Parthenia Students Celebrate Cultures

Although the cultural dances performed by children at Parthenia Avenue Elementary School were not always synchronized, and the boys and girls were slow to grasp hands at times, the activities Friday were filled with energy and enthusiasm.

The school’s annual multicultural celebration has become a major event that follows months of preparations in the classrooms.

Molly Bonenfant, the teacher who began the festivities three years ago, said the event is a way to teach multiculturalism without focusing only on one or two cultures. It helps prevent the reinforcement of ethnic stereotypes, she said.

Bonenfant’s preschoolers wore banana bandannas and shook banana-shaped maracas as they danced to a song called, “All the Nations Like Bananas.”

Students created dolls, flags, masks and good-luck charms to represent the cultures they studied.