I would be less than candid about this year's program were I not to admit to a degree of personal satisfaction in seeing at the Festival both my own home state of New Jersey and the people among whom I have done graduate study abroad and domestic folklore field research in Louisiana - French and French Americans. To all New Jerseyans and to speakers of French from all climes, we wish a hearty welcome and bien venue. The fact that 1983 marks the 200th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris, which was ratified in Princeton, New Jersey, and which formally marked the end of the American Revolutionary War, testifies to the depth of our friendship ...