SCA: East Kingdom Crown Tourney report

[bkdelong]

Well, it's time I actually write something in this journal about my involvement in SCA rather than lazily talk about it in the various voice posts in the past few weeks - maybe then it will show up in the search engines and aggregators.

So....I'm hooked. I had been loosely following the exploits of my good friend doctoraicha aka Lady Sibella Denton of Talmere who has become quite involved in both her Shire and Kingdom.

Finally, I decided to try and go to an event- "Falling Leaves" held at Wellesley College a few weeks back. Becoming involved in the SCA seems like natural progression for me. I am an Eagle Scout and spent my first 14 years living in Southern Maryland, (Atlantia), with *10* acres of gulleys, creeks, streams, hills, trees and woods to explore. I've always been enthralled by history and since I graduated from college, I've finally gotten the bug for life-long learning.

As young as I can remember we were always going to Celtic Festivals like the Virginia Scottish Games and the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival. We spent several years going to the Maryland Renaissance Festival in garb, no less. My mother played fiddle and eventually harp with such luminaries as Cathy Palmer, Sue Richards, and Maggie Sansone. I even dared, in my gawky teenage body, to bring out my fiddle and play a bit there - I think there's a picture of it.

So the SCA being next on my "list" was a wonderful thing, but I wanted to make sure my wife, (kiekre) got involved and this was something we all, (Will, wkdelong, included).

Today we went to the East Kingdom Fall Crown Tournament held in the Barony of Stonemarche. The actual event was at the Lone Tree Scout Reservation.

We got there about noon and parked way at the "top" of the entrance area. We headed down and found friends Dave the Piper and Sioux the Artist - the two of whom I met at Falling Leaves. They were incredibly accommodating, helpful and friendly so I thought I would seek them out first. They graciously let us keep our stuff behind a table in their lean-to and we went down to the field to look for Baroness Böll von Bayer, (calygrey), (with whom I participated in a butchery workshop a few weeks back), as well as Baroness Johanna who has graciously acted as a deputy chatelaine in answering my questions about the Canton of the Towers - a subgroup of the Barony of Carolingia for those of us in the north region.

After a few minutes of chatting we all headed over to the lodge for a lunch feast. There I met Baroness Mairi Asan T'eilean Sgithenach aka Ruadh and her *5* children! They were incredibly well-behaved. We partook in the wonderful fresh cheeses, bread, meats, and pies going back for more when they brought out hot chicken drumsticks and chicken stew. I poked my head into the kitchen to offer huzzahs to the cooks and do so again here. Yum.

Will got antsy pretty fast so Kirky brought him over to the table behind us which had crayons, coloring books & paper, and yarn and felt for making hand-puppets. It was wonderful watching Kirky get so excited both with Will and Ruadh's children helping them with their puppets. I joked with Cassandra that we had found our next Youth Officer of sorts. However, I was careful not to "abandon" Kirky and wanted to make sure she felt free to go off and do other things if she wanted to but she appeared to be having a great time.

We milked the warmth of the lodge a bit longer and headed back out to the field. I stood around for a bit and decided to trudge back up to the car only to realize the car was locked and I had left the key back at the camp. Twenty minutes later, I was back at the car with keys and decided to drive all the way down to the very edge of the path to the field, where I found a parking space in the lot there. Phew.

I setup the chairs in front of the unofficial Canton of the Towers area and looked for my wife. Turns out she was right on the edge of the fighting area with Will asleep in her lap and him wrapped under the folds of her cloak. He actually slept for 45min - very cute.

I'm afraid I missed a great deal of the tourney due to the car mishap and Cassandra tried to fill me in a bit when I was asking questions but I think I need to hit a practice after work some week.

We decided to skip Court because it was getting late for Will and we headed out a bit early - another thing I have yet to see. I've watched a Baronial Court but not a Royal Court or Kingdom Court or whatever the differentiation is.

We had a sleepy ride back to the house, and Kirky was asking lots of questions about the SCA and next week's event - East Kingdom University. She's hooked as well. So I hope we'll go to events once or twice a month and get her involved in some Guilds. I'm so excited - a family activity!!

So I'm home, writing this and responding to some of the new LiveJournal posts of people I've become acquainted with through SCA. I added them to my "friends list" as well as a few Flickr photo tag feeds to my RSS Reader so I can see any pictures tagged with "eastkingdom" or "carolingia". I also have plans to hook my mother, brother and new sister-in-law. They're in Western Mass. where I grew up and would be in the Barony of Bergenthal. I made a point to join their email list and introduce myself since I feel WMass is still "home" for me.

Alas, I'm still truly struggling on a name right now as well. MacIntyre is the Scottish clan I'm a part of through my father's line as well as Dutch. I've got some good English stock in the Strongs. I just don't know what speaks to me...what to be. The strict canonist in me wants to choose a legitimate ancestor right down to the name and town, as well as the dates he lived. So it's still a bit slowgoing. Kirky wants to use Kiekre claiming it's Welch or Gaelic. It's really based on how Nate pronounces her name when he's being all Scottish - "Keer-keh". I don't think it has any historical validity.

A name, a name....my kingdom for a name. I just keep hitting dead-ends in the late 1600s which drives me crazy. I don't have the time to add genealogy to my already large list of interests and hobbies but if I want to go back deeper, I'll have to use my intuitive research-foo.

Comments

[calygrey.livejournal.com]

It was great to see you all together!
You look Celtic, maybe a nice Scottish name, (it's my heritage too, I'm partial -'though my persona is German). Ben will certainly work for many times and countries.

Also, consider attending Bergental Yule; all your relatives could give it a try.

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

I'm strongly considering Yule because Kirky will be at her grandmother's and it will just be Will and I.

[doctoraicha.livejournal.com]

You CAN'T choose an ancestor. It's not recreation, it's living history. You can't pick a real person and try to relive their lives. Kirky should pick garb and activities she likes, and then a persona. So should you.

[bbennett.livejournal.com]

Although the idea of picking a person to relive from your own ancestry is really cool, as it'll give you more motivation to research it. I think you should go with MacIntyre.

Sounds like a lot of fun, BK!

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

I think I will end up choosing a MacIntyre - there's quite a few of them already in the Known Worlde so I just need to make sure I don't pick someone elses.

[doctoraicha.livejournal.com]

And HEY, I got a Meridian Cross for Arts Achievement in costuming tonight.

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

Congrats! I was going to call you during the event but there really wasn't the opportunity.

[doctoraicha.livejournal.com]

Thanks though. It was a fun day. Small event, and I got to see a lot of people I know. I hope you guys LOVE it.

boo

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Royal Court isn't that much different than a Baronial Court -- awards are given out, gifts are given to the people in shiny hats, tourney winners are announced, scrolls are read, and half the time you can barely hear any of it unless you're sitting up front. (I almost missed my own Maunche because I was sitting in back yakking -- if it hadn't been my mistress on the throne looking for her apprentice and coming down off the dais into the audience after me, I might've.)

The major difference are the awards that are given out. The first award you're likely to encounter is the Award of Arms, or AoA. This award essentially "ennobles" a person within our game, and allows them to call themselves "Lord" or "Lady" (or whatever analog was used in their culture; there is a list). This is when their heraldic device, if they have one, becomes arms.

Then there are the Orders of High Merit: Maunche, for arts and sciences, Silver Crescent for service, Tygers Combattant for heavy list, Sagittarius for archery, and Golden Rapier for fencing (you'll hear it referred to as OGRE, for Order of the Golden Rapier -- I guess the E is a freebie). The running joke is that when Their Majesties call forth their Order of the Silver Crescent to induct a new member, it's just easier to ask those people who *aren't* members to stay seated.

And there are the Society-level Orders; you'll hear them referred to as peerages -- the Laurel, for arts and sciences, the Pelican for service, and Chivalry for fighting (among other things). Those are major big deals, to the point where clothing is made for the awardee, and there is a vigil (not the stay up all night and ritual bath type, more of a offer congratulations and sage advice to the awardee before the award is given). The scrolls are true works of art, and the heralds are chosen on the basis of who can read the best.

There are bunch of other East Kingdom awards, but they are rather specific as to what they can be given for. There's a great article about the EK awards and honors here. We have a very intricate culture in the SCA; don't be surprised if you find it confusing, and please don't hesitate to ask about it.

As for names, one of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard about picking a persona is this: Decide what you want to wear, and build your persona from that. I knew someone with a beautiful Norse name, and never ever saw her wear anything but Italian Ren. She should have just gone with an Italian name at the start. Develop your interests, and decide what you want to look like, and the rest will fall into place. Whatever you do, don't pick a name and then try to document it; that way lies madness. ;-)

Re: boo

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the info, advice and congrats on your Mauche!

Re: boo

[doctoraicha.livejournal.com]

Yeah. What she said. LOL. there are different awards for all those Merits in other Kingdoms. Mauche=Meridian Cross, for example. I love talking to people from other kingdoms to find out their traditions. :D

Re: boo

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Sometimes the award systems are extremely different. Atlantia, for example has three levels of awards -- non-armigerous/non-precedenc-bearing, armigerous, and patent-bearing. Must make lining up their precedence marches (on the very very few occasions when they might be done) a nightmare.

Re: boo

[doctoraicha.livejournal.com]

Yeah. And to make things more difficult, there's the Court Barony, which carries nothing but a pointy hat in most places, and some specific awards that are AOA level but aren't actually CALLED an AOA. Still, it's interesting...

Re: boo

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

That's because they're a package deal -- the Orders of High Merit in the East are exactly like that. If you don't already have an AoA when you are inducted into the order, you get one. If you already have one, you only get the order.

Re: boo

[doctoraicha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. I don't think Ben does, though, so keep up the good work!

Even better? My AOA circlet is what Duchesses wear in Atenveldt. And in Atlantia, everyone has one!

Re: boo

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

Just sitting back and reading / listening. :)

Re: boo

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

And in the East, no one does.

Re: boo

[doctoraicha.livejournal.com]

No one wears a circlet of any kind? Interesting. Only 5 kingdoms reserve the wearing of circlets for Armigers, and in Atenveldt there's been a huge discussion of it. I'm in Meridies, of course, but my neighbor Duke Trelon is from there and we go out to Estrella every year, so I know a lot of folks out there. Still no resolution, as far as I know, on the issue.

Re: boo

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

People wear them, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with your rank.

Re: boo

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

What she said.

Also, you may find the SCA historic name wonks to be useful; here's their website:
http://www.s-gabriel.org/

Lots of pre-researched names, info on other names; the list of useful stuff there goes on and on.

[soteltie.livejournal.com]

It was nice to see you all there. I'm glad you had a good time!
See you soon,
Johanna (aka soteltie)

[(Anonymous)]

"...We partook in the wonderful fresh cheeses, bread, meats, and pies going back for more when they brought out hot chicken drumsticks and chicken stew. I poked my head into the kitchen to offer huzzahs to the cooks and do so again here. Yum."

Thank you for your kind words. I am pleased that you enjoyed the offerings that my staff and I prepared for the dayboard; we had a fun time working on it, just as you obviously had a fun time.

Lady Bethra and the Kitcheners

[ivy]

I'm glad you had such a good time! I too spent some time in Atlantia; I fought my way through college. [grin] Have a wonderful time in the SCA.

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

Well, with you and madsaxon, (a Baron), in the same place, perhaps you can rejoin the ranks of Atlantia with what copius, (hehheh), free time you have. ;)