12th Night
It was Twelfth Night on Saturday. I love 12th Night. I hadn’t been to one in 2 years. In 2008, Twelfth Night was in Kingston (with the accompanying Kingston Curse http://dubhease.livejournal.com/67457.html). I’m not sure there was a baronial one last year, in favour of Kingdom Twelfth Night. In our 4 year rotation, it was Caldrithig's turn to host (2002, 2006, 2010). I definitely got to attend because I was autocrat. :)
I set the date early (January 9) because Kingdom 12th Night was the 16th and I wasn’t sure what my schedule was like for the rest of the month. As it turned out, the early date must have suited a lot of people because we had 33 adults (who signed in - some refused to sign in) and 15 children attending. I tried to run a family-friendly event. I had invited my friends with kids and my youth. It turned out that none of them could come, but I have no regrets in inviting them. This was a pay what you can event with no NMS or KET. I thought it would be a great, convenient, small event to check out the SCA.
Because I like themed events (and theme parties in general), we had to have a theme. My theme was “Revenge of the Bunny”. I wore my Viking garb, which I so rarely wear as it is not my period, with bunny slippers and bunny ears. Viking bunny! I had kid sized bunny ears for the girls. Piers wore his usual eyesore Twelfth Night garb - this year with his Mad Hatter's hat.
I came up with a few bunny children’s activities. We had bunny bowling, bunny Twister, bunny colouring sheets, and the game where you put the name of a character on someone’s back and they have to ask yes or no questions to guess who they are. I had 15 different famous bunnies in case the adults had wanted to play too. Several of the kids were too young for some of the games, but we will have the Bunny Twister Board for years to come. I spent a good part of the day with the kids. Andrew (mac Robert) and Elizabeth the Fierce were the best behaved of all the children, giving most of us the hope the children will eventually mature when they get to be Andrew and Elizabeth’s age. Roughly in chronological order we also had: Grainne Fion, Cristabell d’Enzinas, Serafina the Quick, Alana the Quiet, Autumn, Rose of Avalon (I’m trying it as an SCA name until she comes up with her own), Wolfgang, and Jackson. Plus there were Lilyanna and Sebastian who both stuck close to their mommies. That makes 12 children under 12 in total.
Cristabell led some dance; Marie led some singing. Unfortunately, due to autocrat commitments, I only got to sing one of the songs and did none of the dances. I appreciate both of them for leading activities for me. The most popular adult activity was simply talking to each other. I think I know why. Some years the canton holds a Christmas party. Some years people have privately held Christmas parties or New Years parties. This year it just worked out that no one held any of these. Many people had not seen each other since Hare. I think this was also one of the reasons why I had so many people thanking me for holding the event.
One of my SCA pet peeves is court after feast. There were years when I had babies and toddlers and had to miss kingdom court at events or the Court of Misrule at 12th Night because they weren’t starting until 8:00 and my kids were whining because they were used to going to bed at 7:30. The one rank I pulled as autocrat was that I wanted Court of Misrule and Black Peter before the potluck and I wanted the potluck closer to 5:30 than 6:00. Fortunately, we now have so many parents in the canton that having that kind of family friendly schedule wasn’t met with resistance.
The day began with Baronial Court at 1:30-ish. Bunny tails were given out. Taxes were set for Hare as “song”. Given that Marie wrote a song about Quilliam’s victory at Crown Tournament, I’m wondering if that counts and if Caldrithig’s taxes are now officially done. :) I then brought in a 12th Night cake. I had wanted to start doing this as a family tradition, but had not been able to start in 2010 as both January 6 fell on a Wednesday (which is a busy family night) and because we were too busy with SCA 12th Night planning. So, Piers made the cake for the SCA. In addition to some interesting coins that he found at a local shop, he put two dried peas/beans into the cake. One was found by Wolfgang. Ivy and Jason ended up as King and Queen of Misrule.
Court of Misrule was one of the better ones that I’ve ever seen in the SCA. The King and Queen did an excellent job. They had scrolls/proclamations to give out. They called individuals up to be punished by Black Peter before we even got to the populous’ suggestions. Lucia covering Kenny Rogers ranks among many people’s top amusing moments of the day. Many punishment suggestions for Black Peter this year were about our teens/young adults. Some were quite amusing. I called Roan and Robert in together as her sin of “keeping a secret” and his of “manhandling a woman” really went together. I’m happy for both of them.
The potluck seemed to go well. I missed my table going up due to being in the bathroom mopping up a clogged toilet. Piers grabbed some food for me, including Constance's brie tarte, which is the one thing I would definitely have taken for myself. Everyone did a great job: good food & good desserts.
After feast, Duncan performed his Beowulf for children. Although he had done it at Dandelion, not everyone present had been at Dandelion and it was enjoyed. Tsivia sang a silly song; Marie performed her song for Quilliam. I performed the Táin Bó Cúailnge, or rather I performed the very, very condensed version. I did it in about 5-7 minutes ... and I used finger puppets! The only problem was that I had planned to throw characters onto the floor once they had been killed off so that at the end, the floor would be covered with puppets and the futility of the carnage would be visible. However, the kids sat on the floor right in front and as I began tossing finger puppets, they picked them up and played with them. It was cute. And someone told me that she thought of them of being spirits snatching the souls of the dead. :)
I think people had a good time. Events always have a few hiccups. One couple had a hard time finding the church and in retrospect, I should have posted SCA signs and not relied on a Google map on the web page. I didn't get to talk to as many people as I would have liked because I was often busy either with the kids or doing autocrat-y stuff. I know I don't hold offices any more or make it to meetings more than once a year. Once in a blue moon, I get asked if I'm still playing in the SCA. This was, hopefully, my little gift to the canton to make up for all the things I don't do.
I did get to meet a few new people. It was Eleanor's first event. Sarah from the Uber-Shire came with Krystal and it was her first event as well. I got to briefly talk with Catherine, whom I had met at Hare. Piers and I chatted with Jehane and Don. They live about 10-15 minutes away from us and have property large enough to do archery.
Events do not run themselves. I had the greatest of teams: Gabrielle was my gate keeper and Marina was my potluck and kitchen coordinator. I would never have pulled it off without both of them. Piers did my web page and drew my Bunny Twister game and basically did whatever I needed help with, including unclogging a toilet in the middle of feast. Marie and Cristabell ran singing and dance. At the end of the day, Robert the Blue and Andrew swept and mopped the floor. I felt guilty about letting them do it, but my brain was mushy by that point and I let them and was grateful. Thank you all for everything.
I set the date early (January 9) because Kingdom 12th Night was the 16th and I wasn’t sure what my schedule was like for the rest of the month. As it turned out, the early date must have suited a lot of people because we had 33 adults (who signed in - some refused to sign in) and 15 children attending. I tried to run a family-friendly event. I had invited my friends with kids and my youth. It turned out that none of them could come, but I have no regrets in inviting them. This was a pay what you can event with no NMS or KET. I thought it would be a great, convenient, small event to check out the SCA.
Because I like themed events (and theme parties in general), we had to have a theme. My theme was “Revenge of the Bunny”. I wore my Viking garb, which I so rarely wear as it is not my period, with bunny slippers and bunny ears. Viking bunny! I had kid sized bunny ears for the girls. Piers wore his usual eyesore Twelfth Night garb - this year with his Mad Hatter's hat.
I came up with a few bunny children’s activities. We had bunny bowling, bunny Twister, bunny colouring sheets, and the game where you put the name of a character on someone’s back and they have to ask yes or no questions to guess who they are. I had 15 different famous bunnies in case the adults had wanted to play too. Several of the kids were too young for some of the games, but we will have the Bunny Twister Board for years to come. I spent a good part of the day with the kids. Andrew (mac Robert) and Elizabeth the Fierce were the best behaved of all the children, giving most of us the hope the children will eventually mature when they get to be Andrew and Elizabeth’s age. Roughly in chronological order we also had: Grainne Fion, Cristabell d’Enzinas, Serafina the Quick, Alana the Quiet, Autumn, Rose of Avalon (I’m trying it as an SCA name until she comes up with her own), Wolfgang, and Jackson. Plus there were Lilyanna and Sebastian who both stuck close to their mommies. That makes 12 children under 12 in total.
Cristabell led some dance; Marie led some singing. Unfortunately, due to autocrat commitments, I only got to sing one of the songs and did none of the dances. I appreciate both of them for leading activities for me. The most popular adult activity was simply talking to each other. I think I know why. Some years the canton holds a Christmas party. Some years people have privately held Christmas parties or New Years parties. This year it just worked out that no one held any of these. Many people had not seen each other since Hare. I think this was also one of the reasons why I had so many people thanking me for holding the event.
One of my SCA pet peeves is court after feast. There were years when I had babies and toddlers and had to miss kingdom court at events or the Court of Misrule at 12th Night because they weren’t starting until 8:00 and my kids were whining because they were used to going to bed at 7:30. The one rank I pulled as autocrat was that I wanted Court of Misrule and Black Peter before the potluck and I wanted the potluck closer to 5:30 than 6:00. Fortunately, we now have so many parents in the canton that having that kind of family friendly schedule wasn’t met with resistance.
The day began with Baronial Court at 1:30-ish. Bunny tails were given out. Taxes were set for Hare as “song”. Given that Marie wrote a song about Quilliam’s victory at Crown Tournament, I’m wondering if that counts and if Caldrithig’s taxes are now officially done. :) I then brought in a 12th Night cake. I had wanted to start doing this as a family tradition, but had not been able to start in 2010 as both January 6 fell on a Wednesday (which is a busy family night) and because we were too busy with SCA 12th Night planning. So, Piers made the cake for the SCA. In addition to some interesting coins that he found at a local shop, he put two dried peas/beans into the cake. One was found by Wolfgang. Ivy and Jason ended up as King and Queen of Misrule.
Court of Misrule was one of the better ones that I’ve ever seen in the SCA. The King and Queen did an excellent job. They had scrolls/proclamations to give out. They called individuals up to be punished by Black Peter before we even got to the populous’ suggestions. Lucia covering Kenny Rogers ranks among many people’s top amusing moments of the day. Many punishment suggestions for Black Peter this year were about our teens/young adults. Some were quite amusing. I called Roan and Robert in together as her sin of “keeping a secret” and his of “manhandling a woman” really went together. I’m happy for both of them.
The potluck seemed to go well. I missed my table going up due to being in the bathroom mopping up a clogged toilet. Piers grabbed some food for me, including Constance's brie tarte, which is the one thing I would definitely have taken for myself. Everyone did a great job: good food & good desserts.
After feast, Duncan performed his Beowulf for children. Although he had done it at Dandelion, not everyone present had been at Dandelion and it was enjoyed. Tsivia sang a silly song; Marie performed her song for Quilliam. I performed the Táin Bó Cúailnge, or rather I performed the very, very condensed version. I did it in about 5-7 minutes ... and I used finger puppets! The only problem was that I had planned to throw characters onto the floor once they had been killed off so that at the end, the floor would be covered with puppets and the futility of the carnage would be visible. However, the kids sat on the floor right in front and as I began tossing finger puppets, they picked them up and played with them. It was cute. And someone told me that she thought of them of being spirits snatching the souls of the dead. :)
I think people had a good time. Events always have a few hiccups. One couple had a hard time finding the church and in retrospect, I should have posted SCA signs and not relied on a Google map on the web page. I didn't get to talk to as many people as I would have liked because I was often busy either with the kids or doing autocrat-y stuff. I know I don't hold offices any more or make it to meetings more than once a year. Once in a blue moon, I get asked if I'm still playing in the SCA. This was, hopefully, my little gift to the canton to make up for all the things I don't do.
I did get to meet a few new people. It was Eleanor's first event. Sarah from the Uber-Shire came with Krystal and it was her first event as well. I got to briefly talk with Catherine, whom I had met at Hare. Piers and I chatted with Jehane and Don. They live about 10-15 minutes away from us and have property large enough to do archery.
Events do not run themselves. I had the greatest of teams: Gabrielle was my gate keeper and Marina was my potluck and kitchen coordinator. I would never have pulled it off without both of them. Piers did my web page and drew my Bunny Twister game and basically did whatever I needed help with, including unclogging a toilet in the middle of feast. Marie and Cristabell ran singing and dance. At the end of the day, Robert the Blue and Andrew swept and mopped the floor. I felt guilty about letting them do it, but my brain was mushy by that point and I let them and was grateful. Thank you all for everything.