[Sca-cooks] Lainie's vigil was Re: Weather

[Elaine Koogler]

Laura C. Minnick wrote:
> At 06:37 AM 10/12/2006, you wrote:
>   
>> So, when ya gonna tell us all the details, girlfriend? ;oD
>> --Maire, imagining that condensation would be a pain in the patootie in a
>> canvas tent!
>>     
>
> Well, my pavilion is actually nylon Supplex, which breathes well but the 
> moisture beads up instead of soaking in- and drops on you! It was rather funny!
>
> I have a variety of primary texts on Chivalry, and several of them have 
> details on the vigil before being knighted. Since as far as I'm concerned, 
> the three Peerages are all the equivalent of knighthood, the vigil docs are 
> equally applicable. So I went through and cobbled together a plausibly 
> period ceremony for the vigil bath, and went from there. (If anyone is 
> interested in seeing the ceremony, email me offlist and I can send you the 
> Word doc.)
>
> My sweetie brought his French bell so that we could have a place to sleep 
> without dragging all of our stuff in and out of the tent. We set up the 
> poster frame from my bed inside the blue pavilion, and put the bathtub (a 
> plastic 140 gal stock tank- perfect size and shape for one adult) inside 
> the frame- with the bed curtains it afforded quite a bit of privacy for the 
> bather. We borrowed one of those giant 2-burner propane stoves (something 
> like 30k BTU) and heated water in big stock pots. I put herbs and such in 
> the tub before adding the water (sage, rosemary, mint, lemon balm, some 
> oregano blooms, rose petals and a little rose water) so as the hot water 
> was poured in, we had scented steam- the smell was heavenly. :-)
>
> The ceremony going into, during, and exiting from was a series of readings 
> and recited Latin prayers. We even incorporated the pre dieu, which was way 
> cool. My friend Katrine (who is also being Laurelled at Yule feast) went 
> first. She didn't want to get out of the tub. :-) I went next, but the boyz 
> got my water a bit (ok, more than a bit) too hot and even after adding more 
> cold, it was hard to sit and scrub. But I managed. We all stumbled a bit 
> over our Latin (even the herald, who was my student Laurence) and there was 
> lots of joking around, but it was all really pretty special and I'm glad we 
> did it.
>
> After the baths were done, the boyz emptied the tub again and we dismantled 
> the bedframe, and set up chairs and such in the pavilion, for peers to come 
> and talk to us. We'd planned to stay up all night, but it was so cold that 
> we packed it in about 4 and crawled into our beds. I was so cold I dreamed 
> that someone said that is was -60 and I believed them! (That's cold!)
>
> One of the best parts? Getting up in the morning and having leftovers for 
> breakfast! Yum! Mushroom tarts and White Torta and marzipan for breakfast! 
> That's stylin'!
>
> Any questions Maire? Anyone else? Bueller?
>
> 'Lainie
> ___________________________________________________________________________
>
>   
Sounds terrific!  I'd love to have a copy of your ceremony...maybe, when 
one of my students gets elevated, we can use some of the same elements!

Kiri


-- 
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm. 
As you get older, remember you have another hand: the first is to help 
yourself, the second is to help others 

                        -- Audrey Hepburn