SC - Daily living in the 12th Cen (Holms)

[Laura C. Minnick]

Two weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to
attend Crown Tourney in 
the Kingdom of Drachenwald.  It was held in Central
Germany, at Ronneburg 
Castle.  Ronneburg Castle was built in the 12th
Century, has been restored 
although there is quite a lot of original stonework,
carvings, etc. that 
remain.  It is also an inhabited Castle, museum and
restaurant (they have to 
make money somehow to keep it running).

This is where we first came in contact with the SCA.
The ren faire they have there. We were stationed in
Hanau just down the road. 

To put it mildly, it was incredible!  There is a
working medieval kitchen 
(yes, I have pictures in case anyone would like to
see) in which the 
bountiful feast was prepared.  I lost count at how
many courses were served. 
What surprised me the most is how small the kitchen
area was! This one 
however, consisted of a fire pit complete with
cauldron, and a small work 
station.  Because of the changing weather conditions,
the kitchen oftentimes 
fills up with smoke, which floats above your head like
a cloud.

I have cooked in that kitchen!! Its a lot cooler in
concept than reality. The smoke was awful. We had our
local SCA Christmas party there. The group tehre had a
deal witht hepeople at the caslte. Several of our
peole helped with cleaning up the caslte in teh spring
and fall and we all helped provide atmosphere at teh
ren faire, and ran archery booths, period games etc.
ANd in return, we got to use the castle for our local
events for free 2-4 times a year without charge to us.
When we were there, there was a group of Czech
students studying there, and they built a
trebuchet(I'm usr eI spelt that wrong) but we got to
help with the firing. They shot stuff during the day,
and even more impressive they set some stuff on fire
and did it again that nite. It was really great. But
that was our first SCA group we were part of. I have
many good memories of playing at that castle. Thanks
for making me think of it. I've been to grander, more
famous, prettier, castles, but that one is one of my
favorites. 
nisha



  

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