Saturday 25 June 2011

A Special Day In Itilleq

Our visit to Itilleq was special today for a couple of reasons.  There was a wedding in the settlement!  It was a very special day for the happy couple, Frode and Najaaraq Jensen.  It was special for us because we had been invited, along with the rest of the community, to the reception. The reception was held in the brand new school (not a year old yet).  In some respects the setting was typical of what you might find at many wedding receptions in North America or Europe. A table laden with gifts was on one side of the room.  Children gathered in groups.  The teenagers huddled covertly together.  The youngest children were running around or playing games in another room. And, there was lots of food.   People were sitting at a half dozen tables casually helping themselves to a really fine buffet.
The sweets table was loaded with familiar looking delicious desserts.  The main course table was filled with Greenlandic delicacies which included: Harbor Porpoise and Mattak (skin and blubber from the porpoise) roast reindeer, dried Narwhal, Humpback Whale (in sort of a soup), Greenland shrimp, dried cod and halibut. 
The bride and groom were dressed in their beautiful traditional Greenlandic clothing.  They were very obliging hosts and quite happy to pose for photographs.
It was also a special day in Itilleq because we won our weekly soccer match.  Last week the two teams were fairly evenly matched but Itilleq won by two goals.  This week MV Fram reined victorious with a score of 5-2.  Let's see what happens next week.  Somehow I think it will be a much tougher match
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