St. Louis, Missouri is famous as “America’s Gateway to the West” which is memorialized in a stunningly beautiful arch of immense proportions. It is so large that there is actually tramway hidden inside it that allows visitors to go to the very top.
We took this tour and were thrilled with the lovely view of the city provided through little windows at the top of this major monument. Everyone who took the tour was busy snapping souvenir photos. This grand and graceful arch commemorates the crossing of the Mississippi river by the European pioneers and their gradual penetration of the lands that lay to the West. St. Louis was indeed “The Gateway” for this expansion.
Eventually rights to much of this vast territory were acquired by the newly formed confederation of eastern states, in an agreement known as the Louisiana purchase. This contract doubled the extent of the lands falling under then-existing US political control! The new territory reached all the way to the rocky mountains and also South to the great port of New Orleans.
FeTNA 2014, the Annual Festival of the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, was a big event. There were all kinds of dance and drama displays, filled with color, graceful movements and of course, music.
This year Tamil folk arts and folk music were especially featured, a decision we were thrilled with. The Canadian Tamil Sangam from Toronto was a feature presentation all the Canadians present felt proud of. In addition there were several drama troupe performances. There was a traditional puppet show, a Theru Kuttu play, a dance drama featuring the famous Tamil heroine Kannagi, a fantastic parai drumming performance and a traditional style clown-led children’s story.
