[Ansteorra] History

[Jennifer Smith]

Willow wrote:
> Here are some things that were different.
> People didn't camp with their cars. People made a big point 
> of moving their cars Friday night. 

I wish more people would do this. I tend to dislike sites that have the
parking lot within EASY view of the list field, but sometimes we don't have
much of a choice; one of our favorite sites up here in the North is like
that, but we try to stuff all the pretty pavilions onto the field between
the parking lot and the rest of the site, to help block it from view.

> Steppes Warlord was famous for their parties Friday night. 
More on parties below. :)

> Many people wore their costume to set up their camps. 
Sometimes this is more practical than others; if I've driven a long way, I
don't have a place to change clothes until my camp is set up!

> The fighting was more real because the fighters thought it as 
> studying an Marshal Art not a Sport. 
> The fighters fought to show their skill to also to entertain 
> the populace.
> Because the fighting was interesting people watched. 

This, I think, may be a 'where are you/who are the local fighters' thing. I
know of quite a few fighters that ARE looking at it from a historical
marshal art point of view, and are treating it as such. I also know of the
sport-only type fighters, and I agree that they're just not as much fun to
watch.

> the max number of fields we had were four and they were big 
> enough for fighters to actually fight and not run into the 
> ropes all the time. 

Alas sometimes reality bites us, and the list area isn't big enough to
accommodate a really large field, and/or the number of entrants is
surprisingly high and it's either that or be fighting well past when feast
should have started. Still, it's nice to have big fields.

> Ladies and Lords would greet each other in courtly manners 
> and tried to keep the obvious Mundane things down. 

I try to keep a little blanket over my cooler, or hide it under a covered
table. That and keeping a trash can hidden at the back of the pavilion keeps
most of the uglier mundane things (empty plastic bottles, misc trash) out of
sight. It's just not that hard!

> Somebody always made a show of dying. Getting best death was 
> important.
> We often had Ladies Galleries. Gentlemen made a point of  
> paying attention to their ladies. I love watching a lady tie 
> a favor on a gentleman's arm and watching her stand by the 
> list field. 

I've seen this still happen quite a lot.

> There were more performers and sometimes there were funny or 
> entertaining things done between rounds. Often done by the 
> Marshallet. 

Reaallly? I can just imagine the marshals dancing between rounds. Now that
would be entertaining... :)

> Gentlemen kissed ladies more and showed off their legs. They 
> did elegant bows. I haven't seen anyone do an elegant bow in ages. 

I have, but unless you mean kissing of hands, I don't want to see more than
that!

> We had things to do at night. Bardic circles {I ran one that 
> have fifty performers and as many watchers.  Middle Eastern 
> dancing, Persona tavern --like the Green Dragon, games like 
> capture the flag. gambling, Lots and Lots of parties many of 
> them sort of persona. Midnight quest, dancing on the green  
> these are all the things people pay good money to do at Ren 
> fairs and they are getting more popular all the time. 

More on late-night parties below. :)

> We did things on Sunday. Usually the Knights taught a little 
> in the morning and sometimes we had Melees. We didn't close 
> up at noon. 

Sometimes site rules have us closing early, but in general I agree.
Activities at least until noon aren't too bad even for those folks that have
a decent drive back home. (A really long drive, I agree you want to get
going as early as possible on Sunday.) In Mooneschadowe our titled rapier
tourney (and all of our newcomers tourneys) are on Sunday morning.

> Steppes Warlord usually had a great party Sunday night and it 
> usually had a quest on Monday. 
> You compare that to some of the events I have been to lately. 
> Site is dead by 10.PM. Most of the activities are put between 
> 10 AM and 5Pm. Yes, before any one yells at me I know that 
> there are events that are doing some of these things but I 
> only hear about them I haven't been there. 

Right, so, parties....

I certainly don't mind late-night parties!  But, I have to tell you, I'm not
going to be at any of them.

I have two children (8 and almost 4), and their NORMAL bedtime is between 8
and 8:30pm. At events, this translates to somewhere between 9 and 10pm, 10pm
at the latest. Obviously, they're not going to be left alone in the tent, so
at least one parent is 'stuck' watching the kids. (I'm usually tired from
chasing them all day, so will be passing out shortly myself.) I know a lot
of parents in the same boat. So who, exactly, is throwing the parties? Half
your population is out, due to kids.

I like falling asleep to the sound of drums, or singing, as LONG as it's not
horribly loud (I try not to camp too close to where I know the hafla-lovers
will be), or obscene. Bawdy songs are one thing, but with kids in the
I-parrot-everything-I-hear stage, the last thing I need is for them to hear
loud drunken idiots singing right outside our tent. Fortunately, I haven't
had much problem with that, only having to go outside once to politely tell
a few people that children were sleeping inside the tent (and they promptly
moved with apologies).

-Emma de Fetherstan