Reminiscences of a SCAdian Old-Timer
Reminiscences of a SCAdian Old-Timer
No kidding, there I was ....
June AS XIIII, an Ithra weekend in Lionsgate:
HSH Janeltis asked Reginleif the Unruly to introduce her to “the white one”. It was my third event, my first wearing a habit, and HSH gave me the byname I wear to this day. I felt honored that she even noticed me. She was very easy to talk with.
It was my first Ithra as well. I also met several other people at that event who have been significant in my life: Asha ap Myrddin, Koressa Thokubjalla, all the Kendals of course, Edward Zifran ....
That weekend was my first long-distance SCA-event road trip. :) Unless you’ve spent 10 hours or more in a vehicle with other SCAdians, singing SCA and medieval songs, discussing whatever happens to come up between rounds of “Blazon That!”, you have no idea. Back in those days, long road trips were a bonding experience. There were few enough SCAdians with their own long-distance-reliable cars that almost everyone carpooled, at least in the Adiantum area. And events were few and far between in those days; if one expected to go to an event every month, one had to travel.
My Favorite Hobby:
I learned calligraphy one weekend in July AS XIIII from Janet of Arden. This was very much an “aha!” moment for me; it felt as though I had been born to do it. Still feels that way, actually, nearly 26 years later as I write this.
An Tir 12th Night AS XIIII:
In an efficiency apartment, I hosted my sister, Duke William of Houghton and his lady wife, Maythen of Elfhaven, and two of their retainers, I forget which. Fortunately the couch was a hideabed. Equally fortunately there was also a full size bed in a low-ceilinged niche, which I shared with my sister. (One of the retainers slept in the closet, the other in the recliner; the place was teeny.)
I stayed up until 4 AM in my kitchenette (a tiny room, but separate enough to let the others sleep) crafting a subtlety in honor of the Prince who was to be invested at that event: a fig newton castle with green buttercream ivy on the outer walls, with a courtyard cobbled in Red Hots, with heraldicly correct Wild Women (made of marzipan) in the watch towers; an arch proclaimed that the building housed “Academy for Wild Women, E. Zifran, Prop.”
I got little more than three hours’ sleep, then I was up and over to the site for a day’s work. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. The only reason I was back at my apartment by eleven was that I had guests.
The Royal Mews, Egils AS XV:
TRH Edward and Dorothea had been wearing stuffed toys on their wrists as “hawks”; they started with a pair of lobsters and eventually collected quite a few others. Earlier in the reign Elaine d’Hibo had presented TRH with Bwian, a stuffed toy in the form of a rather graphic “horny” toad. :) HRH Dorothea had been refusing to have anything to do with B., complaining that B. kept trying to attack her wrist, as dogs sometimes attack one’s knees. So at Egils Andrea recruited me to help embroider “Wife of Bwian” (equally graphic, but female), which we duly presented to TRH as a mate for Bwian. :)
West Kingdom October Crown AS XV:
In another long and memorable road trip, I travelled with four others from Adiantum down to the Bay Area for the first time. One of the others was Shara Tunoy, the baronial herald. On the way south, as we were playing Blazon That, I blazoned a field-burning scene. It stuck in my mind; I later registered it as the upper part of my arms.
And at that Crown, I met for the first time my own true love, my lord Roger. I could see at a glance he had at least one good habit .... :)
It truly was a magical time for me.
Midwinter Feast in Adiantum, AS XV:
TRM of the West visited. HRM Flieg had declared as a royal whim “There are never enough Mushrooms!” And in impish deference to the obvious desires of HRM, a pound or so of mushrooms was strung in a garland and hung from the rafters over the head table: just high enough to be out of reach while standing on a chair for a man of HRM’s height. (He did get them down, though. Eventually!)
One of the subtleties was a “Dragon Tail”, carved and assembled of white cake and frosted in scaly green and bloody red. Elan of Dragon’s Tryst saw it, said it needed something, and cut an apple into the shape of a vertebra and stuck it into the appropriate place. The combination of juice from the apple and red frosting from the end of the cake dribbled down from the center of the “vertebra” most convincingly. :)
Western March Crown, AS XV:
Wondering if he could overload HRM’s passion for mushrooms, Llerret de Granada organized the purchase of fifty pounds of mushrooms (every ‘shroom from several grocery stores) to present to TRM Flieg and Nicorlynn.
It being a cold and rainy weekend, TRMs got some of their people to turn the mushrooms into hot mushroom soup and serve it to populace as largess. It was pretty good. I hope HRM Flieg got some!
In those days single ladies were considered wards of the Crown. And it was at that Crown that my lord Roger petitioned the Crown for permission to wed me. Her RM smiled when Roger presented his petition; His RM looked confused, as it was obvious that we were religious.
“Is this permitted by the rules of your order?” he asked.
Cardinal William, who was there to support our petition, assured him that it was. Her RM Nicorlynn laughed and said, “Go ahead, let them.” And His RM Flieg signed the petition: “Granted. Frederick Rex”.
After making more than dozen moves since then, we still have our “medieval marriage license”. :) Every time I look at it I remember with amusement and joy.
Mists Principality Coronation, May, AS XVI:
That was the historic coronation of the first Sovran Princess of the Mists, Maythen of Elfhaven (now Maythen Gervaise) and her consort William of Houghton. TRH were obviously having fun with the reversal of the usual roles. Sir William, a Duke in his own right, was attended by a giggle of Laddies in Waiting, all of them bearded and of undoubted masculine reputation, who were dressed in long Norman tunics and had ribbons and flowers twined in their hair and beards. The Silver Desert Pavane, a stately procession in which the partners trade places, had its Mists debut at this event, when a group of dancers performed it at Court in honor of TRHs.
A Well-Planned Potluck:
At a potluck feast in the Mists in the winter of AS XVI, I think, somebody had the bright idea of arranging the tables in a large loop and asking each party to put their potluck contributions on the inside edge of their table and sit beside the outside edge. When all was in readiness we took our dishes and stood beside our own contribution and started helping ourselves with that. I wish I could remember who thought of it. It was described as a Potluck Bransle, though it was more of a procession. It worked very well, too. Everybody got to be first with something.
Home is Where the Heart is:
At Midwinter Feast, January AS XXVI or XXVII, in Northkeep (Tulsa, OK), I heard the talented Mirandel sing a “homesick An Tirian” song (I have long since forgotten the actual title) of which I now only remember the phrase “and in her mold my dreams are made.” I cried. I had made friends in Northkeep, but I was so homesick for An Tir that it hurt, and as I listened to Mirandel, I knew that in the SCA I would always be an An Tirian.
By
Sister Guineth the White
Copyright © 2005, Emily S D Thompson