My life as a Moomin..

The Duck has been absent from the net of late for all but the most serious and intellectual purposes, due to the demands of her latest adventure in craziness: one week as a Moomin Troll. Or, to be absolutely accurate, one week as hunched-over translator by day, Moomin Troll by night. Little Blue has truly been living a double life of late.

The story starts all the way back in June, when L.B. Duck rejoined her old choir & dance group. This dance group performs for one week at a massive two-week multicultural festival known simply as Folklorama, which takes over Winnipeg for the first half of August every year. Each ethnic group in the city gets together and forms a "pavilion" at a local high school, rec centre or some such building, from which they ethnically feed and entertain the public for a week. This has been going on since approximately the Bronze Age in the city. Since that time, many pavilions have come and gone and come again, but of them, only four original pavilions have been continuously present every year. And one of the four is the Scandinavian Pavilion.

The Scandinavian Pavilion is possibly best described as the campy cult film of Folklorama. You have your massive Hollywood blockbusters with the Irish, Scottish, Ukrainian Pavilions and so on, indie hits like the Greek and Hungarian, explosive action thrillers with the Korean and Japanese, Bollywood spectacle at the Indian and Tamil, etc. etc. The Scandinavian Pavilion, if it was a movie, would be the kind shot over the course of several weeks on a budget of under $100 000, without being a lyrical meditation on the meaning of life. Though its initial run is limited to a few art-house cinemas scattered across the country [who have perhaps confused it with a lyrical meditation on the meaning of life], it gradually gathers itself a following for its shameless, gleeful kitchyness and is wildly popular on DVD.

At least, this is my take on the Scandinavian Pavilion. Anyone who has actually seen the SP themselves is encouraged to give their own analysis of the phenomenon. But I am seriously digressing.

We now return to June, where Little Blue has just rejoined her dance group. They have decided this year to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen's birth at our pavilion, meaning the theme is.. Scandinavian Fairy Tales! But as it would be totally unfair for the Danes to monopolize what is, after all, a *Scandinavian* pavilion, there is a need for some additional representation. Búkolla for Iceland, Cardamon City for Norway, Pippi Longstockings for Sweden, and finally Moomin Trolls for Finland.

If only Moomin Trolls had made it over to Canada. If only they had made the long trip across the cold Atlantic Ocean to North American TV. If only anyone knew what they were at all. Yes, at the time she rejoined them, Little Blue was the only one in the entire group who had even heard of Moomins, by virtue of a Múminálfar DVD she had picked up one bored day in the Bónus check-out line. Which meant, of course, that she was immediately elected to act as one.

She was joined by an extremely adventurous fellow-dancer who agreed very bravely (and sight theretofore unseen!) to play Muumimamma. Blue Duck's admiration for her co-Moomin was further increased by the fact that she was still recovering from a bypass operation last year. There are some truly amazing people out there, and she is certainly one of them. In the end, mostly due to costuming restraints, Blue Duck decided not to play an actual Moomin, and went for the comparatively simple dress of "Mía litla" instead. For an entire week. Had a hilarious time trying to teach Finnish greetings to the unsuspecting crowd. And there you have it. The story of Blue Duck's temporary double life as a Moomin.

[For those of you who might be curious.. there IS a German Pavilion. It is the Merchant & Ivory of Folklorama pavilions. It is an authentic re-creation of German culture from the Beer Barrel Era, right down to the accordians, leiderhosen and yodelling choirs. With very tasty desserts.]