It took me almost a week to recover from the exhaustion of the festivities, followed by the exhaustion of the flu. I guess I'm not the tough hearty lass I used to be, hehe. So here are, for your enjoyment, a few pics from this festival I've been talking about so much.
First, a week of preparations. Of course, most outdoor activities (building, delimitating spaces etc) had to be done in the rain,
...while the brains behind the whole thing were cosily chatting in front of the computer. But such are the attributes of medieval nobility, ain't it so? :>
Friday morning, and the craftsmen begin to appear, filling up the place with all kinds of pretty things. It was good being an organizer, I got loads of free stuff from them!
Friday afternoon it was time for the parade through town, which marked the beginning of the fun part of the festival. Nine knight orders, a band of bagpipers plus all the extras (witch, monks, painters, whores, troubadours, thieves, cripples) made for a pretty impressive convoy of noise and colour.
Flag jugglers in a bus stop; you've got to love the contrast :>
A happy me as part of the parade, together with the armourer. Oh, btw, see the coat of arms on his chest? Guess who sewed it!
.JPG)
The two main attractions of the parade: the witch and the city loon. He was awesome, he even went into shops to scare people, with his fluorecent contact lenses and plague-ridden complexion. The witch was no less awesome, staring into innocent bystanders' eyes and mumbling curses and spells, hehe.
As soon as night fell, all heaven broke loose: dancing, tournaments, concerts, the delicious smell of beasts on a spit and a general feeling of brotherhood and safety. Never in my life have I seen such a huge gathering of people with such similar interests, beliefs and ways of life. It was a delight talking to any one of them. The average age of any given knight order would have to be in the early 20s, but the things they could do! I'll let the pics below speak, and I can only hope they'll convey at least a part of the amazement I felt at their talents.
Szekely whip cracking demonstration:
Dancing lessons, generously offered by the head of the band who had just finished playing on the stage behind us.
A bit of knightly socialising ("can't really turn my head to face you, with this 16kg hood on, but here, have some of my beer")
Guarding the weapons:
The whore house, of course, proved to be the most filmed, photographed and discussed place in the citadel. The girls at work:
The hangman wasn't immune to their charms either:
Thieves were hung...
...the witch was tried...
...accused...
...and burnt...
...concerts were held... (check out Odyssey
here and
here)
...and enjoyed...
...and the thing I liked best out of the whole three days, the fire dance of the group called
Cavalerii Cetatilor Barsei
Sunday night was a night of triumph and ...well, partying :>
Check out these little clips too:
And last but not least, a pic I like, of a medieval me with a not so medieval camera. Special thanks to Ozzy the Talented ;D
Opening gifts (please note the utmost dignity with which we bear our raindeer antlers):
Not so dignified after some wine and cake and blueberry liqueur and oranges and cake and wine...
The deity all Falushtain worships ar Christmas: possum-eyed raindeer-horned black-and-red Shiva :D
Promise I will post pics of my new place after all this enforced socialising holiday is over :>
Being a bit of a Grinch myself, I wish all of you who enjoy this holiday a Merry Christmas.
Today is the day of Old Man Nicholas. He's a nice old man who leaves little gifts in good kids' shoes overnight. The shoes, however, have to be clean, so most kids take the day to make sure their shoes are spotless, otherwise they will only get dusty vegetables put in there.
I just received my first Xmas present. Lovely book, lots of ideas and cool projects. Thank you, Steph&Gary! I'll go drool on it some more now :D
The street this morning:
Bags are packed, see you in Haiti! ;>
Ladies and gents, allow me to present the first snow of the year (and also my first snow in the last 5 years or so), as seen from my kitchen window this morning. If you feel like saying "oh, that's lovely" or anything of the sort...keep it to yourself! I'm packing up to move to the Carribean.
I know you guys don't care much about this, but I've just got to share the awesome experience I had last night: Haggard live! All 16 of them, bless their talented souls! A truly breathtaking show of fire, musical mastery, wild headbanging, humour and magic. No use describing it, you would have had to be there, but here are some pics and a clip.
... the blue blue sky, the insanely straight hedges, Cadbury chocolate (oh! the chocolate), the unmistakable smell of Rotorua, the unmistakable pizza at Ciccio's, chasing pukekos around the lake, "Cheers mate!" on every corner, the butter (no, my name is not Anchor like the butter), Indian food, the hot water beach, stupid customers that smell of horse, being called a dickhead (affectionately), strawberries in January, the river walk on a Sunday afternoon, Spotlight (my long lost friend...), the overweight bunny under the chestnut tree, my queen size bed, funny Maori words, pissy beer and sweet wine, the cheap craft magazines from the lotto shop in Frankton, the funny Indian dude from the Frankton lotto shop who insisted I was Indian too, yucky fish and chips in Raglan harbour, the vibe of Wellington, the haka, movie nights, Grandmother's Garden, everyone's obsession with boats and rugby, lots of soy sauce, pohutukawa blooms, the friendly cat across the road, strangled vowels, "guess the person" games at work, victorian houses, the mouthful of Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, sushi, "she'll be right, mate"...
On we went, to a valley I could only locate on a map rather vaguely. However, we must have chosen the best time of the year to see it. Pretty, aye?
I just had to show you this naughty tree!
And on we went, further on the map of vagueness and on to higher cliffs. The ascent took about an hour and a half, and those of the group who were blessed took off paragliding from the top. The less fortunate of us got 2 hours' descent on wet slippery rock.
One long long day, a grazed knee, a filthy pair of jeans and 2 jellified legs later, I had a good stock of high quality photographic art to show for it. Something like this:
There, chocolate and purple for you! Just the way you like it :D (sorry, couldn't find a pic of an aqua birthday cake). Miss you, thinking of you and hope you get smothered in cool gifts!
...while the brains behind the whole thing were cosily chatting in front of the computer. But such are the attributes of medieval nobility, ain't it so? :>
Friday morning, and the craftsmen begin to appear, filling up the place with all kinds of pretty things. It was good being an organizer, I got loads of free stuff from them!
Friday afternoon it was time for the parade through town, which marked the beginning of the fun part of the festival. Nine knight orders, a band of bagpipers plus all the extras (witch, monks, painters, whores, troubadours, thieves, cripples) made for a pretty impressive convoy of noise and colour.
Flag jugglers in a bus stop; you've got to love the contrast :>
A happy me as part of the parade, together with the armourer. Oh, btw, see the coat of arms on his chest? Guess who sewed it!.JPG)
The two main attractions of the parade: the witch and the city loon. He was awesome, he even went into shops to scare people, with his fluorecent contact lenses and plague-ridden complexion. The witch was no less awesome, staring into innocent bystanders' eyes and mumbling curses and spells, hehe. 
As soon as night fell, all heaven broke loose: dancing, tournaments, concerts, the delicious smell of beasts on a spit and a general feeling of brotherhood and safety. Never in my life have I seen such a huge gathering of people with such similar interests, beliefs and ways of life. It was a delight talking to any one of them. The average age of any given knight order would have to be in the early 20s, but the things they could do! I'll let the pics below speak, and I can only hope they'll convey at least a part of the amazement I felt at their talents.
Dancing lessons, generously offered by the head of the band who had just finished playing on the stage behind us.
A bit of knightly socialising ("can't really turn my head to face you, with this 16kg hood on, but here, have some of my beer")
Guarding the weapons:
The whore house, of course, proved to be the most filmed, photographed and discussed place in the citadel. The girls at work:
The hangman wasn't immune to their charms either:
Thieves were hung...
...the witch was tried...
...accused...
...and burnt...
...concerts were held... (check out Odyssey here and here)
...and enjoyed...
...and the thing I liked best out of the whole three days, the fire dance of the group called Cavalerii Cetatilor Barsei
Sunday night was a night of triumph and ...well, partying :>
Check out these little clips too:
