Johannes Sinistrus
Squire Johannes Sinistrus aka Johannes the Sinister aka Santa John, passed December 19, 2008.
This gentle's name has been added to the Scroll of Honor and was honored at the Riderless Horse Ceremony at May Crown XXIV.
Memories
Sad Greetings from Rauthulfr Gothi
Yet another part of my soul has been ripped out this year. It seems that the SCA rides us hard, and puts us away wet, much too often. If nothing else we seem to live faster and harder,
September Crown saw two wakes I had to attend; there have been others I have missed but would have liked to have attended. Mead flows from my horn in honor of our beloved friends who have passed into Valhalla before us. They suffer their ills no longer. We however, must live each day remembering how very much we have become who we are because of the kindness, love, and fellowship of our departed friends. Today the most recent loss occurred as Johannes the Sinister passed into his final, mysterious rest.
From the old days in Madrone when we assembled the Crier over spaghetti and wine from James the Vintner, through our last conversations by phone and as he lay in his sick bed: Johannes always inspired the best from me. (Considering his twisted sense o humor, perhaps not always the best…) He received the first ever Pernicious Lilly when he sang an Italian death aria after being slain on the field of battle. He supported his wife Branuenn Goch as she produced incredible dinners, feasts and fun. He served as Santa on the Christmas Ship. And he and Branuenn managed to raise some incredibly well adjusted children; in spite of their having me as an “uncle”.
House Widdershins continues. It will appear for Johannes’s wake, which will probably be at Madrone’s Lion-heart event. (Details will follow eventually as other matters press urgently for the nonce.)
Those of us who stand in honor of the many who have passed before form a band of strength and remembrance which cannot lightly be cast asunder. The shattering of the world will not break that chain. It is true that I could not watch the rider-less horse at September Crown…there were too many ribbons added this past year for me to stand mute witness. Yet whatever travails we face, everyone of us can look to the examples of our beloved friends who so often guided our thoughts and actions with wise council. Granted, upon occasion the counsel might have been wise as a matter of what not to do. But counsel it was, and we are the better for it. We dried; cursed; laughed; and lived the better because of those whose faces we no longer see; but also for those who still shall gather with us. We who live, honor each other as well as those we remember. Without 30-odd years in the SCA I have no idea who I would be, other than to say that I am the richer for those years, and each & every hug!
Yours in Service
Rauthulfr
Johannes in happier (non SCA) times (2005)
