[ANSTHRLD] Heraldic Investiture

Darin Herndon darin.herndon at chk.com
Sun Oct 25 12:15:13 PDT 2009


My lady pointed me to a YouTube video that she thought a "Court Junkie" would enjoy.  It is a heraldic investiture in AnTir for the Argent Scroll Herald.

For any interested, the link is (or should be if I copied it correctly):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrXgH6Rlluo

For me it brought back memories of my investiture as Star Principal back in October 2003.  For those who watch, there is a long series of "Do you swear..." statements read that the incoming herald accepts or so swears to do.  A lot of the items in that recitation are based on what an English herald swears and I incorporated many of them into the oath I gave Ulsted and Cateau by the Crown list field.

The annointing or "almost baptism" with water they perform was an element in my investing ceremony as well.  They used water only.  In my case, water was used to symbolically represent the washing or removal of all other commitments away from me.  The symbolism was that with all other lesser commitments wash away it left me free to focus on and commit myself to the Star Principal office.  Then I was annointed with wine and "named" Star Principal Herald.

Unlike the lady in the video, I then stood up and took my place as Their Majesties herald in court and recessed the court so the march of precedence for the Crown Tournament could begin.

There had been some talk of bringing elements of the ceremony to Druinne's installation as Principal Herald.  But someone spoke with the Crown and shared the concern that it might be confused with a religious ceremony and the BoD might frown.  It is a period investiture format and occasionally done in other kingdoms in one form or another.  Performed correctly and explained to the gathered crowd while performed, there is really no chance to confuse what is happening with a religious ceremony.  I've always been sad that it never cropped back up and got used for our Principal Heralds more.  Of course, subsequent Principal Heralds may have been just as happy to keep their hair dry.

Anyway, memories.  Thought I'd share.

Etienne

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