maanantai 2. marraskuuta 2015

Kesän 1888 kansanjuhla amerikkalaisin silmin

Amerikkalainen Carter Henry Harrison lähti kesällä 1887 poikansa ja toisen nuorukaisen kanssa maailmanympärysmatkalle, joka pysytteli pohjoisella pallonpuoliskolla. Kesällä 1888 he olivat Suomessa, mikä noteerattiin sanomalehdissämmekin. Aurassa 29.7.1888:
 
Matkalaiset sattuivat Kuopioon jonkun kansanjuhlan aikaan 29.7.1888. Harrison kuvailee tapahtumaa kirjassaan A race with the sun, or, A sixteen months' tour from Chicago around the world: through Manitoba and British Columbia by the Canadian Pacific, Oregon, and Washington, Japan, China, Siam, Straits Settlements, Burmah, India, Ceylon, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Roumania, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Transcaucasia, the Caspian Sea and the Volga River, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Prussia, Paris, London and home (1889)
We at once drove to a handsome park on a little promontory running out into the lake, wheere we saw banners and a great concourse of people. There were 2000 or 3000 people enjoying the Sunday afternoon, the young men in their best clothes, and the women in their whitest kerchiefs. The females, old and young, wear a handkerchief, generally white or colored, folded on the diagonal and tied under the throat. A long line was formed, and probably 100 couples were dancing on the green sward to music made by a military band. Games were going on among the more boisterous. One of these was amusing. A smooth pole, a foot in diameter, was mounted on strong, firm legs. Two young fellows would climb this, locking their legs under it, and then, with bags filled tightly with dry grass, would endeavor to knock each other off by pounding over the head. Rarely more than two or three blows were given before one or the other would tumble over, to the great amusement of the boys and girls looking on. We saw several contests, and, to the credit of the boys, did not see any thing but the best humor.
Savo-Karjalassa 31.7.1888 julkaistun uutisen perusteella kyse oli vapaapalokunnan Väinölänniemellä "kaupungissamme viimeisessä tulipalossa vahinkoa kärsineiden vähempi-varaisten perheiden hyväksi" järjestämästä juhlasta. Tanssia ja kisoja ei sanomalehdessä mainita vaan reforoidaan pidettyjä puheita.

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