Roots

Dear Bloggie,

So Saturday I went to a Portuguese festival in Ludlow, Massachusetts. Now, if you've never been to a Portuguese festival before I'm sure your thinking "Cool". But trust me, it's not. Yes, I love being Portuguese and all, but our festivals kinda suck. Still, they're amusing so I go to two every year. One at the Portuguese church not far from my house around late May, and one in Ludlow around Labor Day.

The festival is the same every year. I go with my mom, her best friend who I call Tia Cathy, and her two children Samantha and Brandon, who I consider my cousins. I know I've mentioned them before so I won't go more into that. Basically what happens every year is that we show up, look around at all these tents that are full of knick-knacks people are trying to sell for outrageous prices, then go up to this small hill where you can light a candle in memory of someone who has passes away. Normally we light one for my grandmother and Sam and Brandon's grandfather, but this year we also lighted one for their uncle who committed suicide almost a year ago . Sam and our mom's did that, while Brandon and I hung around talking about school, friends, ect.

One of my favorite things about a Portuguese festival is our fried dough. Most fried dough is covered in that powered sugar I can't stand, but Portuguese friend dough is covered in real sugar, which makes it ten time better. And ten times worst for you. ;)

Following the fired dough we headed over to the carnival games. I tried one if those drat games and failed at it. The first dark hit the top of the bored – at least a foot away from any of the drawn strawberries I was supposed to be aiming for. The second dart ALMOST made it, but sadly it it hit the leaf instead. Which I consider good enough but the carnie didn’t. Of course, I went on rides too. First I went on the Pharaoh's Furry:

( As you can imagine, this ride turns your stomach into a gymnast)

But that wasn’t my favorite ride. No, my favorite was the Round a Round:

(I forgot to get a picture of it, so on my way out I just took one of the park to use instead; it’s the ride I circled and put an arrow to)

And the cool thing was that the man operating the ride let me and Sam on over and over again for free. Brandon only rode once with us because he gets sick on rides that spin. *shudders at memory*

Sadly no amount of rides can make up for the music they played. But then again, when a CD cover looks like this:

(I'm too sexy for my cat too sexy for my cat/ Poor pussy poor pussy cat)

What do you expect from the music inside?

Of course we had to get some souvenirs! My mom got and old fashion baking dish:

(Is it me, or does that design look like it could have been weed in a past life..?)

And a cork decorator for a wine bottle:

(Nothing says “Getting drunk with class” like a chicken!")

While I was torn over what I wanted. First i says these, but my mom said no:

(Sadly the didn’t come with any balls or a pimp hat, so they’re not totally correct)

But then I saw this:

And just knew I HAD to HAVE it! Plus, it lights up!

(Is it me, or does this remind you of Sailor Moon too?)

There is one Portuguese song I love, but sadly they did not play it. it’s about the Portuguese island that my family come from. Thankfully, i found a version of the song on you tube. Ignore the beginning with the the strange people, I don’t know who they are. I only choose this video because the rest has pictures of Madeira (the island’s name, which actually translates to wood…)

During this song, they use traditional clothes that look like this:

(In my opinion the, the female outfit looks like a fancy table cloth)

And someone plays this instrument:

I know these things look a bit ridiculous, but when you live in a houses like this:

(No wonder Portuguese people tend to be short!)

It would be normal to dance to that type of music, with that type of instrument, and in that type of outfit, all those years ago. Now, people just do it for fun.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a bit of my culture. Before I finish this post, I want to show you pictures of Jonah I found the other day when I was stalking—I mean browsing—his Facebook page.

(Yes, the first two look a bit feminine, so I added the third which is what he looks more like now.)

Sadly, I don’t think anything will ever work out between us seeing as he did not accept my friend request on Facebook. :(

~Libby