Whether making gargoyles, learning a new dance or simply eating food representative of the Middle Ages, students at Brookfield Elementary thoroughly enjoyed their recent Medieval Day celebration.
Many dressed in special costumes, and all five fifth-grade classes — 131 students — participated. The children made Medieval crafts, played instruments of the time and feasted on treats such as "game pie" and ambrosia.
Patrick Williams, 11, liked poking holes in an orange, adding spices and turning it into a fragrant pomander. "They used it for a deodorant so they could smell good, 'cause they didn't take baths," he explained.
Georgia Kudurogianis, 11, had fun making potpourri. "We put it into paper and sewed it up and tied it with a string," she said. "It smelled like cinnamon."
Ten-year-old Alysha Watson had a blast creating a Medieval gargoyle. "It's something that hangs on a cathedral to drain water," she said. "Rain comes off the roof and goes out the mouth of the gargoyle. It's a face made out of clay — they used them to scare the spirits."
As for Wilson Mendez, 11, he he created a shield out of paper, decorating it with drawings that would tell people something about his likes. Said Wilson: "I drew a lion on it and a soccer ball and a basketball hoop."
Meanwhile, Marshall Frank, 11, played chess, checkers and Weapons & Warriors. And, he said, "We made stained-glass windows out of paper and colored plastic."
Vardah Jamil, 10, said she also enjoyed game-playing: "We used Medieval weapons — like a catapult — to play one of the games."
Arjun Patel, 10 1/2, liked performing the North Skeleton sword dance: "It was pretty cool 'cause, at the end, we made a Star of David out of the swords." He said Brookfield's Medieval Day was a good idea because "you get to do activities — it's like you're back in the Middle Ages and it's a lot of fun."
Yasento Labor-Koroma, 10, agreed. "It's easier to experience it than read about it," she said. But would she have liked to have lived back then? No way, she replied, because "your parents got to choose who you'd marry, and they didn't have TV."