Beware the Ides of March!

March funeral procession an annual tradition at Taunton High School

 

 

By GERRY TUOTI

Staff Writer

Posted Mar 15, 2011 @ 10:56 PM

 

Taunton —

Rather than heeding the warning to beware the Ides of March, students at Taunton High School embrace the inauspicious date each year.

Shouting “Caesar mortuus est” or “Caesar is dead,” dozens of toga-clad members of the high school’s Latin Club  paraded through the halls Tuesday morning to reenact the funeral procession of Julius Caesar. The slain Roman leader was stabbed to death 2,055 years ago Tuesday.

The annual tradition, which began nearly 50 years ago at Taunton High School, is the Latin Club’s primary activity each year.

“It’s a lot of fun, and I think the other kids in the school get a kick out of it,” said student Declan Lynch, co-president of the Latin Club.

For Lynch, fellow co-president Kelsey Kerkoff and the club’s other seniors, Monday was their last Ides of March reenactment as students.

“It’s a little bittersweet,” Kerkoff said. “I’m excited, but a little sad at the same time.”

Borrowing elements from history and the Shakespearean drama “Julius Caesar,” each student portrayed a character, such as Brutus, Marc Antony, Cleopatra and Pliny.

Freshman Derek Simpson, who sported a toga stained with theatrical blood, played Caesar. His job was to lie on a stretcher as two pallbearers in centurion armor carried him through the school.

The procession made several stops, where the reenactors gave brief theatrical performances to classmates and teachers who assembled in the hallways to observe the spectacle.

As he does every year, Latin teacher Chris Scully donned a toga to partake in the procession. He remembered doing the Ides of March procession years ago when he was a student at Taunton High.

“It was much smaller then,” he said. “The students now are responsible for the growth of the event.”
Invited guests Doug and Kathy Ryan also participated in the march. The husband-and-wife duo, both retired educators, belong to Historia Antiqua and visited Taunton High School to give a presentation on the Roman army.

Elizabeth Rodrigues, curriculum supervisor for the foreign languages department, said the Ides of March event is a perfect tie-in to National Foreign Language Week, which Taunton is currently celebrating. She credits a vibrant Latin program at the school with successfully carrying on the mid-March tradition.

“Just to have a school tradition is an important thing,” she said. “This is one of the oldest at Taunton High. This is something everyone looks forward to.”

Contact Gerry Tuoti at gtuoti@tauntongazette.com.

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