Europeade

Europeade is the largest festival of European folk culture, held in a different European country each year. Europeade was held in Horsens, Denmark in 2007 and Martigny, Switzerland in 2008 and will be held in Klaipeda, Lithuania in 2009, in Dachau, Germany in 2010 and in Tallinn, Estonia in 2011.

The first Europeade was held in 1964 at the initiative of Mon de Clopper (1922-1998) from Flanders and Robert Müller-Kox, a German exiled from the Province of Silesia. Mon de Clopper was president of the Europeade until 1997, when he was succeeded by the current president Bruno Peeters (born 1939), also from Flanders.

The goal of the Europeade is to foster a united Europe, where everyone contributes and develops his of her own culture, respecting anyone else. This philosophy is practiced each year during the five day festival, when thousands of people from all parts of Europe, dressed in their traditional costumes, meet to sing, to make music, to dance and to celebrate - without formal lecturing.

Cities where the Europeade was held

#1964 Antwerp Belgium
#1965 Dortmund Germany
#1966 Antwerp Belgium
#1967 Valencia Spain
#1968 Antwerp Belgium
#1969 Marche-en-Famenne Belgium
#1970 Herzogenaurach Germany
#1971 Antwerp Belgium
#1972 Annecy France
#1973 Nuoro Italy
#1974 Antwerp Belgium
#1975 Marbella Spain
#1976 Annecy France
#1977 Nuoro Italy
#1978 Vienna Austria
#1979 Antwerp Belgium
#1980 Schwalmstadt Germany
#1981 Martigny Switzerland
#1982 Gijon Spain
#1983 Vienna Austria
#1984 Rennes France
#1985 Turin Italy
#1986 Figueira da Foz Portugal
#1987 Munich Germany
#1988 Antwerp Belgium
#1989 Libourne France
#1990 Valladolid Spain
#1991 Rennes France
#1992 Figueira da Foz Portugal
#1993 Horsens Denmark
#1994 Frankenberg Germany
#1995 Valencia Spain
#1996 Turin Italy
#1997 Martigny Switzerland
#1998 Rennes France
#1999 Bayreuth Germany
#2000 Horsens Denmark
#2001 Zamora Spain
#2002 Antwerp Belgium
#2003 Nuoro Italy
#2004 Riga Latvia. A monument in Riga commemorates this Europeade. It was donated by cities that hosted the Europeade before, on the occasion of the first Europeade in the Baltic States and in a former Soviet republic.
#2005 Quimper France
#2006 Zamora Spain
#2007 Horsens Denmark
#2008 Martigny Switzerland

Participation

For the Europeade 2008 in Martigny (Switzerland) some two hundred groups registered. Their countries of origin were as follows:
* 27 groups from Germany
* 26 groups from Spain
* 24 groups from Flanders
* 16 groups from Latvia
* 15 groups from each Estonia, France and Italy
* 10 groups from Hungary
* 9 groups from Lithuania
* 8 groups from the Czech Republic
* 7 groups from Portugal
* 5 groups from Denmark
* 3 groups from each Ireland, The Netherlands, Romania and Sweden
* two groups from each Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, the United Kingdom and Wallonia
* one group from each Armenia, Austria, Greenland, Georgia and Luxembourg
* also the host country Switzerland was represented by only one group
* there were no groups from Iceland, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and Former Yugoslavia, despite the strong folk tradition of those countries.

Sources

* [http://www.europeade.eu/ Europeade Website]
* [http://www.europeade2008.ch Europeade 2008 Martigny, Schweiz]
* [http://www.europeade.lt/ Europeade 2009 Klaipeda, Lithuania]