Tournament of the Lily

[chargirlgenius]

Tired - I hope this is coherent!

I did manage to get to bed before midnight the evening before. Yay! I swore years ago that I wouldn't do the up all night before the event deal, since I was going to every event underslept and cranky. I've *mostly* stuck to it!

Things were a bit slow in the morning, including tearing apart the house looking for the pegs for the Glastonbury chair, and jump starting the minivan.

Jeff headed out first to set up before we got there, but the procession and all of that had already started, so he skipped setting up the tent. We need to make a gallery so we can have shade/rain protection without the big annoying tent. It was cloudy and nice yesterday, so we perched our chairs on a rug and were quite happy.

I arrived with the boys, and Edward had slept in the car, so he was grumpy upon arrival. Eventually, both boys fell right in with the other kids, playing, running around, etc. They had a grand time. We'd dropped the toys off in Eadric's tent early on, but never ended up going back to pull them out.

The best part of the day was Faye (not on LJ?) bringing her daughter, Laurel, who was willing to run around after the boys all day. I'll bet Laurel slept *really well* that evening.

The other best part of the day was seeing the highest concentration of well-dressed, single period people in one event. The shot below of the fancy hat club was taken after about half of the fancy hats had left. It was amazing.

The event seemed very short. We arrived, set up, sat down for a bit of chatting, did one round of visiting, and then it seemed like it was over. The boys and I didn't stay for feast, but Jeff stayed to run the table service. I think part of the short feeling is that it gets dark SO early right now. By 5, it was almost completely dark, and we were packing out.

If anybody has pictures of the table service schtick, I'd love to see them!

I could swear I took more pictures than this. But the hat made me feel really handicapped. This is definitely a rich woman's style.

















We'll be at Holiday Faire next weekend. I hope we can find a sitter - it's a crummy event to take the boys to. If we can, I'll probably wear the hat again!

Comments

[noxcat.livejournal.com]

LOVE the hat!

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I still have some work to do, but it won't look much different, just stay on better. :-)

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

You look gorgeous!

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Everyone looks so pretty! (This is why I wear Viking, though... the silly Russian hats scared me. Yes, I know, Burgundian, not Russian. Still scary.)

[janinas-nest.livejournal.com]

I adore an event where the majority of attendees are trying to keep with the theme. We had a lot of other things we had to do this weekend, and had not planned on attending. Nw I am almost glad because we would not have fit in and i would have been very uncomfortable. I only regret missing the display of spectacularness.

[danabren.livejournal.com]

*explodes from the millinery awesomeness*

[silverstah.livejournal.com]

Ack! You look gorgeous - the hat is just so graceful! :) I love the picture of you and the boys - they look like perfect little medieval gentlemen. :)

[salviati.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting pictures! I brought our camera but it didn't leave the bag all day. I'm really enjoying seeing everyone's pictures! I'm really glad you had a good time, and I think the event was a great success. Everyone I've talked to has said they had a great time. Yay!!

Oh, and the table service was awesome. I don't know if anyone got pictures of it, but I felt like it was one of the best parts of the day. I suspect there were folks there who had never seen this done before, and Jeff did a great job of explaining what was going on, who the servers were and why things were done the way they were. It was really cool!

[azpapillion.livejournal.com]

As salviati said, Jeff did a great job of explaining not only to the guests at high table, but the entire room of what was happening at high table: why we didn't have any silverware, the butler, the pantler, and other little things. He of course looked fab in his gown.. :)

Loved the event and by the time the pic of the ladies were taken, more than half of those wearing "cool hats" had already left.

AWESOMENESS!!!!

[dawnhutchings.livejournal.com]

The event was really fun. Mind if I pull the two pictures that I'm in? My camera didn't leave my basket the whole day.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Please do! I think that anabeig actually took the pictures herself.

[maggiebowgirl.livejournal.com]

Love the hat!!!

[rustmon.livejournal.com]

awesomely gorgeous! :) (and I love the kids outfits as well!)

[melaniesuzanne.livejournal.com]

Y'all look so beautiful!

[koshka-the-cat.livejournal.com]

Excellent hat! You look wonderful :)

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

Omg, awesome hat! I adore stuff on head!

[myladyswardrobe.livejournal.com]

So elegant!! Well done.

[reabhecc.livejournal.com]

I guess I do make a cute boy... (and with the surcote, look far less like a Panto hero).

Apparently the awesome book-repair achivist who I babbled at is on lj?

[jljonsn.livejournal.com]

Very cute. I'd go gay if you were a boy.

Rachel is kewl and awesome. In LJ, she goes under anathelen

[quodscripsi.livejournal.com]

Caught my attention.
I do say that a short riding coat and riding boots ala Rene of Anjou would have made the photos go viral.
I'd be interested to see what you would look like with your hair down your bangs trimmed and a proper 15th century hat on.
Ironically I was reading that bit of chronicle about women attending tournaments dressed as men last night.

[reabhecc.livejournal.com]

They must have been very determined women - hose pointed to doublets are not an easy style for women to wear! (for practical reasons)

I am going to give the boy clothes another go when I can wear proper wool hose, and not the borrowed knit cotton which I had on yesterday.

[quodscripsi.livejournal.com]

It was a little earlier like 1390s, but yea also quite difficult for them to have been was wanton as the chronicler says they were. But the late-15th century german women who dressed as a man and had a strap on is another matter.

Wool hose should also hide the girlie knees. ;-) If you are really interested in it some ACW re-enactors have written some really good pieces on women passing as men.

[reabhecc.livejournal.com]

The German women sound like a riot!

It was interesting to realize how awkward it is for women given there are so many tales of crossdressing. I grew up with Twelfth Night and As You Like It, but have not really stopped to consider the niggling details.

Given that this is the SCA, I'm just as happy to be fairly identifiable as female. For serious reenactment, I'd rather stick with easy girl clothes! (But if any of the ACW articles are on line, I'm always up for learning new things...)

[quodscripsi.livejournal.com]

Well atleast until she was drowned for an unnamed crime which basically was sexually assaulting two women.
For a long time in medieval studies cross dressing was overburdened by the Joan of Arc because if you misread the trial transcript it sounds like she was burned at the stake for wearing mens clothing. So since the medieval church was so 'repressive' it obviously would have ended in death. As with most former conclusions about the repressive ability of the medieval church it doesn't pan out.
Most noteably the case of John Rykener who we can't find evidence of him even having been tried for a crime.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1395rykener.html
There are also a lot of medieval tales of female cross dressing like the ones in Shakespeare, cause lets face it he wasn't known for originality. We also have periodic known incidences. Generally it was done for a particular circumstance, like escaping without being noticed or what not then something more daily living.
The Joan of Arc question was pretty well put to rest in Joan of Arc: The Early Debate by Fraioli. In a seminar while discussing another book on Joan of Arc I said that someone would take the good ideas out of the book we read and actually do good scholarship on them and the book we read would be forgotten, the prof at that time was reading Fraioli and was like have you read this, and I hadn't or even knew about it.

[quodscripsi.livejournal.com]

I intended to add that Joan of Arc: The Early Debate is actually a really good book.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I'd like to make one of those dresses someday.

[narniarose.livejournal.com]

You looked fabulous! I love the pic with all the "hats" in it!

[chartreusekitty.livejournal.com]

Love, love, love all the henins!! Yours is really wonderful =)

[soucyn.livejournal.com]

Well done on not only your garb, but dressing your boys as well. It's rare to see such time and attention paid to children's garb. Very Awesome. +1

[jamieblackrose.livejournal.com]

You are the GirlGenius! Great pics, thanks for sharing.