. Walking in a crowd and not being scared. It makes me happy that I can do that.

I quickly found myself a nice place on the bridge over the railway tracks. People were lining up everywhere.

And I didn’t have to wait long. The sounds of drums and trumpets. And then a police motorcycle came.

Followed by the man himself. Or an actor portraying him at least. No, not Charlie Chaplin. Good old Hans Christian.

I’m not a H.C. Andersen buff. But of course I have had his fairytales read to me as a kid. And read them in school. He is a very big part of our cultural heritage. I don’t think anyone here can grow up without hearing his stories. I don’t know how it is in other countries. We like to think that he is one of the most famous Danes ever, but in this day and age kids are probably surfing the web for porn instead of having fairytales read to them.

The pretty swan came.

And the bands played on.

And then followed a veritable parade (ho-ho) of scenes from his tales.

He’s not wearing any clothes! The king wasn’t quite nude. Too bad for the kids surfing here for porn.

I started getting butterflies in my stomach when I saw Dunkelfolket coming up.

I don’t know what Anne looks like. And even if I did I obviously wouldn’t be able to spot her. So I was sort of feeling self conscious. “Is that her? Is that her? Is she looking at me? Do I look stupid? Am I ruining her parade”. Hah. Nah, not quite that bad. One of them did make the V For Victory sign to me. And I made it back. But I’m not sure if that was actually Anne signaling to me or if it was just part of the act. They get quite interactive with the crowd. I don’t even know if Anne would recognise me. I don’t put many pictures of myself up. So Anne, you’ll have to let me know if that was you or not.

Before I knew it they were past me. I had a little map of the parade route so I went around town and placed myself at strategic points to see them all go by again.

Aren’t their costumes great? Imagination takes flight.

I think this is my first parade. I can’t for sure say that my parents didn’t take me to one when I was a kid. But I have no memories of it. And I certainly haven’t been to one in my adult life. Being my first, I really can’t say whether it was a good or a bad parade. Whether it was succesful. All I can say is that everybody was smiling and happy. Parents walking around with their kids on their shoulders. Balloons and candy.

Performers in the streets.

And it felt great to be a part of it.

I was impressed by the jugglers.

Juggling fire. That must be exciting. You know, I’m perplexed by people who can juggle apples. Juggling burning sticks is almost like rubbing it in my face. “You can’t juggle two tennis balls without hurting yourself, I’m juggling LETHAL FLAMES”. But it’s cool.

Another one of my favourite things was the little match girl. They had a foam machine that made it look like it was snowing.

Beautiful. I remember as a kid that story always got to me.

The city dancing with music. As I went home I was practically flying, light footsteps. Feeling good. Feeling happy. Happy about the fun, happy that I had once again faced my fears and won.

Just the fact that I went out on a Friday night. I don’t think I have done that in my adult life either. Next Friday I’ll be going out to the festival on Friday night, that’s downtown too. So this was good practice for that.

Thank you Anne, for giving me this opportunity. I am officially a Dunkelfolket fan.

Now, the videos will have to wait. it’s getting late. And I have also lost a little of the good mood. I have just been told that my grandfather is in the hospital. He had a.. stroke? Aneurysm? I’m not sure what it’s called in English exactly. It’s like blood clog or knot or so? My mother tells me that he’ll be getting surgery tonight. They say he is most likely going to be okay. I hope so. He is old. And frail. He has been especially frail since my grandmother died. But they say he should be okay, so I’ll try not to worry too much. There’s nothing I can do anyway. I hope you will all send good thoughts to him.

And have a nice weekend, my fairies.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 4th, 2005 at 22:43 and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.