Title: event-rev-msg
Subject: Reviews of SCA events.
Author: Mark Harris
Keywords: SCA, events, feasts

event-rev-msg - 8/27/97

Comments on past SCA events.

NOTE: See also the file event-ideas-msg, demos-msg, autocrats-msg, privvies-msg,
gate-guards-msg, tokens-msg, hotel-events-msg, feasts-free-msg.

************************************************************************
NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that
I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some
messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium.
These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with
seperate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes
extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were
removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I
make  no claims  as  to the accuracy  of  the information  given  by the
individual authors.

Please  respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these
messages. The  copyright status  of these messages  is  unclear  at this
time. If  information  is  published  from  these  messages, please give
credit to the orignator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  Lord Stefan li Rous
    mark.s.harris@motorola.com            stefan@florilegium.org
************************************************************************

From: vader@meryl.CSd.uu.SE
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Visby event report (long)
Date: 16 Aug 1993 19:04:45 -0400

William de Corbie greets all!

I am writing this just after coming home from the Medieval week
in Visby. (This is a mundane medieval festival at which the Barony
of Nordmark participates.) The event has certainly both grown and
changed since it began 9 years ago. 

For the SCA, it is now an all-camping event just like Pennsic, but
this SCA camp is supposed to be "enchanted grounds". Of course it does
not achieve the same level of authenticity as Cariadoc's camp - but
there are no mundane tents, only medieval pavilions are allowed;
there is no smoking, no modern cooking equipment, no cars in camp.
There were 70+ pavilions and the head count was ca 550, possibly more.

I slept in a large pavilion provided as "crash space" for those who
did not have their own. There was also a large Viking tent which
functioned as a tavern, with room for ca 50 people. They served
sandwiches, beer and strong English cider (6-7% alcohol). We actually
drank up all the strong cider in Visby; next year we plan to call
the (state monopoly) liquor store in advance and warn them to expect
extreme cider consumption.

Cooking was done over open fires in fire pits. A few horses were
grazing nearby and provided more atmosphere. For those who did not
want to cook, the town is so near that food is no problem at all.
I ate out all week. My only problem was that I needed to buy a
hurricane lamp, so as to avoid the more obvious mundanity of a
flashlight when going out at night... but there was no such to be
found anywhere in Visby. Completely sold out.

I saw almost nobody out of garb in camp, all week long. In the town of
Visby, every 30th person you saw would be in garb, either because they
were SCA or because they belonged to some other costumed group such
as the Medieval Guild of Visby. This year there were also lots of Live-
Role-Players around. LRP boffer fighting was forbidden in the SCA camp,
thank heaven!

I think people here had as much "camp fun" as at Pennsic, but most
of the medieval action takes place elsewhere, in the town N? it's not
like Pennsic where the camp is a city in its own right. People at
Visby were typically busy all the time doing their things, unlike
Pennsic where they seem to just *be* there, if you get the picture.

The schedule of things happening in Visby has also been expanded
vastly. There were classes in medieval music, calligraphy and
costuming. There were theatre plays and mysteries, concerts,
lectures and displays every day. Not to mention the tournaments,
jousting, archery displays &c. I could not choose and ended up doing
very little. There still remains a large element of spontaneity; the
guys who performed for $6/ticket yesterday might well be seen
playing for free in the street the next day, just for the fun.

Two ship replicas visited the town: a 15th century 18-oar rowing boat
excavated at Helgeandsholmen in Stockholm, and a medieval German kogg.
The kogg was something of a disappointment however; looks medieval
from a distance but if you go onboard, it's a modern restaurant...

There is a non-SCA medieval archery club (longbows only) who held a
competition. I participated along with 2 other SCAdians. Unfortunately
we arrived late and had no time for practise rounds, so it was straight
into the shooting which was essentially 2 royal rounds. After the first
one I was 14th out of 23. That was my "practise round"... after the second
I had advanced to 5th place. I am pretty sure I would have won if I had
only arrived in time for the practise rounds. The silver lining was that
5th price turned out to be - a hurricane lamp! God provides.

As to SCA stuff, the new Baron & Baroness of Nordmark were invested by
her Majesty. They are Master Erik ]lstene and Lady Kira of Callanish.
They do not have the tremendous spontaneous humour and wit of Ragnvald
and Edela (their predecessors), but they care for people's well-being
and they take authenticity and all the "SCA virtues" very seriously.
They make a good focus at court. In short, I am happy with them.

Baron Erik made an announcement: "We feel that wearing steel is becoming
for a man. Therefore we have decided that the custom of laying down one's
weapons before one approaches the crown, will not apply in court during
our tenure..."
At this point, Lord Comar Longius Blackburn suddenly came running toward
the thrones, bristling with spears, halberds, swords and a crossbow,
whereupon Baron Erik hastily added:
"...with the exception of Lord Comar." 
Comar is now the only gentle in Nordmark who must disarm before entering
court. At a later court he did so, leaving a long trail of weapons behind
him. (His disarming acts are famous; at one court a couple of years ago
he even removed his prosthetic leg and hopped up to the thrones on one
foot.)

There were other fun things. The last night at about 11 PM, fanfares
were heard and heralds cried "Make way for the Baron and Baroness of
Nordmark and the baronial wash-up!" A procession of their Excellencies
with servants carrying the baronial feast gear, solemnly glided to the
water tap, washed up, and then marched back with equal pomp.

The relaxed Swedish attitude to religion is becoming more visible;
there are now three different households of crusader knights in
Nordmark; the Teutonic Brotherhood, the Knights Templars and the
Hospitallers. All wear identical garb and do a god job of playing
their roles. Their presence certainly adds to the medieval ambience.
Most of them are young; some but not all of them are fighters.

This poses an interesting philosophical and political question: how
is it possible to have such a persona in the SCA? What, for example,
will these guys do in a tournament when it is *compulsory* to fight
for the honor of a lady? Is it okay to fight for the Blessed Virgin?
Or for the honor of their respective fraternities? And if not, then
why not?

Very few Americans attended this year's Visby event. There was Rusty
the Amber seller, Ragnar Storm something, Sir Cian Connor McQuaid, and
possibly a couple of others. One lady came from New Zealand, and there
were many Finns and some Dutch. We would love to have more visitors
from across the waters! 

William

From: motto@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (mary.rita.otto)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Fun First Event
Date: 14 Sep 93 17:16:53 GMT
Organization: AT&T

Greetings, good gentles on the Rialto, from Rosaline!

I want to share with you the story of my attending my first event,
which happened Saturday last.

The Shire of Rokhealdon, where I live, was holding an event called
The Preconquista.  While sadly, we arrived too late to witness the
woods battle and tournament, we were able to attend a most excellent
feast.

Sadly, our friends had not prepared us to attend a feast.  We found
ourselves sorely lacking in feast gear (nobody had told us to bring
plates! -- much less anything else).  But that was quickly remedied
with a few loans from the kitchen.  Luckily, we had thought to bring
our tankards, and had some few things in the car.

The few people we knew from the shire were all terribly busy running
the event, and had little time to spend with us.  But we wandered
about and met some other people.

I had brought a small linen bag, embroidered with a crusader knight,
which I was using to carry some personal items.  When I found out
that there was an embroidery competition, I entered it.  To my
surprise, I won the competition!

During the feast we were joined at the table by two squires from
Flying Griffons wo were very cordial and entertaining.  They gave
us a lot of information which was very useful, and were a lot of
fun.

There was wonderful entertainment.  A belly dancer.  An Arabian
dance ensemble.  Bardic singing.  A comedic magician.

The food was outstanding and bountiful.  Each of the three removes
was themed to a subculture of Spain:  Judaic, Islamic, and
Christian.

And court was held, too, by Prince al Jafar.  Having never seen
court before, I found it very interesting.

But most importantly, there was a world of difference between
attending this event and the previous demos and Ren Faires
that we'd gone to.  This is done "for us", not for spectators.
While there are some similarities, the feeling, the mood, is
different.  It's not a show, it's a party.  It doesn't sound like
a lot of difference when you put it into words, but when you are
there it makes all the difference in the world.

I can hardly wait for my next opportunity to play.

Rosaline
Shire of Rokhealdon
Middle Kingdom

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: mchance@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Michael Chance)
Subject: Coldest event (was Re: Cloth)
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 18:12:57 GMT

Charles the clerk writes:

>(And yes, it was the coldest I've ever had to be at an event, but the
>fire was warm, and the conversation good, and I had more blankets and
>cloaks with me than I could use.)

I was fortunate (unfortunate?) to be present at the event that has to
be the record for the coldest SCA event ever held.  It was the first
Drachenwald Investiture ever held in Nordmark (Sweden), January, AS XXI.

A monster cold wave swept across Europe early Friday morning.  The
_high_ for the weekend was -20 degrees Celsius.  We all had a 45
minute ride in an unheated bus from Stockholm to Vik Castle, where the
event was held.

The event was terrific, once we got inside and got warmed up
(including me recovering from a case of near frostbitten feet).  The
investiture went real well, and there was more food at feast than I've
ever seen anywhere else (they started serving feast at around 7 and
were bringing out food almost continuously until after 1:30 in the
morning).

Then there were the few crazy Swedes that wanted to have a fighter
practice outside Sunday morning...

Mikjal Annarbjorn
Surviver, Nordmark AS (-)XXI (degrees) Investiture
--
Michael A. Chance          St. Louis, Missouri, USA    "At play in the fields
Work: mc307a@sw1sta.sbc.com                             of St. Vidicon"
Play: ab899@freenet.hsc.colorado.edu
      mchance@nyx.cs.du.edu

From: mabr@sweden.hp.com (Morgan "the Dreamer" Broman)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Coldest event (was Re: Cloth)
Date: 15 Nov 1993 10:45:34 GMT
Organization: HP/SCA/SKA/FSTS/AMTS/SLRP/ETC Sweden

Michael Chance (mchance@nyx10.cs.du.edu) wrote:

: I was fortunate (unfortunate?) to be present at the event that has to
: be the record for the coldest SCA event ever held.  It was the first
: Drachenwald Investiture ever held in Nordmark (Sweden), January, AS XXI.

: A monster cold wave swept across Europe early Friday morning.  The
: _high_ for the weekend was -20 degrees Celsius.  We all had a 45
: minute ride in an unheated bus from Stockholm to Vik Castle, where the
: event was held.

	I was there too (received my AoA there...;)). Since I am a native
to Nordmark, Sweden, I can tell you that it was unusually cold even for
us. I had to go out and start the car once every hour, run it for about
15 minutes so the engine would not freeze up and I be stuck.
	Even though I did this all night, when it was time to leave the
gearbox was all frozen and I had to sit for another 20-30 minutes with
the engine running to get it to work.

[stuff deleted, but thanks for the compliments]

: Then there were the few crazy Swedes that wanted to have a fighter
: practice outside Sunday morning...

	So...;). I run fighterpractises at an event here close to
where the Investiture was held, once every year in December. Snow/ice/
mud etc has been standard. It is great fun.

: Mikjal Annarbjorn
: Surviver, Nordmark AS (-)XXI (degrees) Investiture

	Happy to hear that you survived. Did you get the t-shirt that
said "I survived.....etc.." ?

Ciao
Morgan//

--
HP   : Morgan Broman				mabr@sweden.hp.com
SCA  : Morgan deGrey, Master of the Freehold Ravens Crag
APD-I: Shade
Amtgard : Morlacad ShadowHawk a.k.a Shade
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: mchance@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Michael Chance)
Subject: Re: Coldest event
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 93 18:06:43 GMT

Eyrny writes:

>It wasn't as cold as -20 C but I was meaning to ask, did the people at that 
>event actually do stuff OUTSIDE?  And what was the wind like?

Other than a few folks who braved the elements for a snowball fight or
two, there weren't any planned activities outside.  It was cold enough
that there were only a few places inside either the castle or the
dormitories that got really warm.  The heating plants mostly just took
the edge off the cold.  Of course, being Drachenwald, nearly all of us
had good, warm winter clothing.

The worst of it was the bus trips out and back, with little or no heat
on the bus.  Luckily, the wind had mostly died down by the time Saturday
rolled around, or the trip out could have been much worse.

Mikjal Annarbjorn
--
Michael A. Chance          St. Louis, Missouri, USA    "At play in the fields
Work: mc307a@sw1sta.sbc.com                             of St. Vidicon"
Play: ab899@freenet.hsc.colorado.edu
      mchance@nyx.cs.du.edu

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: leeu@celsiustech.se (Leif Euren)
Subject: Re: Coldest event
Organization: CelsiusTech AB
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 13:13:18 GMT

Eyrny writes:
>It wasn't as cold as -20 C but I was meaning to ask, did the people at that 
>event actually do stuff OUTSIDE?  And what was the wind like?

I think the coldest event in Nordmark, when we had to be outdoors for
an extended length of time, was at the Winter War in Fiathundraland,
February A.S. 25 (1990).  It was about -20 C (perhaps -25 C), and we
were out for some 8 hours. The fighters had a barn to change in (no
heating, just wind protection), and there were two small fires to warm
us.  The was a wind, but not bad; an equivalent to breeze, I'd say.

With an thick (i.e. windproof) coat, big boots with woolen socks, and
sheep-skin mittens (wooly side in) I kept warm all the time, even
though I didn't fight. But as I was List Minister at that time, I had
to fill in waivers and qualification cards, and keep track of the
fighters present, so I had to take off my mittens from time to time,
and that wasn't fun at all.

What I remember the most was that the big tins with sausages, that was
to be our midday snack, were deep frozen, and had to be put in pots
over the fire to thaw.  The fire wasn't enough to heat the sausages,
but barely to melt the ice so they could be separated.

We all had a great time, and I didn't hear anybody really complain
about the cold.  In fact the fighters loved it, as this was the first
time they had fought without sweating too much.  This proves again the
fact that there is not really any bad weather, just bad clothing.

  your humble servant
  Peder Klingrode                         | Leif Euren    Stockholm, Sweden
  Holmrike, Nordmark, Drachenwald         | leeu@celsiustech.se

From: hqdoegtn/G=Harold/S=Feld/O=HQ@mhs.ATtmail.COM
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Coldest Event
Date: 15 Nov 1993 11:10:33 -0500
Organization: The Internet

          Unto all who read these words, greetings from Yaakov.

          I think the coldest event I went to was Market Day at Birka
          around 2 years ago.  New England was having a cold snap, and
          the temperature was probably between 0 and -5 Faranheit.
          There was a fierce cold wind blowing, so the wind chill was
          probaly -15 F.

          I walked to the site with a fellow Shabbos observer from
          where we were crashing with Olaf (about 1.5 miles from the
          site, if memory serves).  We politely turned down rides from
          fellow SCAdians who recognized the garb (can't carry on
          Shabbos).

          I gained an important insight into the minds of the various
          martila arts types in SCA that day.  The fencers grabbed a
          heated building a couple of hundred yards from the main
          building, and ran shuttles back to site.  The fighters
          fought in the parking lot, running inside between bouts.

          But the craziest were the *archers*!  I passed them standing
          motionless, in loose fitting archery clothes, waiting for
          for the wind to die down so they could release.

          Yaakov

From: harald@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Harold Kraus Jr)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: coldest event
Date: 17 Nov 1993 12:28:08 -0600
Organization: Kansas State University

The coldest camping/outdoor event I've ever been to was Queen's 
Champion event, Eldern Hills, Ansteorra (southern border, Oklahoma)
of all places.  February, AS 22 or 23.  Wind chills below 0F (-17C).  
I thought that Ansteorrans look forward to winter so they can 
have comfortable outdoor events. :)  A few of us rigged tents 
inside of tents and slept huddled together. Here, in Calontir, I only 
ask for a warm, dry place to get in/out of armor, then the cold
doesn't bother me much. 

Harald Isenross, Spinning Winds, Calontir, harald@matt.ksu.ksu.edu  

From: PAULB@saturn.uark.EDU (Paul A. Byers)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Lilies VIII - Pavel's view
Date: 23 Jun 1994 14:55:41 -0400
Organization: University of Arkansas

Lilies VIII  - Through Pavel's eyes

    Well, the war started at 5:15pm Thursday the 9th  of June for me
and mine. We left for Valens and Susanna's then. That night there
were quite a few calls to inform us that Tony was history. We were
ready for it either way. I spent all day Fri. putting up signs and
hauling loads of wood and other 'stuff' to site. My lady-wife Fionna
and my daughter Alex helped in this. So my first day of Lilies was
just plain hard work.

    On Sat. Susanna let me set up camp early for my labors. I had the
second tent on site up. We chose our usual location on the crest of
the hill just up from the beach and 'Party Pit' This year I set up my
most extravagant camp yet. We had a bedroom tent with king size bed.
(The new bed worked out great, more on this later.) A 'closet' tent
where we kept all our gear and a eating/cooking fly. In the cooking
fly we had a full size CHARBROIL grill with all the fun toys that you
can get for one. We also got one of the picnic tables that come
with the site. (Some didn't get used this year. They (the Park) musta
listened when I told them we needed more last year.)  Fionna modified
my big round tent so that the walls could be tied up. She sewed large
button holes in the floor so that it would stay in place with just a
few diesel valves to hold it down. Spent most of the day setting up
camp and shouting, "Hey Tony! We won! We Won! Nyah! Nyah!".  That
night we had steak and corn on the cob for supper.

    I was in charge of the official fire for Lilies. I dug a great
fire pit. Was about 7' across and 18" deep. We had almost a cord of
hard wood (walnut) to burn. On Saturday night Marcus (my official
fire starter.) set the first fire. Mostly Lilies was a great event.
But it was marred by some disturbing things. Sat. Night saw the
first. Valens, Marcus and I supplied 7.5 cases of beer to the folk at
the circle. Almost everyone of the 'moochers' said they'd get beer
later in the week. Only one fellow did.  Fewer folk are living up to
their word if its not convenient. (I blame Clinton.)

    Sunday was a day of shameless lounging.  After a breakfast of
pancakes and sausage I laid around in bed all day. I did get up twice
to swim awhile. A few more folk came in and set up near us. Was a
very relaxing day. (I did have to buy more beer to replenish the lost
supplies from the moochers.) Ly. Bronwyn made a whole salmon . For
supper we also ate a modest meal of  seasoned ground beef , Corn on
the cob, baked potatoes, and hot dogs.

    The fire pit was a little more subdued that night as the moochers
were without lubricant. Still was many a song sang and story told.

    After another fine breakfast Monday. Morn (planned the night
before - in Grimfells we never leave one meal until we have planned
the next.) I wandered the camp see everyone. I visited the merchants
and bought a gift of 3 yards of silk for the lady who did my Pel
scroll. Was very windy on Mon. but cool. Supper was a little exciting
as I came up with a new catfish recipe. I took a big bowl of catfish
chunks (was on sell at the big V for $.40/LB)  poured a bottle of
lemon juice over them, about .25 cup of olive oil and lots of lemon
pepper (the universal spice!) were added too. I then cooked them in a
basket over the charcoal. They were magnificent!  Very, Very good. We
also had corn on the cob, and beef fajitas. Another relaxing day.

    That night an Inn was run by a Ansteorran household. They had
soup, beer, bread, beer, mead, beer, wine and beer.  It was all free;
all that they asked was that you either give them a token or
entertain. As I'm not a bard I made a metal half gauntlet and gave it
to them. Was a very good time. Lots of singing and story telling and
dancing. Was a very good time indeed!

    The next morning, Tues., after a breakfast of eggs with collard
greens, pancakes, sausage and bacon , I shot a lot of archery. His
Grace Lorell (Chubs) did a great job of having some very fun shoots.
The pop-n-jay was very fun. I even got one good hit on the critter.
Archery was more fun than it had been in a while.

    Now here I must tell of my bedroom at camp. I built a platform
bed out of 2x4s and plywood. It breaks down to a small bundle of 2x4
that fit under the van seats and a stack of 5/8th inch plywood that
fits in the bottom of my trailer. The mattress is a multipart futon
of my own design. It has a hardwood headboard that keeps all the
pillows on the bed. (I use 5 feather, Fionna uses 3 foam.) This bed
in a 13" tall tent with the walls up was very, very comfortable.
Almost too comfortable. We never could clean the bedroom tent because
there was always someone taking a nap or relaxing there. One night I
came back to camp to find 9 folks being served dinner there. Well
with this pit of sloth available I spent a lot of my time just laying
there enjoying the visitors.

    Ld. Duncan won the warlord bridge battle that day. So not all
Grimfellers were sleeping. The Saxons beat the Viking on the limited
field battle. I marshaled. I also helped authorize over 40 folks that
morn/afternoon. Later Tuesday afternoon, after the swimming I lounged
in my bed with 5-6 good friends till it was time to make supper. We
had Honey mustard charbroiled chicken and normal BBQ chicken, Corn on
the cob, salad, and baked potatoes.

    That night we drank and sang, and told stories late. We were in
the swing of the war. I was almost too much in the swing of things. I
imbibed a little much of the barley bean and was very well gone. On
Wednesday Swimming and sleeping took most of the day. We went all out
for supper that night. Ly. Bronwen made leg of lamb and mint sauce.
Fionna made a large green bean casserole, Ly. Christiaen made baked
beans, we had salad, corn on the cob, ground beef, and baked
potatoes. We fed everyone who came by.

I went to bed early that night. *sigh*

    After our regular large breakfast on Thursday I was ready to
fight a little. I went and joined the chivalric challenges. I fought
in my usual brutal way but the Ladies of the Rose seem to like it. (
they screamed real good when I would ceremoniously dismember the
herald after every fight.:) Though they did seem to like my strip
tease with my skirt in the middle of battle too.)  After that came
the war point, a bridge battle. We Vikings had to win, a tie was a
loss.  The longest weapon was a 6' spear and the only missile weapons
was javelins. I took 12 javelins and my sword out to play. As long as
my javelins lasted the Viking held the screaming hoards of Saxons
away. As the javelins gave out we were overwhelmed up on both
bridge and secret ford.  I was so hot I could not fight in the navel
battle. I did spend 20 minutes under the shower to cool off. Every
war should have showers on the battle field. It made a great
difference. Oh yeah, the Saxons won the naval battle too.

    We cooked a passel of 'Brauts that night expecting to need drunk
food latter. For the fire pit Syr Valens and the Grimfellers had
procured a keg of beer. As the last of the keg went down and the beer
munchies hit Her grace Braden talked us into going to O'Mallys Alley.
The best food merchant on site. (He make great drunk food.) I ate 3-4
pork chop sandwiches and 4-5 chicken thighs. Then the Outlands stole
me for another couple of hours of singing. Was a very fun night!

    Friday  Morning saw me unable to eat. I was crippled with a
hangover. The only thing I did all day besides sleep was be part of a
Calontir history class. And that hurt. Fionna and Master Criag also
were in great  pain having consumed a liter of amerreta the night
before. Fionna spent most of the day sleeping with me in bed. It was
HOT. I just had enough energy to help launch and row Hal's boat. It
was great! Though I now think that the Viking were a race of midgets.
A normal size person like me barely fits into the boat. Well done
Hal. His majesty christen the boat the Elizabeth with a mug of beer.
Calontir has a navy!

    That night the official celebration snacks and beer were put out.
I ate my fill of the egg plant and pickled mushrooms. At camp we did
26 steaks for the camp. After dark the fire works started. I was
invited to help set them off but I know how loud a 4" mortar is.  Was
kinda neat to watch Herzog Shadon hop around in the one ground burst.
But Count Valen's hair on fire was the best injury of the fireworks.
Ld. Wolfgar did a great job. About an hours worth of explosions and
ground displays with a Calon Cross in flame as the finale. Was very
well received. The singing, drumming, dancing and story telling that
night was very energetic.

    On Saturday we cooked pretty light. Only eggs, sausage and
pancakes. I was one of the archery champions for the Norman's. The
Norman's lost both champions battles very fast. *Sigh* (In a Anglo-
Saxon kingdom the Norman's are the designated losers.)

    The fortress battle was the last battle of the war. We Norman's
had a chance as we got the fort. The Saxon archers had to fire from
25' away from the wall (this simulates firing up hill at a castle
wall.) and the attackers had to swim a moat on their knees. (We did
leave a large pile of PVC pipe and 4x4s with duct tape at the Saxon
resurrection point. We figured they would realize they needed some
siege equipment and build it. They didn't.)  The Brave Saxons bulled
into the wall against a withering fire of arrows and javelins again
and again. One group from the Confederacy of Shires in the MK made at
least 4 assaults making over the wall twice. But as the temp was 99
degrees and the humidity was hovering around 90% most folk opted for
the water volley ball game soon. In fact that is where I was when the
field resurrection battle was fought. In the lake.

    That night we went out for Pizza. At court Master Craig (dead
man) Duggan was made a court barron. As we, Craig and myself, are
from the deep south of Calontir we are looking for white Panama hats
and black string ties so that we can style our selves as "colonels"
instead of court barons. :)  The reveling was mostly at the sumo
wrestling that night. Though there was a late night 'Neked' swim that
was fun.

    On Sunday Most folk broke camp to go home. I sent Fionna and my
Daughter Alex to town to get  a good nights sleep. That night around
the last fire of the war I saw something that scared me almost as
much as Tony. One of the merchants on site was the Moon Glow Inn. It
was a food place that was all mundane. Propane stoves, plastic tents,
folding chairs, plastic forks. I stayed away. Well, Sunday night the
owner came down to drink and talk with us 'participates' . This was
the first time in the war he had left his shop. He got drunk and as
the romans say 'in wine is truth'. I found out what he as a merchant
wanted out of the war, Cash. He made speeches about how he would not
take a vacation unless it made money and  how stupid anyone was who
did so. He had plans for moving the merchants, battle field, archery
field and camping so that everyone was forced to go through the
merchants to go anywhere. He wanted to limit the number of time folks
could leave camp so that they would be forced to buy ice from the
merchants. ( I buy mine at Clydes.) At one point when Countess
Susanna pointed out that this was a war for the 'participants' not
for the merchants. He jumped up, threw his beer into the fire and
screamed at her that she didn't understand what a cash cow Lilies
could be if the merchants could just control access. I stood up to
discuss this with him in my own style but Valens told me to go to
bed, I did.  The last fire at Lilies was ruined.

    On the last Monday I was feeling a little put out by the last
fire. But it was time to clean up. I had spent one of my precious
vacation days to help Susanna clean up. It was a mistake. When I
first joined we were told to always leave the site cleaner than when
we found it. Many of the society folk have forgotten this idea. Most
folk had made an effort to pick up. Some even did great jobs,
Istivans goat camp was spotless and so was the Outland camp.
But two large groups of campers were pigs. Brother Cristawfulis (sp?)
and his royal kitchen was a festering sore. Bottle caps, bottles,
cans, cigarette butts, rotten meat and bones, plastic jugs, bags of
ashes and putrid meat. We had to clean all of this up for the scum.
As bad as his camp was, the camp in mosquito flats (think it was the
folk from Saint Jo) left a worst mess. They even left a burning fire.
I had to fill in 2 fire pits and one beer pit. We had to dig through
the under brush to get all the trash they had just thrown into the
woods. This is not how we, the Society, are supposed to treat our
sites. The merchant area was a mess, as usual, but that's a given.
Can't expect them to make money off of us and clean up after them
selves too.  The clean up really disheartened me.

    All in all was a great war. I'm already planing on a better camp
for next year. There was so much I didn't mention that happened that
made it great.  So many stories to tell.

Pavel

From: mittle@panix.com (Arval d'Espas Nord)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Event review: Fete du Perron
Date: 1 Oct 1996 16:56:54 -0400
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC

This past weekend I attended La Fete du Perron, the Gilded Pearl's 15th
century Burgundian event.  It was delightful: Excellent food, beautiful
hall, and (most important to me) a really splendid tournament.

The tourney, le Pas du Perron Fe' (the Passage of the Magic Pillar), was
designed by Master Galleron de Cressy and run by the Company of S. Michael.
It was just wonderful, and I hope that he published his own description and
research notes. 

The field was about 60 feet by 30, marked off with a barrier of wood and
fabric.  The fabric sections were sheets bearing the badges of the Company.
Banners and standards flew from poles all round the list, and pavilions
surrounded the whole.

A pair of barriers divided the field in two, and a pillar (apparently of
marble) stood at one end, bearing a large hourglass and a brazen horn.  

The comers were divided into two companies for a melee to begin the day.
The melee was fought across the barrier; fighters who were struck a good
blow retired to the gate of their list and then re-entered the combat.
They fought first with spears alone, and then with all weapons.  

When the melee ended, the Damoiselle du Perron processed onto the field
with her giant, her dwarf, and the Prisoner of the Pillar & his companions,
hung heavy with chains.  The Prisoner explained that he had encountered
this magic pillar while riding through the forest, and had blown the horn
handing therefrom, hoping this would signal the beginning of a great
adventure.  He was thereupon captured by the fiercesome and noisome giant,
and bound in chain until he could redeem himself by feats of arms.  He told
how his noble companions, the Confraternity of Saint Michael, had put
themselves in bondage on his behalf, to assist him in winning his freedom.

The Feat of Arms was fought thus: Each comer announced himself to the giant
and the Lady, and entered the list to face the prisoners.  He fought for
one tenth of an hour, or until he was struck three good blows; and his
opponents fought until struck a single good blow.  These bouts were fought
first with spear, then with pole-axes, and then with sword and shield.
Many noble fighters displayed their prowess, several surviving their full
time and facing down as many as ten of the prisoners.

At the end of this feat, the Lady pronounced herself satisfied and the
prisoners were freed.

In celebration, the Company of Saint Michael, now former prisoners, meleed
against the comers in the same manner as at the beginning of the day.  They
first selected several of the comers to join them, choosing those who had
impressed them and the ladies with their great feats of arms.

When this second melee was finished, the Companions attacked and slew the
hideous giant, tearing his legs from his swollen body, and slashing the
meat from his gross bones.  Repulsed by the giant's blood, the earth called
down a great storm to wash itself clean.

All retired to the hall, where music and dancing and feasting lasted well
into the night.  Alas, I could not stay through the celebration; I
apologize to those of my friends with whom I could not spend more time.
But it was fine to see you all once again.
===========================================================================
Arval d'Espas Nord                                         mittle@panix.com

<the end>

edited by Mark S. Harris	event-rev-msg