In the principality of Ealdormere there was at one time the canton of Monadh, the 'retirement home' of the region. The locals joined as grownups, rather than students, and were keen on making things; at Pennsic, you could find most of the canton sitting around their dining table in the afternoons, working on their respective projects. So 'craft hour at Monadh' was where you'd find the crafty folk working companionably together on leather, metal, jewelry, and needlework.
Polderslot events are a bit like Monadh craft hour. It's the biggest group of people making medieval stuff I've ever encountered, who consider several hours sitting together Creating Stuff, either individually or with their families, time well spent. And every Polderslot event includes making something towards the event, and the activities are suitable for both adults and kids.
For this event it was leather masks; veg tan leather, mask patterns, a basin of water, a couple of hairdryers and some clothespins were the main tools for making our own masks. I'd never worked with leather like this, and it was a revelation to find out how easy it was to manipulate. While I found making my own shoes years ago a real pain, this was easy and downright fun. Who knew?
In the afternoon HE Judith led the dancing instruction, with live accompaniment - another jewel of Polderslot are their musicians who practice dance music. We agreed that, if at the end of one of Judith's classes you still don't know the dance...you're hopeless.
However, after this event I now have a much better handle on Chiritana, Petit Rose, and Geloxia, and I hope we have recordings for these three - I think I have 2/3, but may have sheet music for Petit rose.
Late afternoon was filled with last-minute mask decorating. After toying with a complicated colour scheme, I settled on a solution of
chequey 's - and painted the mask with my own arms. That way only the heralds would recognise me, hahahahahahahaaaaa...
For feast
armillary (who had successfully finished his half-circle cloak enough to wear with his doublet and trunkhose, very elegant) and I sat with Floris, Hannah, Simeon, Laure, Helewig, and young Jasper - Emma was dining with one of her friends further down the table.
Feast included;
- Green soup with bacon and salt bread;
- a sop of leeks with maumenee (chicken, egg yolk and breadcrumbs ground into a formable filling for pies and sotleties);
- baked apples with ground pork and beef filling;
- pickled autumn veg with raisins;
- frumenty cooked in broth;
- bread and butter pudding.
Ooooof.
For the ball itself, we all donned our masks and pulled names from a hat - names of famous figures from history, including Dutch figures (go on, tell me what famous period dutch foks you can think of! The organisers needed Google's help...)
You then had to find your 'partner' from history, which proved a challenge when you didn't know many of the names! I turned out to be one of a harem of Charlemagne's wives; centuries ahead of Henry VIII, Charlemagne was dropping wives off at the convents as they 'aged out'.
Each couple or group was then called up, from earliest to latest, to choose a dance from the musicians' repetoire. This way, everyone got a choice of at least one favourite. After the dance, they lit a candle. When all the couples were called and candles lit, the ball was over and we could take off our masks.
The ball had a sweet banquet intermission - serving gingerbread and marmelades, which would please and charm
jpgsawyer and
edith_hedingham ; good ideas are easily nicked!