Patti leads this week, and I was happy to find the prompt to be Celebrations! In Greenland they celebrate their National Day on June 21, and we were there. It is always fantastic to see how other countries and nationalities celebrate. This time it didn’t look much like any other National Day I have attended.

In voices clear and strong, the songs were performed by a small but well trained choir.

Then, there was an hour of sermon and more singing in the beautiful Zion’s Church in Ilulissat.

On marching in, some of the people wore the traditional clothing in red, white and black. When we visited Greenland in 1982, everyone wore the national dress for the visit of Queen Margarethe. In former times the Inuits only wore clothes made from animal hides or skins. When the Europeans came, and began to trade using glass beads in the 17th and 18th century, these beads gradually were incorporated in their festive attire.

After church, everyone gathered on the shore, and many small boats arrived… There was anticipation in the air! What was everyone waiting for… ? Some kind of competition or performance was expected.

We didn’t know exactly what, but finally one participant was spotted, and someone told us that first out would be kayak rolling.

He started preparing…and soon they were ready for the show. It was this man and a young girl performing. The water held approxiamtely 2 degrees C and they rolled for half an hour…

It was a big day for the young woman´s mother as well. She stood right beside me so I could admire her elaborately made seal boots. She coached her daughter on when and how to do different, difficult rolls – which the girl performed to perfection. ”My daughter!” the mother smiled at me, shining with pride.

The last activity was the seal hunt. After the kayak rolling, the motor boats roared and headed out between the icebergs. The one who came back first with a seal would win a rifle. We didn’t stay to see the results of the competition, because this event could take a couple of hours or more – and we were hungry. Rumours had it they might have hidden a seal already caught somewhere…so cheating was maybe allowed!

Tradition still means much to the Inuits, and we were so fortunate to get the opportunity of joining in this day. An adventure to be remembered, and the many smiling faces too.

Finally, this young couple made it the perfect day to get married!

A huge thank you to Anne for letting us rest in a summer daze. and to all of you for the terrific responses! Also a huge thank you to Patti for the fun challenge and for giving me the opportunity to show pictures from Greenland’s National Day.

Please remember to link to Patti’s original post and to add the Lens-Artists tag!

Finally, we hope you’ll join us next week when Egidio leads us once again. Until then, please stay safe and enjoy your week.