SRWC Update and Memorial Rite
Well, other folks have already given their updates on SRWC. I too was there, believe it or not.
Parenting concerned once again kept me from going out and painting the event red, but I had a pretty good time. E would not sleep at all and both Friday and Saturday nights we struggled with her. It seems it was a combination of the strange and exciting circumstances, the weather, the sounds of people talking and laughing outside our tent, the light from the sodium lamp outside, etc. etc. But both night we didn’t come close to getting her to settle until after midnight. Sunday she was very grumpy as a result and when we finally got home, we all ended up crashing for a late nap before dinner.
So, it was wet. We got in late Friday night and set up camp, we were lucky enough to miss the thunderstorm that came through that evening. We then basically chilled out in camp with Hedwigis and her daughter. I don’t think Her Ladyship could have chosen a better apprentice - Hedwigis as well as her family, are all super people, fun, intelligent and well adjusted.
Saturday was a mix of thunderstorms and gray skies. But it was generally ok. E had a good time playing with her umbrella in the rain, though she did have a couple of panic attacks from loud thunderclaps. We crawled the merchants, which meant a little shopping and a lot of talking with friends and associates long the way.
Tried to get E to nap, but she mostly just played in her bed. I slept a few minutes. Her Ladyship attended the Laurel vigils that were going on. The day pretty much drifted away until court began. Our camp is right nearby where they hold it, so we sorta just popped in and out. I got to see my friend Kajiyama Shinobu-hime get her AoA - the scroll was a wonderful sumi ink painting of Kannon done by a shire member. The artist had borrowed my art books for the project, so I was curious to see how it came out - Keiaiji was floored. I think she has deserved this AoA or some time now, and told her so. I owe her a Cha no Yu at some point.
Anne Liese attended the Laurel inductions. I stayed in camp and heated up our chile dinner. Sadly, I missed John Marshall getting his Maunche and I still need to congratulate him. A very, very well-deserved award, to be sure.
So, after dinner/court (which ran for about 3 hours, IIRC and was wrapped up very fast indeed when yet another thunder storm opened up suddenly) I put E to bed (no, not to sleep,. just to bed) and then ran off to the Landsknecht camp leaving Anne Liese to sit “sleeping” toddler vigil in our camp.
I had been invited to join Derek Fairhair, his household and sundry other shire members for a memorial service for a man who had passed away recently. Ric was the boyfriend of a woman in our shire, Candy, mother of Tanzos Istvan and a serious booster of our group’s efforts. This is one of those odd instances where someone gets their parent involved in SCA and said parent jumps in with both feet and thrives. Anyway, Ric was the man whom she met not too long after the end of a messy divorce. He was a fine gentleman, a real goof-ball, one of those people with that child-like spark that brings cheer to everyone he meets. He and Candy were clearly in love and it was a supreme tragedy when he was taken by illness.
Well, the shire has a tradition of planting trees for members who have passed. Thankfully, we have only one other tree - that dedicated to Christoff (Jadwiga did a good remembrance of him on her LJ this week). So, the shire dedicated a tree to Ric Saturday night and I was asked to be a part of it, I am honored to say.
We processed out to the field where the tree was waiting beside a freshly dug hole. Derek’s Landsknecht household brought out one of their canons. The memorial began with them firing off one round, Candy fired it. Then Kajiyama-bozu (who mundanely is a Lutheran minister) spoke a few words. She related the story of how when asked how he wished to be remembered, Martin Luther told his followers to plant a tree. She read the text of the small plaque that will be affixed to a post in front of the tree - it’s part of a song from Tolkien, but I don’t recall the words (anyone know it?).
Then they handed things over to me (eep). Derek had asked me to do some sort of Asatru thing for the memorial. He’d originally asked for a Blot, but I decided that to do a full Blot would not be appropriate here - I don’t know what Ric’s spiritual path was and the crowd was a mix of folks. So, I decided a simple one-round Sumbel would be best. There were about 25 people there, I guesstimate, so one round was plenty anyway. I explained who I was (these folks know me, but only a few knew before now that I am Asatru) and explained the rite of Sumbel. I told them about how chances were good that a few of their ancestors had participated in this ritual. I explained how in Asatru we honor not only our Gods, but also our family, ancestors and the folk as a whole. I also briefly explained the connection of the mead horn to the Well of Wyrd; how the words we speak over the horn are believed to pass directly into the Well and become bonded with Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life. That’s a lot heavy mysticism to lay on people, but I think I expressed the kernel of the idea in simple enough terms. Point being - what we say matters. We passed the horn, which was full of beer as that was Ric’s main drink of choice. Candy poured the first hornful and spoke the first toast. After each toast, we all responded with the refrain of “Hail Ric!” Toasts ran from simple “I didn’t know him well, but I know he was a great guy” to so very touching words about the man, particularly by Istvan who bore witness to the fact that Ric’s relationship with his mother had been both healing and full of love. Some folk made more light-hearted toasts remembering Ric’s sense of humor. When the horn returned, I raised it up again and said, “No man is poor who does great deeds. He is loved and remembered and his deeds echo through time in all of us.” (or something to that effect, I don’t always recall my improvised speech). Then I poured the remainder of beer onto the tree, still in it’s pot.
The tree was placed in the hole and everyone helped fill in and tamp down the soil using their bare hands. Then the Landsknechts fired off a second round with the canon.
After hugs and a pause to breathe, some of us went over to Chris’s tree where we did similar, quiet sumbel for him. I made Derek lead this one (which he both appreciated and complained about later) . This also was a touching sumbel and Tru words were spoken by all.
So after that, I rejoined Anne Liese and we decided to go out for a little. Hedwigis’s daughter stayed in camp and kept an ear open in case E became upset - which she did anon, but at least we got to go out for a few brief moments. Anne Liese went and hung out at Spanish Peacock. I went to Derek’s camp and had a cup of raspberry wine. Sweet Freedom! ;)
Sunday was the usual struggle to be awake and then to pack up and go, but the weather was good. I still didn’t manage to catch up with many people I’d planned to talk to. *sigh* Next time?
Parenting concerned once again kept me from going out and painting the event red, but I had a pretty good time. E would not sleep at all and both Friday and Saturday nights we struggled with her. It seems it was a combination of the strange and exciting circumstances, the weather, the sounds of people talking and laughing outside our tent, the light from the sodium lamp outside, etc. etc. But both night we didn’t come close to getting her to settle until after midnight. Sunday she was very grumpy as a result and when we finally got home, we all ended up crashing for a late nap before dinner.
So, it was wet. We got in late Friday night and set up camp, we were lucky enough to miss the thunderstorm that came through that evening. We then basically chilled out in camp with Hedwigis and her daughter. I don’t think Her Ladyship could have chosen a better apprentice - Hedwigis as well as her family, are all super people, fun, intelligent and well adjusted.
Saturday was a mix of thunderstorms and gray skies. But it was generally ok. E had a good time playing with her umbrella in the rain, though she did have a couple of panic attacks from loud thunderclaps. We crawled the merchants, which meant a little shopping and a lot of talking with friends and associates long the way.
Tried to get E to nap, but she mostly just played in her bed. I slept a few minutes. Her Ladyship attended the Laurel vigils that were going on. The day pretty much drifted away until court began. Our camp is right nearby where they hold it, so we sorta just popped in and out. I got to see my friend Kajiyama Shinobu-hime get her AoA - the scroll was a wonderful sumi ink painting of Kannon done by a shire member. The artist had borrowed my art books for the project, so I was curious to see how it came out - Keiaiji was floored. I think she has deserved this AoA or some time now, and told her so. I owe her a Cha no Yu at some point.
Anne Liese attended the Laurel inductions. I stayed in camp and heated up our chile dinner. Sadly, I missed John Marshall getting his Maunche and I still need to congratulate him. A very, very well-deserved award, to be sure.
So, after dinner/court (which ran for about 3 hours, IIRC and was wrapped up very fast indeed when yet another thunder storm opened up suddenly) I put E to bed (no, not to sleep,. just to bed) and then ran off to the Landsknecht camp leaving Anne Liese to sit “sleeping” toddler vigil in our camp.
I had been invited to join Derek Fairhair, his household and sundry other shire members for a memorial service for a man who had passed away recently. Ric was the boyfriend of a woman in our shire, Candy, mother of Tanzos Istvan and a serious booster of our group’s efforts. This is one of those odd instances where someone gets their parent involved in SCA and said parent jumps in with both feet and thrives. Anyway, Ric was the man whom she met not too long after the end of a messy divorce. He was a fine gentleman, a real goof-ball, one of those people with that child-like spark that brings cheer to everyone he meets. He and Candy were clearly in love and it was a supreme tragedy when he was taken by illness.
Well, the shire has a tradition of planting trees for members who have passed. Thankfully, we have only one other tree - that dedicated to Christoff (Jadwiga did a good remembrance of him on her LJ this week). So, the shire dedicated a tree to Ric Saturday night and I was asked to be a part of it, I am honored to say.
We processed out to the field where the tree was waiting beside a freshly dug hole. Derek’s Landsknecht household brought out one of their canons. The memorial began with them firing off one round, Candy fired it. Then Kajiyama-bozu (who mundanely is a Lutheran minister) spoke a few words. She related the story of how when asked how he wished to be remembered, Martin Luther told his followers to plant a tree. She read the text of the small plaque that will be affixed to a post in front of the tree - it’s part of a song from Tolkien, but I don’t recall the words (anyone know it?).
Then they handed things over to me (eep). Derek had asked me to do some sort of Asatru thing for the memorial. He’d originally asked for a Blot, but I decided that to do a full Blot would not be appropriate here - I don’t know what Ric’s spiritual path was and the crowd was a mix of folks. So, I decided a simple one-round Sumbel would be best. There were about 25 people there, I guesstimate, so one round was plenty anyway. I explained who I was (these folks know me, but only a few knew before now that I am Asatru) and explained the rite of Sumbel. I told them about how chances were good that a few of their ancestors had participated in this ritual. I explained how in Asatru we honor not only our Gods, but also our family, ancestors and the folk as a whole. I also briefly explained the connection of the mead horn to the Well of Wyrd; how the words we speak over the horn are believed to pass directly into the Well and become bonded with Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life. That’s a lot heavy mysticism to lay on people, but I think I expressed the kernel of the idea in simple enough terms. Point being - what we say matters. We passed the horn, which was full of beer as that was Ric’s main drink of choice. Candy poured the first hornful and spoke the first toast. After each toast, we all responded with the refrain of “Hail Ric!” Toasts ran from simple “I didn’t know him well, but I know he was a great guy” to so very touching words about the man, particularly by Istvan who bore witness to the fact that Ric’s relationship with his mother had been both healing and full of love. Some folk made more light-hearted toasts remembering Ric’s sense of humor. When the horn returned, I raised it up again and said, “No man is poor who does great deeds. He is loved and remembered and his deeds echo through time in all of us.” (or something to that effect, I don’t always recall my improvised speech). Then I poured the remainder of beer onto the tree, still in it’s pot.
The tree was placed in the hole and everyone helped fill in and tamp down the soil using their bare hands. Then the Landsknechts fired off a second round with the canon.
After hugs and a pause to breathe, some of us went over to Chris’s tree where we did similar, quiet sumbel for him. I made Derek lead this one (which he both appreciated and complained about later) . This also was a touching sumbel and Tru words were spoken by all.
So after that, I rejoined Anne Liese and we decided to go out for a little. Hedwigis’s daughter stayed in camp and kept an ear open in case E became upset - which she did anon, but at least we got to go out for a few brief moments. Anne Liese went and hung out at Spanish Peacock. I went to Derek’s camp and had a cup of raspberry wine. Sweet Freedom! ;)
Sunday was the usual struggle to be awake and then to pack up and go, but the weather was good. I still didn’t manage to catch up with many people I’d planned to talk to. *sigh* Next time?