A festive a-Cajun at Linwood Middle School
BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

JENNIFER AMATO Alex Buhler-Rose performs a skit la French mime Marcel Marceau at the Mardi Gras celebration at Linwood Middle School on Feb. 28.

NORTH BRUNSWICK - Bienvenue la clbration.

Mademoiselle Bonnie Smith, a French teacher at the North Brunswick Township High School, collaborated with Madame Judy Kosek, a French teacher at Linwood Middle School, to introduce the celebration of Mardi Gras to the younger students on Feb. 28.

"Madame Kosek and I think that it's important to let [the younger students] see the programs at the high school so they continue French in middle school and bring it to the high school," Smith said.

"Fat Tuesday" celebrates the beginning of the Lenten season. Members of the high school French Club and French classes explained the history of the festival and its heritage in the United States.

Utilizing posters specifically made for the fete, the students mentioned how Mardi Gras is celebrated anywhere between Feb. 3 and March 9, based on the lunar calendar used by the Catholic Church to determine the date. The Mardi Gras season actually begins on Jan. 6, otherwise known as Little Christmas, when the Three Kings were said to have brought gifts to the baby Jesus, and continues until the day before Ash Wednesday, which is 47 days before Easter.

The carnival came to New Orleans in 1699 and is currently celebrated with a huge carnival, parades, clowns, festive dress and jazz music in the French Quarter.

"Especially with what happened in New Orleans, people need to keep the festivities alive to keep spirits up," Smith said. "It's really important that we're supporting it in doing this Mardi Gras."

Selected students also performed for the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade French students. Gates Kielty and Amanda Haasz played the French National March on the flute; Alex Buhler-Rose imitated Marcel Marceau, a famous French mime; and Stephanie Palm performed a dance number from Cirque du Soleil.

In true Mardi Gras fashion, each student received a string of beads, in either the traditional colors of purple for justice, green for faith or gold for power, and were treated to a piece of "bon bon," or candy.

"It's such a wonderful school I teach at that allows me to do programs like this," Smith said.