This past Saturday, citizens of the kingdom of Ealdormere gathered for the Lady Mary Memorial Tournament in the Barony of Rising Waters (Niagara region). Under the regal gaze of their Royal Majesties Nigel and Adrielle, members of the Scadian community declared their intention to fight, throw, and shoot in honour of their inspirations. Usually this meant a spouse, partner or friend, in once case the bar wench, and there was much thwackery, stabbery, thwockery and twangery to be had on a glorious day. I wasn’t able to get as many photos as I normally would, for reasons I’ll explain after I’ve shown you some in what will be a much smaller photodump than usual.

Sometimes, being a member of the Royal retinue requires a certain degree of sass…

Members of the populace await their turn to declare, before the thrones, who they’re fighting for (or shooting for, throwing for).

For some, it was a family affair

For others, a solo event (in this case because his inspiration was dispensing libations)

I’m not entirely sure who was showing off who here 😉 Much love…

For the Arts & Sciences crowd, there were two tables: Pride and Humility. The Pride table was for finished works we wanted to show off. The Humility table was for projects we’d learned on/from, or otherwise hadn’t turned out quite how we’d hoped.

There’s a lesson in humility for all of us in this one.

There was a wonderful array of completed works on the Pride table, but I wanted to tip my hat to this one in particular. So you think you can do calligraphy? How about a project of this scale, with a quill? In Latin, to boot?

I also ended up running an impromptu Kumihimo class for pals Meredith (Ali), Thyri (Kat) and Erik (Um… Erik). Good prep for the class being run in a couple of weeks at the Fruits Of Our Labours event!

Baron Toymaker continues to confuse younger Scadians by pretending to be Santa Claus

New Scadian Lisa tried her hand at Axe Throwing for the very first time. She clearly decided it’d be easier to hobble the target, so it would stop moving around when she was throwing.

Their Graces Trumbrand and Kaylah take deciding who does the dishes very seriously.

Sometimes, Jack the Pyrate just has to be Jack.

He doffed the skull faceplate before going a few rounds with Lady Gwendolyn, the Queen’s Champion

Someone told Lord Dietrich that there was going to be a knife fight…

He took it rather seriously!

But when all was said and done they hugged it out. <3

The tradition of the Lady Mary Memorial Tournament is for the higher ranking Ladies of the Kingdom – the Queen, Countesses, Duchesses, Baronesses – to each grant a chosen recipient a single Favour, made by the Baroness of Rising Waters. This year they took the form of a dyed belt flag with a gold medallion in the centre bearing the image of a swan.

Each of the Ladies would announce a single chosen recipient who has, to them, displayed significant virtue or who was otherwise an inspiration to them at the event, showcasing traits that are an example to all. In this particular picture, the couple depicted are from Bad Billy’s Blades, a small business that makes knives and swords and the like. This was, as I understand it, their very first time vending at an SCA event, and the care and concern they went to to make sure that they fit in with the spirit of the event, with the rules and traditions of the SCA, so as to seamlessly blend in with the event and to maintain as best they could the historical environment for the enjoyment of all not only spoke well of them as businesspeople (cater to your market) but also just as people recognizing that this is our hobby, for many our passion, and their efforts to respect the event was commendable.

Now, this is part of why I don’t have as many pictures as usual from court – I was tapped by the royal retinue to be a spearbearer for court, processing in and looking totes McSerious with a big pointy thing for the duration of court. That was all fine and dandy, until…

… I was actually called upon to present myself to the court, to receive an Award of Arms. More on that in a moment, but suffice to say, this particular Lady Mary tournament will stick in my memory for some time…

While there were other awards granted, of particular note was the induction of the Honorable Lady Sciath into the Order of the Wain. She was actually working in the kitchens, preparing the Feast for the event, so their Majesties decided to the entire dang court on the road…

I know kitchen parties are a thing in some places, but this was a new one on me 😉

The event ended with a rather happy Bloke indeed, so let’s take a moment to talk about the things…

Being part of the SCA, and of Ealdormere has been an amazing experience for me. At the Lady Mary Memorial Tournament I was blessed to receive not one, not two, but three items that I’ll cherish.

First, I was gifted with a shoulder bag bearing an embroidered Lost Hemisphere Astrolabe (which, strictly speaking is a rete from an astrolabe rather than a full one, but it’s nonetheless my symbol in the SCA and without). The bag is beautifully made, sturdy, the embroidery is perfect even down to the irregular edges around the outside of the circle, and… I have no idea who the heck made it. At an earlier event my mysterious benefactor left this on a table with some items belonging to some of my friends in the SCA, with a note saying “Give it to him”. Whoever you are, mysterious maker of satchelly things, thank you.

This is the scroll for my Award of Arms. It is signed by the King and Queen, and bears the Royal Seal of Ealdormere in wax. The art is taken from a 14th century French piece found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, though in the original the octopi are angels, and of course the original would not have had my personal heraldic device. The wording is twisted from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The entire piece was illuminated and scribed by hand, using watercolours and gold gauche, and the calligraphy was done using a quill and india ink. Thus unique work of art was presented to me and grants me the right to display my arms (heraldry) on silk banners, and to call myself Lord Graham Day. I’m no longer a peasant, it seems.

I’m not sure if the original piece had the figures standing on 30mm bases, but this is a wonderful example of how the scribes of Ealdormere work to make each piece unique, special, and wherever possible, tailored to the recipient. Receiving this scroll, well… let’s just say it’s quite the thing 🙂

One of the things I’ve loved about the SCA – such that it was actually mentioned by Her Majesty Adrielle when I was given my Award of Arms – is sharing it. Not only with you, my dear Losties, but with any one who wants to talk about it, anyone on the outside who I think might enjoy the shenaniganry, and also with Scadians who’ve been doing this for years, and may have forgotten or become jaded to just how cool and awesome this particular hobby is. At the Lady Mary tournament, Lostie MortymerXT (I’m not sure how he spells his Scadian name – Jurgen?) called me over and introduced me to Lisa, the young lady who slew the axe target earlier. It was my privilege to give her a tour of the event, explain how the SCA works in terms of martial and A&S stuff, introduce her to people, get her onto the thrown weapons and archery ranges, and just generally be her guide at her very first SCA event. I spent the bulk of the day with Lisa, because I remember my very first event(s), the mix of curiosity and uncertainty, and I remember how much easier it was for me to find my feet with the help of Scadians who took me under their wings and made a point of helping me find my groove.

So, the third honour I received was one of the Lady Mary Favours I mentioned earlier, granted to me by Baroness Gema of Rising Waters herself, in recognition of my essentially discarding my plans for the day to help introduce a newcomer understand what we do, why we do it, and how. It was an unexpected honor. This flag will hang from my belt at future events, and I’ll wear it with pride.

So in the end a shorter photodump than usual, but a wonderful day was had. Next on the SCA Agenda is a day trip to Fruits Of Our Labors in a couple of week’s time. Until then, you’ll have to be satisfied with blog posts about tabletop gaming stuff 😉