Festival of the Rose

[storytimewithjoe]

This past weekend, we schlepped up to al-Sahid for Kolfinna’s Festival of the Rose. For those SCA-types not in Caid, Festival of the Rose is an event held once a reign dedicated to the arts and sciences – particularly the performing arts – to entertain the Queen. It is a cool concept, and one that I try to encourage whenever my calendar doesn’t explode (which sadly is often). 

 

Coincidentally, this weekend was also the deadline for Pentathlon, and a lot of push was given for people to fill out their paperwork so that they could enter. Evil thing that I am, whenever I found someone who had just finished their paperwork, I offered the Giuseppe gauntlet-throw which usually took the form of, “well, I’m entering too, so in the immortal words of Paris Hilton, GAME ON bitches!” 

 

OK, all evil-kidding aside, I love Pentathlon. I really do. And frankly, the only real “competition” in my eyes involves competing with oneself. I really don’t believe that two items in the same category can often be compared to one another – not really. Two different dishes from two different time periods and cultures really cannot be compared. But, that is the nature of the beast, I guess. I become inspired by the concept of the ideal standard, and, of course, by learning something new in the process. “Win,” “lose”… I cosmically couldn’t care less. The only thing that I care about is receiving back my judging sheets and having at least one of the judges write down some nugget of wisdom that I did not previously know – a different technique, an idea of how to approach the project, or maybe a new sourcebook. If I honestly do the best that I can and someone else beats me, I will be thrilled. Sound nuts? Not really. It means that I still have more to learn (YEAH!) still can get better (YEAH!) and have more resources out there to discover (YEAH!) Now, if I am beat by someone whose most-talked-about entry involves an 18^th century Jananese wardance performed to panpipe music, there Will Be Issues!

 

I really think that right now in Caid, we are in the beginning of a new age. For a long time, Caid lived in what I believe to have been a glass bubble. Because the early players in Caid created a system that actually worked pretty darned well from the beginning, Caid did not suffer a lot of the growing pains that other Kingdoms do. And I think because of that, many people were taken by surprise when someone finally came along that disrupted the system not for everyone’s good, but simply because he could. Now truth be told, this is nothing that the other Kingdoms haven’t gone through. But Caid functioned in the naïve existence that “it will NEVER happen here.” Well… it did. And yes, it hurt. But unlike in other kingdoms, Caid worked hard – VERY hard – to restore the damage. And rather than the disruption becoming precedent for bad behavior, it became precedent of what not to do – ever. Old-timers who had walked away came back, realizing that their absence was not helping. Laws have been restored and strengthened. And the event attendance which had dramatically dropped is beginning to recover. We survived. The storm hit, and we survived. But the question is – NOW what? There are so many directions we can go. I don’t think going backward is a good idea. Sure, we can rely upon our own past and towards what many people consider to be ideal reigns. But I don’t think we can ever move backward. What can we do? Move forward. I think we need to think about and consider some new ideas to meet with the changing of the times. Perhaps event fees (which in the grand scheme of things are ridiculously cheap), need to increase slightly to help build up local coffers. Maybe we need to think of event concepts and event venues that we had not previously considered. Maybe we need to work on activities in addition to simply “tourney in a park”. Maybe we need for more groups to combine efforts to rely upon each other’s expertise in particular event areas (group A run the event, group B do the feast, group C handle gate, etc.) Maybe we should all put as much “oomph” into Great Western War as possible, given the beauty of the site, the great weather, and the overall fun that we all have. Maybe we need to stop whining and bitching about how we don’t feel like our opinion counts at Estrella by creating another war event where we work with another Kingdom that we DO get along with. 

 

The time is ripe right now for some really great and dynamic changes, and I don’t know how many people really know it. No, I am not jumping into this particular foray… yet. My main focus right now is Gyldenholt. And that is how it will be until I finish my tenure as Seneschal. But after that… LOOK OUT! Giuseppe is inspired. And there are fewer forces in nature more stubborn than a Giuseppe who really wants to see something happen. 

Comments

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

The kingdom scribes are doing a lot to promote scribal arts/C&I with the traveling scriptorium, the fiber geeks are doing much the same thing with the fiber arts play days coupled with tourneys. One of the inherent limitations on both of those, and many other arts and sciences is the need to Lug Around Stuff. And then there's working in the wind/drizzle/dust storm. I think if we had fewer, bigger events, maybe that second weekend per month could be for an arts and sciences activity, indoors, in a good location for the teachers. There are a lot of things that work better with longer time blocks rather than a drop in format.