Gulf Wars and Upcoming Midrealm Coronation

Many folks from our Midrealm Kingdom went far South for Gulf Wars in March, 2018. Here are some photos of the equestrian aspects of the event, courtesy of Riddlemoser Photography:

Brian Stoneman took these pictures of our Midrealm King and Queen at Court at Gulf Wars:

Azriel le Fey (see Azriel le Fey: an inspiration to try something new!) and Gebhardt Rauten went to Gulf Wars as German landesknechts:

Amazing garb!

Meanwhile, I’m working hard getting ready for our Midrealm Spring Coronation on May 5th. Besides making new garb, which I’ve posted about a lot, I’m going to be working the Gate for two hours early on the morning of the 5th and then guarding the Royalty Room for an hour.

I’ll also be teaching my class on Women in the Viking Age. This is both a reprise of, and an update to, last year’s class, which I gave first for the Marche of Tirnewydd, my local group, and then for my Barony. See Middle Marches Baronial 12th Night.

In addition to women from the Icelandic family sagas, which comprised last year’s class, this year I’ll be including the Viking/Rus’/Slav Princess, and later Saint, Ol’ga of Kiev. about whom I’ve taught entire classes (see Post-event reviews are in! ), as well as a couple of women figures featured in Norse mythology.

Recently I added an additional hat to wear for Coronation: I’m coordinating a Bardic Circle for the event. This will be a two-hour segment right before evening Court, during which various people will perform for the enjoyment of the populace.

I’ve posted about the Circle on the Facebook pages for Coronation itself, for the Kingdom, and on the pages for each Barony in the Kingdom. That process was educational in itself. I didn’t realize quite how large the Kingdom is, or how many Baronies are in it, until I did some research in order to contact each Barony online.

I’m also going to perform during Bardic Circle myself. I’m thinking about reciting excepts from a Norse mythological poem, “The Volva’s Prophecy,” called”Voluspa” in Old Norse. I would accompany myself on the harp while I recite, which is a very period way to present poetry. However, I’m not going so far as to speak Old Norse! Instead, I’ll use an English translation by Jeremy Dodds.

“Voluspa” is from the Poetic Edda, which was written by Christian monks around 1270 C.E.  However, the pieces in the Poetic Edda are merely the written versions of much-earlier oral poetry that was recited around the halls and long-houses of Norse and Icelandic society. The Poetic Edda, along with the Prose Edda, which was written by  the Icelandic chieftain, scholar and poet, Snorri Sturluson, are our main repositories of source material documenting Norse mythology as it was understood nearly a thousand years ago.

But my reciting parts of “Voluspa” at the Coronation Bardic circle in May is contingent on my being able to memorize them! Which is a pretty tall order at this time of my life, considering the state of my memory. So we shall see….

If I don’t get a cogent portion of the poem memorized, I will instead play Medieval and traditional harp music and maybe sing, which would probably be more entertaining for a contemporary audience anyway, but much less like the way people in Norse cultures were entertained over a thousand years ago. Since our incoming King and Queen, Alric and Katherine, have Viking personas, I’d like to honor them by presenting something very Norse and Medieval. Here is their Facebook Coronation photo:

Now it’s time for me to start cutting out the pieces for my Coronation smokkr. I have lots of work to do to get ready for Coronation! 😛