On Sunday La Nucia hosted its second International Day at the “Camilo Cano” Sports Centre, which incredibly saw 10,000 people attend throughout the course of the day. The event started at 11am – with a dance group from the Senegalese Association leading the “Parade of Nations” opening ceremony.
Each of the 40 participating countries took part, carrying their nations flag and dressed in their national costume. Sue and Pete Cranage, who came as the Queen and Prince Phillip, represented England and were accompanied by a Scottish piper. The trio were stopped numerous times by people wanting their photographs taken with them – I’m not too sure whether they thought it really was HRH.
Each country was called up onto the stage where they were greeted and had their picture taken with the Mayor – Bernabe Cano and once all up, made a spectacular colourful vision. Each country stood proudly side by side, waving their flags.
The town of La Nucia has a population of over 20,000 residents, of which nearly half are foreign.
The objective of the day was to encourage integration between all the different cultures and to learn about the traditions of others living in the same community.
Throughout the day there were performances of music, song and dance from the participating countries and each stand exhibited things from their homeland, including the opportunity to sample some traditional food and drink. Unsurprisingly, the mojitos on the Cuba stand went down very well!
The UK had a number of stands from expat associations including the Royal British Legion, HELP International and the U3A.
The day surpassed all expectations, especially the organizer – Bart Gommans, the Councillor of Foreign Residents in La Nucia. It was well supported by the local community, which is made up of 84 different nationalities.
