Who knew that in another country there would be a day to celebrate the creation of the country's flag? A big celebration at that! On 20 de Junio Argentina celebrates its Flag Day, especially so here in Rosario where the current flag was created and first raised. It is kind of like an independence holiday, except that Argentines celebrate a couple of other dates for their independence. I was invited along with my friend Laura to see all the action Saturday morning.
The celebration was centered right across the street from the Flag Memorial where a large group of covered stands were situated with a military band in front and scores of men and women from the different branches of the military lined up at attention and ready to march in parade. After the band played several numbers and several politicians gave long speeches (in Spanish, of course), the parade began to the loud music of the band. My friend's sister marched in the parade with a group of Red Cross doctors/students. Then, the procession of the longest flag in the world began (seen below). The story is that several years ago a group of women decided to create the longest flag in the world by piecing together segments of blue and white from Argentines all over the country and the world. Now it is the longest and very interesting to watch as you can imagine from the different pieces, each uniquely shaped and shaded, how widespread and diverse the Argentinean people are.
We had a great time at the parade and afterward on the steps of the Flag Memorial we drank Mate and watched further performances by the military band. There were many people watching, eating, drinking and having a great time. I will try and add a short video clip to this post so you can hear and see a little bit of the excitement for yourselves.
Chau.
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