[Steppes] Twelfth Night -- major decision in front of us.

[Jay Rudin]

Based on information from Friday's meeting, the Steppes has a serious policy decision to make about Twelfth Night.

The background:  The Steppes has traditionally had three official events each year, Twelfth Night, Warlord, and Artisan.  Warlord and Artisan are where we choose our ceremonial officers, and Twelfth Night is the kingdom's big winter feast (and usually the last big royal court before Coronation.)

A few years ago, a new kingdom law was enacted, restricting baronies to two official events per year.  Any others must be unofficial, and off the kingdom calendar.  This law affects strictly local events, but not regional or kingdom events.

This didn't affect us at the time, because Kingdom Eisteddfod (the kingdom's premier bardic competition) was being held at Twelfth Night, so it didn't count as merely a local event.  But this year the Eisteddfod will be held elsewhere.

We still need official events to choose our ceremonial officers, so we must choose to do one of three things:
1. Take Twelfth Night off the calendar, and make it unofficial.  This means fewer people will come, and neither the Steppes nor Ansteorra could have a court.

2. Drop the event entirely.

3. Ask nearby branches if they would agree to co-sponsor it with us, and make it a regional event.  If any of the other branches come in on it with us, then it doesn't count against our limit of two events.

I think we should seriously consider option 3.

Twelfth Night is the biggest and, I suspect, the oldest continuing feast event in the kingdom, dating to before the birth of the principality.  Our kingdom uses it as the time when the last peerages in the reign are given, and most Crowns use it as a major court in other ways as well.  Without it, there would be no Steppes court from August until May, and the Steppes Warlord courts would be even longer.

It has a presence that is bigger than the Steppes, so its basic feel wouldn't change much.  If any of the nearby shires went in with us, they would have the advantage of having a bigger showcase event for their chefs and autocrat teams.  If Elfsea went in with us, there would be an additional Elfsea court, but that's not a bad thing.  Closer ties between Elfsea and Steppes would be good for all of us, and Katheryn and whoever is ruling Elfsea in January could use it as a symbol of their new rule.

We need to remember that we can't do this alone -- another group or groups would have to agree, and I don't know if they would want to.  Also, we would be ceding some control of the event -- people from other branches would get a turn as event steward or oter senior staff.  Of course, people from other branches have been working the event, and often cooking the feast, for years.  The Steppes has never been isolated from its friends and neighbors.

It seems to me that our options are to reduce the scope of the oldest feast event in the kingdom, (by taking it off-calendar) or to expand it, by making it a regional event.  I would much rather make our traditions grander than turn our backs on them.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin