VISA hosts international Mardi Gras celebration

Sarah Goetz Staff Writer

Vassar students and community members put their own spin on Mardi Gras this Feb. 5 by hosting a celebration on the second floor of the Student’s Building.

Two students dressed as the King and Queen of the Carnival greeted guests with balloons, beads and the traditional Mardi Gras King Cake. Live bands, ballroom dancing, and a variety of food vendors gave flair to the Fat Tuesday festivities.

The Office of International Services hosted the event with the help of several campus organizations, including the Vassar International Students Association (VISA) and French Club. The Office of International Services “has only been around for about two years,” said Director of International Services Andrew Meade. “So part of the fun has been creating history, and creating new traditions.”

Meade explained that, along with VISA, his office was looking for a holiday or event during the spring semester that “has a broad reach and makes sense to celebrate.”

Mardi Gras seemed like a perfect choice. “It is a really international celebration,” said Meade. “It’s…fun, it’s colorful and musical…and it has a lot of good connotations.”

French Club contributed to the day with a crepe station, since Mardi Gras is also known as “Pancake Day” in France. “We always sell them…for Mardi Gras..and we’ve had a lot of success with it,” said club member Jackie Klapak ’10, who was doling out the treats at the event. French Club members also had a Mardi Gras dinner.

Food for the event came from Poughkeepsie-based restaurants the Reggae Boy Café, La Cabanita, and Mole Mole. The fare, ranging from tacos and burritos to jerk chicken, provided some of the aromas and flavors reminiscent of traditional Mardi Gras celebrations.

Entertainment, much of which involved the audience, came courtesy of performances by the Walker Family Band, the Barefoot Monkeys and Vassar Flypeople.

The festivities also included a special performance by Vassar Alumna Kelley Walsh ’99. Walsh and her dance partner, Fitzgerald St Milaire, who together teach ballroom and competitive dance, performed the mambo.

“The event has been very nice…I think it’s a great idea,” said Ai Ping Lee-Lim ‘08, who was enjoying a meal of rice and vegetables from Reggae Boy. She also noted that, while the event attracted a substantial crowd, she wished more people had come out to join in the festivities.

Mardi Gras, a French term meaning “Fat Tuesday,” is celebrated as a day of both endings and beginnings. It is both the last day of Carnival, the worldwide festival season that begins 12 days after Christmas, and the day before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the 46-day season of Lent in the Christian calendar, a time of fasting before Easter. Fat Tuesday thus traditionally serves as a final day of great indulgence before the Lenten period of self-denial.

While Carnival and Mardi Gras are celebrated around the world, most notably in places such as Venice and Rio de Janeiro, for many Americans, New Orleans is the home of Mardi Gras. French explorers brought the holiday to the city as early as 1699, where it has normally been celebrated with elaborate parades and balls. This, however, is the first year since Hurricane Katrina that there has been a full parade in the Big Easy.

Vassar’s celebration of the event certainly evoked its international spirit. Meade noted that one of the goals of International Services is to sponsor events “that not just celebrate individual cultures or heritages…but try to reach across…to give everyone an opportunity to celebrate being part of this world together.”