The Sweetest Clancy Day Ever

Clancy Day's theme this year was The Sweetest Clancy Day Ever, and it lived up to its name!

There was an Arts and Sciences contest specifically for a period sweet.  The populace vote was for the 12th Century Shortbread, and the judged entry that won was Honeyed Roman Bread

The Rapier list had three tournaments.  The first was the legendary Ottar's Cup.  This was Round Robin until the finals where it mimics the NHL's Stanley Cup.  It was Master Maximilian Der Zauberer and Warder Lucien Featherstone in the finals, and in the end Warder Lucien drank from Ottar's Cup!  The second tournament was called Love is Blind.  The participants are blindfolded, given noisemakers and a plastic foil like the Division I and II kids get, and led onto the field.  At "lay on" they shake their noisemakers and try to find and tag the other person with the plastic foil.  A great amount of giggling and fun was had.  In the end it was Lady Merrowyn from Ealdormere who took first place!  The third tournament was Warders Hold the Field.  This was a chance for people to have some one-on-one time with a Master (Mistress) of Defense, Warder, White Scarf, or recipient of Thorbjorn's Hammer.  In this "tournament" everybody who participated won!

The armored list had a Single Sword, Single Elimination tournament, but with a twist: if you won, the prize goes to your "sweetheart": the person you are fighting for!  After this there was a Double Elimination Holmgang tournament.  For those of us not of a martial mindset, a Holmgang is fought on a rug (a limited area).  Step off the rug, you're out!  After this there was a Bear Pit that ran until everyone had enough fighting for the day.  There was also a certain Duke working with one of the young boffer fighters in the Rapier lists during lunch break.  It is always heartwarming to see the next generation of Armored fighters being trained up like this!

If shopping is more your style, then The Sweetest Clancy Day Ever had that for you too!  The main hallway of the site was FILLED with merchants selling everything from lampwork beads to leather goods to fabric to essential oils!

We also had our share of "shenanigans" throughout the day.  This year "The Adult Tabard" was passed around to anyone deemed to be "adulting".  The way to get rid of it was to pass it on to someone else who is "adulting".  Much fun was had with this!

To round off the day there was an excellent feast by Eric Edwardson. In keeping with the theme of the event, the bread, pasta, boiled eggs, and meat pies were all heart and rose shaped.  Feast was beautiful and delicious!

TIME TRAVELLING IN MEDIEVAL TIMES---AKA PENNSIC WAR

Picture yourself at Pennsic, a temporary tent city of 10,000 - 15,000 persons. You are no different than a time traveller who has been dropped into a different dimension in time, and are experiencing the time period first hand.
You are walking on a pathway past medieval ships, canvas pavilion tents, gypsy wagons and yurts. Everyone you see is dressed in clothing from anytime from the late 700 to 1500's , whether it be Japanese, Turkish, Mid-Eastern, German, Mongolian, Flemish, Irish, Viking, Italian Renaissance, French or some other ethnic group. You are truly in another world and another time.
You see the pageantry of the Middle Ages with various ceremonies and parades complete with banners and music. You learn the customs when dealing with Royalty or with your own household or family group.
You hear the sounds of battle, laughter, drumming or music during the day and laughter, drumming and music in the evening. You smell food cooking at various encampments, sample some mead and visit public medieval eateries and shops. There is even a educational facility, namely Pennsic University, where you can attend a multitude of classes---some hands-on--- on medieval life, on topics from building a yurt to weaving a belt or making a purse or headpiece to medieval dance or healthcare.
You may simply witness or physically engage in battle with hundreds of other heavy fighters, either in the woods or on the battle field, or you may choose to engage in archery, fencing or thrown weapons (axes or knives). There are also activities for the children such as boppers or the water battle. You may choose to volunteer to be a water bearer at battles, a guard at your camp, or assist in many other ways. Your involvement and your experience of Pennsic is as varied as each individual who attends. Everyone is looking for something different at Pennsic and there is no shortage of experiences.
You may choose to fully engage in the both the daytime and night time activities or simply sit and visit with other like minded persons. There is no television and no game systems to distract and no Ipod to listen to, (though there are furtive looks by some at their futuristic devices ie.cell phones, watches, e-readers and cameras), so that life is spent instead truly experiencing everything around you, without distractions. "
Pennsic is an experience not to be missed.

By Janette Long

Fort Malden Military Heritage Days

A wonderful weekend was had by all. Good food and good friends were enjoyed and new friends were made. The games were highly popular with kids and adults. Also seeing the Vikings fight the Romans on the battlefield was a crowd pleaser.  A big thank you goes out to Devon and Catriona for organizing the event. Nothing would have gone as smoothly if it wasn't for everyone else who was out Micheal, Christina (our Roman slave), Lou, Melanie, Dot, Rick, and all the kids. (I hope I didn't miss anyone).
I have posted pictures to the Facebook group as well.

Y.I.S
Xénia

June 23rd Recap

Sunday June 23rd Starleaf Gate practice

Wow is all I can say, totally unprepared for the response tonight.
We did some melee training and pell work.

... Training- Barekr, Brad , Thorfinn, Damien, Tiberius, Josh, Jordy, Mitchell, Arria , Miroslav,Yukio, Leikos, Draco, Elanore, Eral, Louis, Camilla.

Lots of peeps doing A&S and stuff.

LeBref

Carousel of Nations

We took part in the Children's Village at the Riverfront. Many thanks to those who attended and helped out. This was a busy day and not our usual type demo. The weather held out nicely for the weekend though and fun was had by the many children who stopped by to colour with us.

Helpful Documents

Pennsic War is coming quickly. For those going, hopefully you have preregistered to ensure you have your camping spot. Check our Documents page for some helpful information like An Organized Tent is a Happy Tent.

http://www.emhsgroup.org/#!documents-and-links/c1aoj

Art in The Park

We stirred up a lot of interest at Art in The Park this year. Walking around to interact with the crowd was a great way for us to get our name out and to generate the interest to get people to our Pavillion. Many thanks to all of those who came out to help with this demo. It's our volunteers who make things fun and educational.