French Club held its annual “beheading of the king” on Thursday, Jan. 14 to celebrate French culture and the French revolution.

In their yearly celebration, club members use a tiny handmade guillotines to cut the “heads” off of pieces of string cheese that symbolize the king. After the beheading, the celebration continues with hors d’oeuvres such as cheesecake and cheese straws.

Throughout the year, club members attend events and hold meetings to appreciate and learn about French culture.

“French Club seeks to promote French cultural literacy through games and other fun activities,” club president Uma Subrayan (12, MST) said. “We usually have lots of French food. For Christmas, we had a traditional French Bouche du Noel [chocolate log] cake, and coming up in February, we will be making crepes.”

Subrayan said that the club, whose members are primarily students studying French in class, aims to connect school curriculum with real-world experiences. Club sponsor Ms. Francois Farman (Foreign Language) said that she believes that making cultural connections is heavily intertwined with learning a language.

“My favorite tradition is the Bouche du Noel at Christmas because it is a fun time when we can get together and enjoy each other’s company,” Subrayan said. “And the cake is always incredibly delicious.”

French Club historian Alice Harris (12, HSU) said that exploring French history is her favorite part of participating in club activities.

“The culture is what makes you understand the people. It’s just as important if not more than [the language],” Harris said. “I also really just enjoy history, so being historian of French Club is pretty nice.”