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Adventure
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Carassauga—Around the world in only three days!
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With only our passport, we visited 7 different countries in a single day. We were greeted by friendly people, offered scrumptious food and drinks, and entertained by singers, dancers and musicians. By the end of our day, we were exhausted but extremely happy and entirely satiated. It was amazing that we never had to leave the city of
Mississauga
to have such an amazing cultural experience. Yes, you may have guessed that we recently attended
Mississauga
’s Carassauga festival!
From its inception back in 1986, in an attempt to recreate
Brampton
’s Carabram Festival and at the request of Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, Carassauga continues to bring together an array of cultural groups in an effort to celebrate the city’s diversity. With over 40 different countries represented, this is quite the festival to organize! Pavilions are located across the city and many are housed in arenas (to accommodate many countries at one central location)
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| and municipal buildings. Alternately, cultural groups offer up their community centres for the occasion. We visited the countries that had set up their pavilions at the Hershey Centre:
Cyprus
,
Egypt
,
Africa
,
Croatia
,
India
, and the
Philippines
. We also made a side trip over to the German Canadian Club Hansa (aka Hansa Haus). |
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Each pavilion truly plays upon all five senses to give visitors an all-encompassing experience of the vibrant culture that exists in
Mississauga
. You can savour authentic Oktoberfest cuisine while listening to the Weiss Blau Bayern Schuhplattlers or choose walk through a re-creation of a Cypriot village and finish up with a glass of wine or traditional sweets (mmm, baklava!). Stand up and dance to the beat of the power drummers and follow it up with some Fufu and Gnamacoudji (Ginger beer) while listening to traditional African folktales. We particularly enjoyed the belly and sword dancing at the Egyptian pavilion! In essence, even if all you do is sit down and spend a few moments listening to and watching what is going on around you in each pavilion, without spending a dime on food or drink, you’ll still get a good sense of what each culture is all about.
All you need to attend every pavilions’ scheduled events is one little passport. This
passport will cost you a mere $12 at the door (or $10 in advance at various retail outlets, libraries, community centres and banks across the city of
Mississauga
). When you arrive at a pavilion, they will stamp it for you as you enter the “country.” Your passport also grants you free trips on Mississauga Transit routes during the festival hours as well as the Carassauga Shuttle that connects with all pavilions!
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For more information about Mississauga' Festival of Cultures:
Carassauga
http://www.carassauga.com/
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