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Where do I even begin?
For more than half my life, I have played in the SCA and have studied whatever I can of the Italian Renaissance. With so much rich history of art and culture and yet so many details lost to history (such as how they REALLY got those damned pleats to stay in place so well), I have found it a fascinating challenge all around to try and recreate the clothing and the cooking and the dancing and the culture to the best of my ability. Yet, for the vast majority of this time, I have travelled a solitary path. Why? Well, because most people in the SCA just aren’t interested in that particular time and place. Is that a bad thing? No. Different people just have different interests. Yet, for me, it has been frustrating. Even though I consider myself a mostly solitary kind of a person, when it comes to doing one’s art, I think everybody likes an appreciative audience – not just people to say, “Ooh, how pretty”, but people who understand and really appreciate what you are doing and can speak with authority on what you did right and give you constructive criticism on what you did wrong. As I mentioned during court, as the years have gone on, my frustration has grown. I would see households of people all interested in the same thing do their thing as a group. But I was alone. I would watch reigns go by where so many people would work together on various projects or outfits or concepts. Yet, I was alone. Sure, I have always been included and encouraged to be part of the gang – but that has meant doing someone else’s vision and someone else’s concept. And I have. I have sewn for others. I have cooked for others. I have researched for others. Etc., etc. But where was my turn? Where was my day? Should I give in and change? Or should I just quit? And if I quit, would anybody even notice? I have asked myself these questions – a LOT.
Saturday, I got my day. Finally, finally, finally, I got my day!
Our annual Gyldenholt/Calafia Friendship tourney was ripe for a change in concept. Unlike most events that have a very traditional and carved-in-stone concept (such as Unbelted, which we would never even consider changing!), this event is ideal for doing pretty much whatever we want on the off-years when our Barony runs it. So going against my policy-to-date, this time around I exerted a strong influence on how the event would be run, and I found the perfect person to run the event (Lady Nicolette, you were an organizational Goddess!!!!) For months we worked on the logistics, and tried to build enthusiasm. And now I can confess to you all something –
I WAS SCARED TO DEATH IT WAS GOING TO UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY CRASH AND BURN INTO A FIERY DISASTER!!!!!!!
Yes, I lost sleep. Yes, I had many, many anxiety attacks. Yes, I kept spiraling down into a “What if” scenario of negative possibility. Yes, I even found myself hyperventilating one day to the point where I had to sit down before I passed out as the flurry of emails and messages came flooding in asking for logistical detail over one aspect or another of the event. And on the inside, I was absolutely ready in all ways to make my apologies to people. In my head, I was fully ready to say, “Don’t blame the event steward. She was just doing what I asked her to do”. I was utterly ready to say, “Sure, activities 5, 7, and 9 didn’t work. But hey, this was a first time thing and now we know what not to do next time.” But ya know what?
It worked! IT WORKED!!!!! IT ALL WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every single gorgeous, shiny and intricate facet of the concept worked! But even more important than that, people seemed to really enjoy it.
It worked not only because we had a fantastic steward, but because the leaders of each contrade generated interest and enthusiasm and got people to buy in to the very scary concept of doing something that has Never Been Done Before (at least not here. I have no idea if it has ever been done somewhere else).
At its core, what set this event apart was the fact that it involved a change in formula. 99.9% of the time, the formula for an event in Caid revolves around “a standard double-elimination heavy weapons tourney in a park”. Now, please understand – I have nothing against the heavy weapons activities. And yes, I recognize that double-elim tournies are the gold standard, as that is how we do Crown tourney. But that is NOT the only activity that the SCA has to offer. And in my not-so-humble opinion, I think that too many events tend to focus solely upon this one activity paying little to no attention to anything else – or (at best) only considering them as an afterthought. YES, it takes a lot more work to create other methods/ideas/venues for additional activities. But does that mean we shouldn’t? Certainly not! I want to encourage the heavy weapons fighters, but with no more or less degree than I want to encourage ALL the activities in the SCA – dance, bardic, arts and sciences, thrown weapons, research, etc., etc., etc. There is indeed room for every single bit of it, and I think we all could use a reality check. In so many areas of the SCA, we see a decline in membership and wonder why people are going away. Maybe, just maybe, it is because we aren’t giving them enough reason to stay? Events nearly always give heavy weapons people a reason to stay. What about the dancers? What about the costumers? What about the archers? What about everybody else?
The Palio was, in my eyes, a tremendous success simply because I saw so many people truly rise to the challenge of trying a different concept and stepping out of their own comfort zone to attempt something that they hadn’t done before. Yes, I read all the hashtags for weeks on end, and had to chuckle each time. I know how incredibly frustrating it can be to try something new and say to yourself, “I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, and this is driving me absolutely nuts!” And I am so incredibly humbled that so many people did just that. It is impossible for me to identify what my favorite part of the event was, because everybody in all aspects bent over backwards to do it all to the max. The vignettes, the banners, the pageantry, the performances, the flag twirling, the horse races, the combat, the clothing, All The Things… Sensory Overload in all the best ways!
Will the Palio event be done again in some form in the future? I don’t know. If it is, I think it needs to be done differently with some different concepts to always create some new challenge and shake-up so that it doesn’t go the way of so many events – calcifying into stagnation. Remember – “Tradition” is what we repeat in the same manner over and over because we want to show respect to the working formula that has happened before and continues to give inspiration. But not everything is tradition, nor should it be. Will this event inspire other events to change and shake things up? GODS I HOPE SO! At its roots, the recipe is simple – instead of the typical model of the event being The Tourney with maybe some other itsy bitsy things sprinkled around the sides, think of the event as a whole theme where the fighting is just one of the many aspects of the event. Ask yourself, “what ELSE can we give people to do? How ELSE can we challenge people?” Creating competing teams, I think, gave everybody an opportunity to feel included and feel like part of the overall scheme of things. Because at the heart of it – we all want to feel like we are part of something. It gets really old to just watch the fun. We all want to be part of the fun.
Throughout the course of the day, I found myself just so overwhelmed by what I saw people do. And yes, I just couldn’t stop crying – but all in good ways. And to all of Caid, all I can say is – Thank You. You gave me the day that I have been longing for since I began. And now I feel pretty darned recharged! So now that I have rambled on incoherently for a while, I will just leave you all with this one message. To paraphrase my blubbery mess of a speech in court…
Find your passion and inspiration. Follow it wherever it goes. And take your friends with you.
For more than half my life, I have played in the SCA and have studied whatever I can of the Italian Renaissance. With so much rich history of art and culture and yet so many details lost to history (such as how they REALLY got those damned pleats to stay in place so well), I have found it a fascinating challenge all around to try and recreate the clothing and the cooking and the dancing and the culture to the best of my ability. Yet, for the vast majority of this time, I have travelled a solitary path. Why? Well, because most people in the SCA just aren’t interested in that particular time and place. Is that a bad thing? No. Different people just have different interests. Yet, for me, it has been frustrating. Even though I consider myself a mostly solitary kind of a person, when it comes to doing one’s art, I think everybody likes an appreciative audience – not just people to say, “Ooh, how pretty”, but people who understand and really appreciate what you are doing and can speak with authority on what you did right and give you constructive criticism on what you did wrong. As I mentioned during court, as the years have gone on, my frustration has grown. I would see households of people all interested in the same thing do their thing as a group. But I was alone. I would watch reigns go by where so many people would work together on various projects or outfits or concepts. Yet, I was alone. Sure, I have always been included and encouraged to be part of the gang – but that has meant doing someone else’s vision and someone else’s concept. And I have. I have sewn for others. I have cooked for others. I have researched for others. Etc., etc. But where was my turn? Where was my day? Should I give in and change? Or should I just quit? And if I quit, would anybody even notice? I have asked myself these questions – a LOT.
Saturday, I got my day. Finally, finally, finally, I got my day!
Our annual Gyldenholt/Calafia Friendship tourney was ripe for a change in concept. Unlike most events that have a very traditional and carved-in-stone concept (such as Unbelted, which we would never even consider changing!), this event is ideal for doing pretty much whatever we want on the off-years when our Barony runs it. So going against my policy-to-date, this time around I exerted a strong influence on how the event would be run, and I found the perfect person to run the event (Lady Nicolette, you were an organizational Goddess!!!!) For months we worked on the logistics, and tried to build enthusiasm. And now I can confess to you all something –
I WAS SCARED TO DEATH IT WAS GOING TO UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY CRASH AND BURN INTO A FIERY DISASTER!!!!!!!
Yes, I lost sleep. Yes, I had many, many anxiety attacks. Yes, I kept spiraling down into a “What if” scenario of negative possibility. Yes, I even found myself hyperventilating one day to the point where I had to sit down before I passed out as the flurry of emails and messages came flooding in asking for logistical detail over one aspect or another of the event. And on the inside, I was absolutely ready in all ways to make my apologies to people. In my head, I was fully ready to say, “Don’t blame the event steward. She was just doing what I asked her to do”. I was utterly ready to say, “Sure, activities 5, 7, and 9 didn’t work. But hey, this was a first time thing and now we know what not to do next time.” But ya know what?
It worked! IT WORKED!!!!! IT ALL WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every single gorgeous, shiny and intricate facet of the concept worked! But even more important than that, people seemed to really enjoy it.
It worked not only because we had a fantastic steward, but because the leaders of each contrade generated interest and enthusiasm and got people to buy in to the very scary concept of doing something that has Never Been Done Before (at least not here. I have no idea if it has ever been done somewhere else).
At its core, what set this event apart was the fact that it involved a change in formula. 99.9% of the time, the formula for an event in Caid revolves around “a standard double-elimination heavy weapons tourney in a park”. Now, please understand – I have nothing against the heavy weapons activities. And yes, I recognize that double-elim tournies are the gold standard, as that is how we do Crown tourney. But that is NOT the only activity that the SCA has to offer. And in my not-so-humble opinion, I think that too many events tend to focus solely upon this one activity paying little to no attention to anything else – or (at best) only considering them as an afterthought. YES, it takes a lot more work to create other methods/ideas/venues for additional activities. But does that mean we shouldn’t? Certainly not! I want to encourage the heavy weapons fighters, but with no more or less degree than I want to encourage ALL the activities in the SCA – dance, bardic, arts and sciences, thrown weapons, research, etc., etc., etc. There is indeed room for every single bit of it, and I think we all could use a reality check. In so many areas of the SCA, we see a decline in membership and wonder why people are going away. Maybe, just maybe, it is because we aren’t giving them enough reason to stay? Events nearly always give heavy weapons people a reason to stay. What about the dancers? What about the costumers? What about the archers? What about everybody else?
The Palio was, in my eyes, a tremendous success simply because I saw so many people truly rise to the challenge of trying a different concept and stepping out of their own comfort zone to attempt something that they hadn’t done before. Yes, I read all the hashtags for weeks on end, and had to chuckle each time. I know how incredibly frustrating it can be to try something new and say to yourself, “I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, and this is driving me absolutely nuts!” And I am so incredibly humbled that so many people did just that. It is impossible for me to identify what my favorite part of the event was, because everybody in all aspects bent over backwards to do it all to the max. The vignettes, the banners, the pageantry, the performances, the flag twirling, the horse races, the combat, the clothing, All The Things… Sensory Overload in all the best ways!
Will the Palio event be done again in some form in the future? I don’t know. If it is, I think it needs to be done differently with some different concepts to always create some new challenge and shake-up so that it doesn’t go the way of so many events – calcifying into stagnation. Remember – “Tradition” is what we repeat in the same manner over and over because we want to show respect to the working formula that has happened before and continues to give inspiration. But not everything is tradition, nor should it be. Will this event inspire other events to change and shake things up? GODS I HOPE SO! At its roots, the recipe is simple – instead of the typical model of the event being The Tourney with maybe some other itsy bitsy things sprinkled around the sides, think of the event as a whole theme where the fighting is just one of the many aspects of the event. Ask yourself, “what ELSE can we give people to do? How ELSE can we challenge people?” Creating competing teams, I think, gave everybody an opportunity to feel included and feel like part of the overall scheme of things. Because at the heart of it – we all want to feel like we are part of something. It gets really old to just watch the fun. We all want to be part of the fun.
Throughout the course of the day, I found myself just so overwhelmed by what I saw people do. And yes, I just couldn’t stop crying – but all in good ways. And to all of Caid, all I can say is – Thank You. You gave me the day that I have been longing for since I began. And now I feel pretty darned recharged! So now that I have rambled on incoherently for a while, I will just leave you all with this one message. To paraphrase my blubbery mess of a speech in court…
Find your passion and inspiration. Follow it wherever it goes. And take your friends with you.
