[Sca-cooks] Feast Lighting: Was Stuffed Monkey Heads

[lcm at jeffnet.org]

You
know, there are two things to note here:
 1) the great majority of feasts in the middle ages were not held at
night, but in the daytime. This significantly changes our
understanding of table illumination.
 2) when light is needed, it was generally torches, sconces, and the
like. You seldom see candles actually on the tables. And if you think
about how difficult safe service can be when there if open flame on
the table it makes a great deal of sense. Our difficulty of course is
that in an indoor site we generally don't have that option.
 Liutgard
 On Sun 01/30/11  9:05 AM , Elise Fleming alysk at ix.netcom.com sent:
 Audrey Bergeron-Morin wrote:
  >Funny, the feasts I remember, there wouldn't be enough light to
make
  >the difference between pink, purple or brown... in the dark,
  >everything looks either beige, brown or black... :-D
 It's amazing that while we portray the nobility (well, most of us),
our 
 feast hosts act as if they lived in hovels and had no access to
torches, 
 wall sconces or candelabra.  The nobility of period did not eat in
the 
 dark.  Halls were lit as brightly as the host's purse - and status -

 demanded.  Unfortunately, most SCA groups serve feasts in Victorian 
 gloom.  Besides removing "remove" (of course it's "course"!),
inadequate 
 lighting at feasts is one of my "bugaboos".
 I actually did carry a flashlight into one Midrealm feast which was
held 
 in a barn with no electricity.  We truly could not see the dishes!
 Alys K., working on my "curmudeon-inity"
 -- 
 Elise Fleming
 alysk at ix.netcom.com [1]
 alyskatharine at gmail.com [2]
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/8311418@N08/sets/
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