dancers called the Klompen Dancers. The moves
were interesting and the costumes of the dancers was charming. I
told Bob all I kept thinking of were the little wooden characters
that came out of the wooden coo-coo clocks. Of course, as we
looked around the pavilion there was food offered. One of the
offerings was a gentleman handing out "free" speculaas
(cookies). Never wanting to offend, we both took a cookie and
walked away munching. 
Next on the agenda was the Swan Lake First Nation tent. The First Nation represented the gathering of all Indian tribes in the country. They had some very good dancers, young as well as old, plus fantastic costumes. Since it was a gathering of all tribes they even allowed non-indians to participate in some of the dances. I, of course, had to join in and I can tell you that it was very interesting dancing to the rhythm of the drums and the Indian music.
After
the Indian Pavilion we were off to the French Pavilion. Poor Bob,
he really didn't want to go and see all of those lovely Can-can
dancers, but I insisted that our readers would want to see them.
We stayed for several dances, and sampled some of the French
Cuisine. Unlike many of the other pavilions the French did not
have a display of their native products or wares, other than
their fine 
wine, of course. Then it was off to the Belgian Pavilion. They had a band playing and Bob and I danced to a waltz. There was a lady there making Bobbin (or Belgium) Lace. It was really lovely. She had a couple of examples of her work there. The process looked fairly easy and I found myself wishing that I could take some instruction in it. However, with the way we travel (moving once a week) it's almost impossible to take classes in anything that is involved.
From
there we were off to the Ukrainian-Slavic Pavillion. There had
some lovely examples of the easter egg art that they do.
Originally they were done on eggs, but in order to be able to
make them less fragile, many of the decorations are now done on
wood. The designs are done with wax and dyes and are really
spectacular. We found out that each design has a specific
meaning. One of the most interesting is called "Gypsy
Roads." It is a design of never-ending loops and whorls
completely surrounding the egg. Legend has it, that if you put
one of these eggs near your door, if the Devil enters he will try
to follow the "road" on the egg and will not be able to
take any souls. Of course, once again, we were "forced"
to indulge in some
Ukranian cooking. The Ukranian food we have
found, so far, features cabbage rolls, perogies (small crescent
shaped pasta stuffed with various different items) and served
with onions and sour cream. While we were eating several groups
of dancers did presentations. They were the Romantez Dance
Ensemble, and the Sokol Polish Dance Ensemble. The music was
presented by Cymbaly On Fire. These dancers had to be the best we
had seen at the entire gathering. The enthusiasm and energy put
into the dances was wonderful. Next year the Gathering of Nations will be held in Holland Manitoba on July 21 and 22, 2001. If you plan to be in the area, don't miss this event. Also, they do have camping facilities available on nearby grounds if you would be interested.
