Lesser Known Holiday Traditions by Sadhbh Bheansidhe
In St. Stephen's Day (Dec. 26) in Ireland, small boys in costumes go to houses carrying a stuffed wren, caroling, and asking for money. Children in each household join them until the entire crowd ends up at the neighbor's house to be treated to food and a ceildh (musical evening). The Wren Boys are a tradition going back a thousand years when a wren was beaten out of the bushes and its body hung on a holly branch and paraded to song.
The wren was considered the king of all birds and this ceremony symbolizes the death of the old king and the birth of the new one as the sun gains strength again.
With the protestant tradition in Scotland, Christmas revelry was frowned upon in Scotland. The ancient celebration of Hogamanay on New Year's Eve continued with the traditional oatcakes and drinking the old year out. Evil spirits would roam that night so juniper was burned for protection. Noise, even gunfire, was encouraged and stray dogs driven away so they wouldn't bring in the spirit pack of the Wild Hunt.
The First Footer in Scots households was eagerly anticipated. The first visitor of the New Year brought luck. A man would enter the house with gifts of coal or wood, bread, salt, money and evergreen and stir the fire. The best of luck came from a tall, dark, handsome bachelor without flat feet. (I guess flat feet would be tough to have in the Highlands.)
Another ancient holiday is Plow Monday. The farming season lasted from the first Monday following January 6 to Lammis Day on August 1st. On Plow Monday, the plowmen decorated their plows and went from door to door in costume begging for gifts.
In the next Snore, I will share some February and Mardi Gras traditions in the medieval world. If you know how your persona would have celebrated, please let us know. In conclusion, I have to add this holiday tradition even though it occurs far from the European world. Buddhist monks in Tibet celebrate their New Year by creating yak butter sculptures illustrating a different fable each year. These sculptures reach thirty feet high and are lit with special lamps. So there, State Fair butter cow!
[picture] Art: Seven Swans a'Swimming by Sadhbh Bheansidhe
Olde Fart's Soapbox #54: Secrets of Successful Fighting Part II
The main difference between our martial art and other martial arts is the unique code of chivalry that we play by. Other martial arts have codes of honor (trust me, some of my best friends are teachers in other martial arts), but ours are based on a romanticized version of medieval chivalry. I have also found out that everyone has their unique interpretation of this code. I will point out highlights of my interpretation (which, of course, is the correct interpretation. Really, just ask me).
One. Do not purposely target the forearms. This is crass. This is too easy. Yet, I know several people with white belts who do this. We here in Coeur d'Ennui are above this. If the person has some phenomenal defense and you can't get anything else, then, yes, go for it. But not before.
Two. When fighting with a great weapon, do not aim for anything below the waist. The person will almost always block down, which pushes the weapon into their legs. If you aimed for his legs, he pushed your weapon into his knees. Ouch. Or lower. Really ouch. If you ever took a greatsword in the shins or ankle, you know what I mean.
Three. Do not wait for the person to start to throw a shot, then target the biceps on his sword arm. Again, I know several people with those pale belts who did this. It hurts. It can cause permanent damage. We really don't want to break our playmates. We want them to come back so we can hit them again. And again. And again. Where else can you kill someone, then drink beer with them later?
Four. You should always point out to your opponent that your weapons have thrusting tips. Some of us are blind, and that will change the fighting technique. Besides, it's the threat of the thrusting tips that makes us wary, not the actual use of them.
Five. Hold your temper at all times. If you feel yourself getting angry, take yourself off the field. Anger will only make you fight less effectively, which will increase your anger even more. It is best for everyone involved to just take yourself out. Cool off. Then join in another fight. Again, this is stress relief, this is fun. This isn't real. We don't want to break our friends.
"He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so."
- Walter Lippmann
"Wisdom and virtue are like two wheels of a cart."
- Japanese Proverb
"Goodness is the only investment that never fails."
- Henry David Thoreau
"Do unto yourself as your neighbors do unto themselves and look pleasant."
- George Ade
"We have met the enemy and they are us!"
- Walt Kelly
"The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep."
-Woody Allen
Caoimhin McKee
Things I Have Learned About Cooking After Midnight by Kateryn de Develyn
1. If the bread hasn't started rising by now, it ain't gonna.
2. Making hockey pucks and sword-in-stone bread is possible with dough that won't rise.
3. Waiting to do your pre-cook at the event site kitchen the night before the event is a bad idea.
4. All kitchen help except for one lone out-of-towner will disappear at 10 p.m.
5. Most of the recipes will be discovered to be missing just after the last of the local kitchen help leave.
6. One lone out-of-towner will stay with you until 4 a.m. when you discover she is staying overnight at your place, and you're also her ride.
7. It is possible for two people to make 150 beef rolls, make and bake 30 loaves of bread, and make and bake 30 pies in six hours.
8. After midnight, you aren't nearly as picky about ingredient measurements.
9. After midnight, you aren't nearly as picky about having all the ingredients for the recipe. Oh, marjoram? Let's just add more parsley, no one will notice the difference.
10. Someone's foolproof recipe isn't.
11. Using self-rising flour isn't a good idea for piecrust.
12. Flour will appear to be everywhere in the kitchen - and in your hair.
13. When parboiling chickens, it is better to do just three at a time. Don't ask how I know this. Really, don't ask.
14. You really, really need to pay attention to the time when parboiling chickens.
15. At midnight, you will discover the ovens do not heat evenly.
16. Garlic is impossible to substitute for.
17. There are never any Band-Aids to be found after midnight.
18. For every blister earned chopping vegetables before midnight, you will develop two after midnight.
19. The cleaning supplies won't arrive until 8 a.m.
20. It's real easy to fall asleep on a backless stool.
Herald's Point by Jacqueline de Meux, Cabochard Herald
Answers to last months "quiz." Because we didn't have Yule Court, many people were not able to ask me about answers, so here they are. Please note that Murdoch's is supposed to be a rampant cow that doesn't fly. This is my mistake.
For all who might be interested, during the RUSH session being held at La Grande Tente on February 10, there will be a two-hour consultation class held by VERY experienced heralds. This means they will need prospective heraldry about which to consult during this time, both names and devices. If you have an idea you would like help with, this is an excellent opportunity. You do not have to stay for the whole class.
Also, (Shameless Plug) I will be teaching my Women's Medieval Long Hair Styles class also at this RUSH session. For those who don't get the Mews, it is February 10 in Cedar Falls, Iowa on the UNI campus.
The Lottery
Guess what! We at the Boar's Snore would like to hear from you so much that we have devised a "lottery." The way this works is that if you haven't contributed to the Boar's Snore during the past year (officer reports don't count), your name goes into a hat. Two or three names at Court will be drawn, and the lucky people will either contribute something to our newsletter or be subject to some unspeakable task (Be afraid! Be very afraid!). You need not be present to "win."
Here are a few ideas to write about. Or you can always turn in some artwork.
Topic of your expertise (herbalism, cooking, fighting, archery, music, etc.)
Persona description/story
Why you joined SCA
Story about your favorite event
Story about a recent event
Top 10 list
If you need further ideas, please ask anyone in the Snore staff.
Remember: your article can range from a short paragraph to an epic manuscript. Even if you're not a brilliant writer, our crack newsletter team (or our newsletter team on crack) will make sure you sound good.
If you opt to turn something in to us before the monthly drawing, your name will be withdrawn from the hat.
Odds and Ends
Correction: Lady Winnifred did not write the "Things I've Learned from Sewing at 2 a.m." article in the last Snore. She found it on the Internet.
Faireskye has moved! Baron Guillaume and Baroness Jocelyn (mka Bill and Edy Fudge) now reside at 2431 NW 152nd St., Clive, IA 50325-4519.
Twelfth Night Awards
Baroness Diana was inducted into the Order of the Pelican.
Lord Edward Blythe was inducted into the Order of the Calon Cross.
The Smith Speaks: A series on Smithing Resources by Hans
Part II - My forge and some words about gas vs. coal
I use a homemade forge with a Centaur Vulcan fire pot and hand-cranked blower. The steel and brick side-draft forge seen at http://showcase.netins.net/web/schlosser/steel.htm is my preferred size of forge. The side-draft forge seen at http://showcase.netins.net/web/schlosser/mysteel.htm was made from the hearth of the larger forge in the previous link. The larger was more comfortable. Both of these forges have a very important feature necessary for heating long work such as gate frames and railings. This is the ability to lay a bar through the heart of the fire while the bar lays flat across the hearth, and not held up above the fire by the forge hearthsides.
Look at the side rails or edges of the hearth on both of my forges and you'll notice the sides are cut out so the bar will lay right through the fire. If you plan to heat anything longer than about two feet, you will also need this feature. Otherwise, you must build a bigger fire and pump the blower or bellows much harder. Many store-bought electric blowers aren't strong enough.
Gas is loud and expensive, but you're up and running in a minute flat and don't tend fire. You can fill a gas cylinder at your local co-op or gas station. The gas forge is much lighter than the coal forge and far more portable if using the lighter more fragile insulation as opposed to firebrick. I have used a professional Johnson gas forge and the firebrick liner made it much more resistant to abuse but at the same time made it heavy and non-portable.
A gas forge is left burning whether iron is being heated or not. To turn off the gas each time iron is taken out requires preheat time to get the forge hot again. During that time, the iron won't heat anywhere near as fast since the heat is also being reabsorbed back into the walls of the forge. Most gas forges have very soft and extremely fragile insulation inside, forcing the smith to work very slowly to avoid jabbing the iron into insulation, damaging it each time in the process. And most gas forges don't ever get up to what professional smiths call a "forging heat."
Only a few can ever reach a high heat range, and usually those are built by smiths who have been experimenting with gas forge construction. To build your own gas forge and maybe find one that gets hot enough, try Ron Reil's web site at http://www.webpak.net/~rreil/design.html.
For doing small or relatively few items, I recommend the coal forge, as it is cheaper in the long run and more adaptable to different projects. Heat is a big deal. Work the iron red and you never get much done. Work it just below welding heat and the iron is much softer. While coal is cheaper, the forge costs more up front. It also requires skill to use well. If you know what you are doing, then tending fire takes no more time than using a gas forge except for cleaning the previous day's fire before startup. With a cast iron coal fire pot, nothing will hurt it except pouring water on it when it is hot (it will break), but then there is no reason to pour water on a hot pot anyway. The coal forge will handle any size or shape of iron.
More to come next month in Part III of the series.
On This Day...
February 1: St. Brigid's Day.
February 2: Candlemas; Edward IV smashes the Lancastrians of the West at Mortimer's Cross, 1461.
February 5: Christian Missionaries in Japan killed by order of the local governor at Nagasaki, 1597.
February 8: Mary Queen of Scots beheaded, 1587.
February 9: The Duke of Medina Sidonia is appointed to command the Armada Invencible, 1588.
February 10: Cortez expedition sets sail from Cuba, bound for Mexico, 1519.
February 12: Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, decides to press the question of investitures, 1111. Just for starters, having an army in Rome, he kidnaps the Pope to make sure he has his attention.
February 13: The Burgundians laid seige to Grandson, Switzerland, 1476.
February 16: The Roman barons settled the argument between the Pope and the Emperor in 1001 by running both of them out of town.
February 17: Warwick had such luck at the First Battle of St. Albans that perhaps he thought a repeat today in 1461 was due. It was. This time he was standing on the defensive and the Lancastrian army tromped all over him, making things look bad for the Yorkist cause.
February 18: George of Clarence is drowned in a butt of Malmsey, 1478, wasting forty gallons of good wine.
February 20: Churches in Scotland seem good things to stay out of; James I of Scotland, perhaps the best of the Stuarts, was stabbed to death in Perth Blackfriars in 1437 by Robert Graham.
February 21: Boris Godunov elected Czar of Muscovy, 1598.
February 23: In recognition of the great services of Christopher Columbus, Their Most Catholic Majesties are pleased to grant him a license to ride a mule, 1505.
February 24: The Holy Office strikes a blow for law and order in 1587, excommunicating that unromantic scoffer, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
February 26: The Roman army in Ravenna surrendered to the Ostrogoths, 493, effectively ending the existence of the Western empire.
February 27: The Borderers switched sides when the fighting started in 1545, which meant defeat for the English - or victory for the Scots, if that's your side - at Ancrum Moor.
A Series of Recipes by Kateryn de Develyn
Heidenische erweiz (Heathen (Saracen) peas) von Guter Spiese
1 cup almonds crushed or thinly sliced
1/3 cup honey
1/8 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
1/8 t. ground ginger or 1 t. freshly chopped
2 cups peas
Mix together all ingredients (except for the peas). Heat peas, then drain. Stir mixture in with peas. Serve hot or cold. This recipe is also good with currants.
Diuersa Cibaria
1 1/2 to 2 cups almond milk (made from a pint of boiling water and 1/2 cup ground, blanched almonds whizzed up in the blender and strained)
1 1/2 T. wheat starch, dissolved in a little water or cherry juice
1 to 1 1/2 pounds cherries, weighed after pitting
3-4 T. sugar or to taste (sparingly!)
Puree about 3/4 of your pitted cherries using a mortar, food mill, food processor or blender. Reserve the rest of the cherries as a garnish. Combine the pureed cherries with the wheat starch slurry and most of the almond milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Simmer until thickened. Adjust the thickness by cooking it down a bit if too thin, or by thinning with the last of the almond milk if too thick. Add sugar and salt to taste.
Stuffed eggs
4 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
2 t. cilantro leaf, ground to a paste
1/2 t. onion juice
1/4 t. pepper, ground
3/8 t. coriander seed
ground murri (not included)
2 t. olive oil
salt to taste
Cut eggs in half with a thread (dental floss works great). Push yolks through a sieve and add rest of ingredients. Mix together, adding oil if necessary, until it forms a smooth paste. Fill each white with yolk mixture and pin two halves together with a toothpick. Sprinkle with ground pepper.
Doucetes
8" pie shell
1 c. half and half
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/8 t. mace
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. ginger
3 T. honey
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. clove
1 T. hot water, plus a pinch of saffron threads, mooshed to get the color out
chopped dates or currants (optional)
Mix all the ingredients well, add the saffron. Add chopped dates or currants, if desired. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-50 min, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Book Sources:
Renfrow, Cindy. Take A Thousand Eggs Or More, volumes 1 & 2. Privately printed.
Redon, Odile; Francoise Sabban; & Silvano Serventi. The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy. Translated by Edward Schneider (c) 1998, ISBN: 0-226-70684-2\ISBN: 0-226-70685-0.
Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Pleyn Delit. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. 1979.
Hieatt, Constance B. An Ordinance of Pottage. Prospect Books (London) 1988, ISBN 0-907325-38-6.
Internet Sources:
Stefan's Florilegium at: http://www.florilegium.org/
Medieval/Renaissance Food Homepage: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html
Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga
The National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian has put together an exhibition focusing on the early discovery of America and the wide contributions of the Vikings, including literary research of the sagas, archaeological excavations and historical and environmental research.
A book has been published in conjunction with this exhibit: Fitzhugh, William W. and Elisabeth I. Ward. Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. Smithsonian Institution Press. The exhibit is scheduled to travel to Denver, Houston, and Los Angeles in 2001 and tentatively scheduled for Minneapolis in 2002.
Exhibit website: http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/
Links to Scandinavian Viking sites: http://viking.norden.org
PBS site related to the two-hour episode on Nova: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/
The Viking Answer Lady: http://www.realtime.com/~gunnara/
Upcoming Events
February 3: Clothier's Seminar, Cum An Iolar (S. Johnson Co., KS)
February 10: Winter RUSH, La Grande Tente (Waterloo, IA)
February 15-18: Estrella War, Atenveldt (Phoenix, AZ)
February 24: Chieftains, Three Rivers (St. Louis, MO)
March 12-18: Gulf Wars, Meridies (Lumberton, MS)
[picture] "It's amazing what you can see on late night cable."
Collage by Sadhbh Bheansidhe.
Medieval art taken from a British holiday stamp. Stooges taken from the 3 Stooges Official website.
