[Sca-cooks] kneeling

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jan 7, 2008, at 9:41 AM, Georgia Foster wrote:

> Most folks who know me know that I have REALLY screwed up knees.   
> Kneeling is a LOW quality recreational experience.  I still do it  
> because I still can.

And for those that can, and can't imagine it being any other way at  
the moment, I expect it may take on a whole new importance to them  
when they can't.

> Yes, I have gotten ragged on by friends who know about the knees and  
> are distressed that I choose to kneel anyway.  I love them all  
> dearly.  I understand that they have my best interests at heart.  I  
> will continue to kneel as long as I can still perform the activity.
>
> I know that eventually there will come a time when I will not be  
> able to (getting old sucks but it totally beats the alternative).  I  
> have been to only one court where kneeling took so long and was so  
> painful that I was not able to stand afterward.  From that court I  
> learned that if, when kneeling, I touch one knee and keep one foot  
> on the floor, it makes standing up afterward somewhat easier.

For the past few years I've brought a walking staff and a little,  
round, leather-covered cushion to events. One knee on the cushion on  
the floor, leaning in the staff on the same side as the cushion, the  
other knee up with the foot on the floor.

> For the worth of it, Artemisia has mostly adapted the policy  
> (depending on who sits the current crown of course) that those who  
> are unable to kneel, stand.  There is generally no need to beg boon  
> of the crown to do so (though it is polite to do so anyway).

Most of what I've seen in the East suggests there is no policy; it  
just traditional for those brought into court to kneel, and for the  
most part, if they cannot, it is equally traditional for the Crown not  
to notice or comment on it. And those who for any reason cannot kneel,  
there's always the option of bowing (essentially to keep one's head  
lower than those of the Crowns), and I sometimes see people standing  
on the very edge of groups to make their non-conformity less blatant,  
and I sometimes see people off to one side, hanging on for dear life  
to the edge of a stage by their fingertips.

Once, I knelt (it was a Viceregal Court, and quite informal) and  
discovered the hard way that I was wearing a filamore and kneeling on  
a layer of small, sharp stones. "Ehhrrmmm. Permission to rise, your  
Excellencies? Please?"

Adamantius (who also could not get up when awarded the Manche,  
subsequently hauled to his feet by a different King -- but he also  
knew I was cooking his Coronation feast)