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September 27, 2002

Joust the thing: Sport dating to the Dark Ages still has its fans

By IAN SHAPIRA The Washington Post

It is fashionable to sneer at these imitations of the amusements of the
middle ages, but ... they are far more worthy of commendation than the
midnight revels of the ballroom, and other such like recreations of our
silken knights and faded damsels of the cities.

- ``The Memoirs of General Turner Ashby,'' by the Rev. James Avirett, 1867

Antonio Hernandez picked up his first lance just last week, but no one at
the annual jousting tournament in the genteel Fauquier County, Va., town of
Hume could tell he was a rookie.

In practice heats, he was looking deft at the sport, charging 100 yards on
his faithful steed and spearing shower-curtain-ring-sized loops dangling
from wood posts.

Hernandez, aka the Riverton Knight of Paddington farm, quickly became a
crowd favorite at the Leeds Ruritan Club jousting tournament. But his
success was overshadowed by grumblings among the locals that their beloved
pastime, which dates to the early 1900s in this swath of Virginia, is
fading into history.

Newcomers to this territory, where homes are perched on breezy hills
overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains, are not so keen on the whole jousting
bit, tournament organizers lament.

``This was a sleepy, agricultural community. Now it's becoming like McLean
(a booming Virginia suburb just 10 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.),
and nobody ever wants that,'' said David Schumacher, the retired NBC and
CBS correspondent who emcees the tournament every year.

``Some of the new people out here just aren't nice. They act superior to
the locals, and they don't want to try out the joust or even come to the
event.''

It's a different story across the Potomac River, where jousting has been
the official sport of Maryland since 1962, and where the state seal depicts
Lord Baltimore as a knight in armor mounted on his charger. The state plays
host to more than 50 jousts each year - some of which, like those at the
Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, feature lance-to-lance combat.

``Dangerous? Very much so,'' said Mary Ann Jung, royal court director of
the festival, which continues until Oct. 20. "Our guys are not
choreographed, either. They really try to hit, and sometimes they get hurt.

"I've seen guys with frightening bruises and hematomas. What we're doing
out here takes a lot of training and hard work.''

Only a few spots in Virginia offer jousting tournaments or clubs. On Oct.
12, the National Jousting Association, based in Mount Solon, Va., will have
its annual championship at Franklin Park in Purcellville. More than 100
riders are expected to compete.

Jousting originated in Europe in the 10th century as petty but bloody
warfare among knights vying for fame and women. Somewhere down the
centuries, the combatants decided to tone down the violence, opting to
spear rings instead of one another.

Previously, ring-spearing was a training exercise for would-be jousters.

The sport surfaced in this country in the mid-1800s. One of the first
tournaments was in the Shenandoah Valley, according to the National
Jousting Association.

Residents of Hume would like to see a revival of jousting, which they
believe would revive their community as well. In its heyday, the annual
event merited a big barbecue dinner: roast beef cooked for six hours, black
beans, 400 ears of corn picked the night before, and so much iced tea it
had to be served out of trash cans.

``Didn't we used to play bingo?'' Rhonda Stribling asked as she watched
Saturday's joust from a lawn chair with friends.

``Yeah,'' Sally Shoemaker said. "They even had dancing."

Now, with attendance down to a few dozen, a single grill for hot dogs and
hamburgers, a couple coolers with drinks and a plate of brownies are all
that's needed.

As recently as five years ago, 30 to 40 jousters could be counted on, said
Alex Green, the town's 85-year-old patriarch and a jousting aficionado. On
Saturday, their number had dwindled to 13, as the older generation has
retired and hung up its chain mail.

Seriously. Riders used to trot out in full medieval attire: chain mail and
sashes, with emblems draped over their horses.

Modern-day Sir Lancelots prefer the J. Crew look: jeans and polo shirts.

Hume and its neighboring towns of Markham and Orlean, home to well-known
media types and retired CIA operatives, have largely avoided the
development sweeping through central and southern Fauquier, places closer
to Washington, D.C. But small signs along the byways next to
``country-style'' developments signal the transformation in progress: J.D.
& Associates Roofing and Sheet Metal, Maryland Pools, Middleburg Kitchen &
Bath.

Despite such changes, however, the area remains mostly rural, with numerous
cattle and horse farms, even a 60-acre apple and peach orchard.

``I had no idea this whole horse thing is so big out here,'' said Anna
Hofer, 38, a nurse who moved to Virginia from Phoenix about a year ago and
came to check out the tournament. ``I've taken a few horse-riding lessons
with my children, but jousting is kind of out of our league.''


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