[Ansteorra] Vigils for White Scarves

Chris Zakes dontivar at gmail.com
Mon May 7 12:48:34 PDT 2007


At 12:21 PM 5/7/2007, you wrote:
>Salut cozyns,
>
>An interesting thread was initiated on the SCA Chivalry list in 
>response to the first member of the Order of the Western White 
>Scarf. Apparently that gentleman sat a vigil. From an historical 
>perspective, anyone can choose to hold a vigil prior to any major 
>life change, but I began wondering about former and current practices here.
>
>Do candidates for the White Scarf in Ansteorra ever hold vigils? If 
>yes, is this the norm or a rare event?
>
>Merces.
>
>En Lyonel


It's happened a few times in Ansteorra, but it's pretty rare. I can 
only recall two occasions (Christoforo and Ansgar.)

While  it's not my place to tell another kingdom how to run their 
affairs, personally, I don't think it's a good idea. There's already 
enough concern in some places that the White Scarf is trying to be a 
"Junior Peerage," this only reinforces that misunderstanding.


There's also the fact that the SCA's style of vigil has, to the best 
of my knowledge, no basis in history. A medieval vigil saw the 
candidate alone in a church watching over his arms throughout the 
night, not the "receiving line" that's the usual practice in the SCA. 
But that's a discussion for a different day.

         -Tivar Moondragon




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