[Ansteorra] Thirtieth Year White Scarf Celebration last week
Jay Rudin
rudin at ev1.net
Tue Apr 21 10:51:36 PDT 2009
It had all the ingredients to be a disaster. Cars stuck in the mud, list
field unfightable so we fought on concrete, event ended early, at least one
car accident, many activities canceled -- a dreary, rainy, muddy event.
Only it wasn't.
It was a shining moment of love and joy and nostalgia and honor and
excitement.
King Gunthar opened with gracious and powerful words. Mistress Hanna,
Baroness Rixende, and Lord Sylvius made a banner for the White Scarf and
presented it in court.
The Roses provided cake and ice cream for the White Scarf birthday party,
with two specially decorated cakes, one with an exquisitely painted top.
We took pictures of all the White Scarves, and various people's lineages.
Don Durrmast returned from An Tir. Don Diego returned from AEthelmarc.
Osprey returned from Gleann Abheann.
We greeted people we hadn't seen in years. Four of the first seven White
Scarves were present.
Three generations of Moondragon.
Don Diego brought a copy of an illuminated family tree of Tivar's White
Scarf all the way from AEthelmarc as a gift for Tivar.
We fought a memorial tournament for Don Christoforo, which Piet won in a
final bout against Stephen Crowley.
Pictures and old documents were passed around (in a notebook compiled by
Mistress Serena), including an 18 year old trivia quiz. (Who won the first
Queen's Champion tourney in Ansteorra? Who was the first Queen's Champion
in Ansteorra? No, they aren't the same answer.)
In front of the assembled White Scarves, Queen Elizabeth gave a Queen's
Rapier to Duchess Sieglinde Syr, for her work in the eighties developing
the bond of love between the fencers and the Queen.
For the first time in over a quarter century, Gilwell challenged the world
(to be fought at Steppes Warlord, the last event for practice before
Queen's.)
Stephen Crowley received the Sable Talon for rapier combat.
And a group of guys, mostly from Shadowlands, spent the afternoon pushing
cars out of the mud. Wet, muddy and unkempt, they produced more laughter
and singing than anyone else. Kudos to their extravagant and sloppy
devotion to helping others. (Kudos also to Darkwood Armory, who donated a
t-shirt to each of them, so they'd have a clean, dry shirt to wear home.)
Wow.
Unto the baronies of Stargate and Loch Soilleir, who chose to honor the
White Scarf in this way, at an event that already had a big theme, my most
humble and appreciative thanks.
Those of you who missed it, well, you won't see another like it for ten
years. (But I can't in fairness call you stick-in-the-muds. We were the
ones stuck in the mud.)
Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin
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