A Hurricane Memory

Medieval night with Hurricane Rita

Tonight, the very muggy weather and the threat of Hurricane Isaac is giving me déjà vu. I've never experienced the full force of a hurricane firsthand. But I did have a surreal secondhand hurricane experience, one humid night in southern Tennessee that comes to mind tonight

Keely was still in college in September 2005, and she was a member of  SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), a medieval reenactment group. Her group was attending a reenactment near Columbia, Tennessee, so Isaac and I went along. We arrived late on Friday night in torrential rain, and decided to sleep in a motel instead of setting up our tent in the downpour.

On Saturday, the sun was shining. We drove out to the site, found Keely's group, set up our tent, put on our medieval garb, and had a very hot, humid day of medieval entertainment and activity.  That night, we enjoyed a nice medieval meal with several courses. That ended the official activities, so Isaac and I wandered back to our tent and settled in for the night.

Hurricane Rita, September, 2005

It was still very humid as we lay down to sleep. There was a reason for all that humidity: Hurricane Rita was hitting the Gulf Coast that night. But steamy or not, the weather was friendly in our curious camp in the woods. At midnight, dozens of people in medieval clothing were still gathered around the embers of bonfires, talking and laughing and enjoying homemade wine and mead.

I couldn't sleep, so I turned on my little radio and put on my headset. The emergency broadcast of a Mississippi radio station was coming in clearly, and I listened to it for the rest of the night. Tornadoes, high water, toppled trees, downed electric lines, impassable roads, emergency vehicles-- I participated in a long, dangerous night on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, as I tossed and turned and dozed in my tent. The hurricane in my ears that night was the closest thing to a real hurricane that I've ever experienced.

At daylight, the radio waves became faint, and static overrode the voices.  I turned off my radio and got up from my air mattress, tired and sticky. The camp was quiet at last, except for the twitter of birds and a few loud snores.

We packed our tent and headed back to Kentucky. Somewhere between Columbia and Nashville, we stopped at a Waffle House and had an exceptionally good breakfast. I mentioned that Waffle House breakfast to Isaac a few weeks ago and he remembers it, too.

Oh yeah, definitely surreal.

I do not mean to speak lightly of the dangerous, very real hurricane that people faced that night. As I remember the terrible storm I heard described on the radio, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the path of Hurricane Isaac. Please be careful.

Related:
Hurricane Ike in Christian County, KY

England's ancient Domesday Book goes high-tech

History and Old Stuff... Some Interesting News...

The Associated Press by Jill Lawless
Centre Daily Times, August 13, 2006

LONDON -- The Middle Ages met the Internet age last week when the Domesday Book -- a survey of England conducted almost 1,000 years ago -- went online.

The book, a record of the people and lands ruled by William the Conqueror, is the oldest record held by Britain's National Archives and one of the country's most valuable documents. Now anyone with an Internet connection can -- for a fee -- download copies of handwritten records that provide a picture of life in the 11th century.

Read more: England's ancient Domesday Book goes high-tech

I am so glad I live in the age of the internet. I often think how much my mother would have enjoyed it.

Medieval Book of Psalms Discovered

Some Interesting News...

National Geographic News, by Kate Ravilious
July 26, 2006

A thousand-year-old Book of Psalms has been discovered by a construction worker in a bog in Ireland.

The eagle-eyed worker was using a backhoe to dig up potting soil in central Ireland last week when he spotted the leather-bound book.

Experts called to the site were amazed to find an ancient Psalter Book of Psalms lying in the mud. The archaeologists won't say exactly where the book was found until they are finished investigating the site.

Read more: Medieval Christian Book Discovered in Ireland Bog

See also "Ancient Holy Book Found in Dublin Bog."

In several other stories about the find, I read that the book was open to Psalm 83, a prayer for Israel as she faces many enemies. All in all, what an amazing find!

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medieval
ancient manuscript

Dellfeld and Nünschweiler

All In The Family...

For my family members who read the blog, here is an interesting thing I came across:

Heraldry (coat of arms) for Dellfeld. In the comment it says that the white rose of Martin Luther symbolizes the "importance of Lutheran colonists for the development of the village." George and Elisabeth were Lutherans until they became Methodists after they settled at Gordon, Nebraska.

Heraldry (coat of arms) for Nünschweiler.

Mama said her grandmother told her that in the village (I am not sure which of the villages she meant) the Catholics and Lutherans shared the same church building.

Related post:

My German Ancestors: George and Elisabeth Sees

Banquet Table of Medieval Kings

A real antique

Here are two short articles about the parts of an ancient banquet table of kings that were recently discovered in the Westminster Palace.

Medieval kings' table found at Westminster
News.Scotsman.com, by staff
Fri 9 Jun 2006

Sections of the medieval kings' table smashed by Oliver Cromwell to celebrate the end of the monarchy have been found during renovations to the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster.

The elaborately-carved table is known to have been used by Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots who took the Stone of Destiny to London, but researchers now believe it could date from even earlier.

Read more here: Medieval kings' table found at Westminster

And another report on the find:

Parts of kings' table found at Westminster:

United Press International, by staff
London, June 9, 2006

Sections of a medieval kings' table that was smashed by Oliver Cromwell to celebrate the end of the monarchy, have been found at the Palace of Westminster.

Pieces of the elaborately-carved table were found during renovations in the oldest part of the palace, the principal residence of British kings from the middle of the 11th century until 1512, The Scotsman reported.

Read more here: Parts of kings' table found at Westminster

These are amazing stories.

The Stone of Destiny mentioned in the Scotsman article is a fascinating story in its own right.

There's a tendency for Americans to envy the long recorded history of Europeans. As I see it, The Stone of Destiny and the medieval table of kings and all the history and wonderful structures and paintings and relics and ruins of Europe are part of my history even though I'm an American. My ancestors were European, and beyond that, they were human beings who lived and died, loved, laughed, cried, and dreamed. I am a legitimate heir to the stories and the glory passed down from old times, and I share in the joy of treasures discovered and treasures restored. The history of medieval Europe is my history, and as history of humankind, it belongs to all of us.

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medieval Edward I Stone of Destiny

SCA Weekend

All In The Family... Life in The Upper South... My Various Hobbies...

Keely's medieval re-enactment group had their second annual event over the past weekend. The event was called "Shadow of the Wolf II" and it was held at the Cumberland Centre near Columbia, TN.

Keely's group is named the "Shire of Redewolf's Den", and it is part of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). Redewolf is from Murray, KY, and many of its members are students at Murray State University. Its name honors the native American red wolf, once common to this area and recently reintroduced to the Land Between the Lakes, a few miles east of Murray.

The whole idea of an SCA event is to dress in medieval garb, get together with a lot of other people in medieval garb, and learn about medieval life by recreating it. A typical SCA event might include
∙ classes in various Middle Ages arts and crafts
∙ sword, rapier, and other types of combat
∙ dance classes or exhibitions
∙ a "market" where medieval garb and gear are sold
∙ court, if the King and Queen are present
∙ medieval food, including a multi-course evening feast

This weekend, I tried my hand as a merchant, selling various medieval-like items and cloth that I have gathered over the last year. Amazingly enough, I took in about $110 which wasn't bad considering that my selling prices on most items were very cheap.

As a business venture, we did not break even because there were the costs of the merchandise, buying a table and a sun shelter, the trip down and back, and the event's admission fee. On the positive side, we have an extra $110, we still have the table and sunshelter and some leftover merchandise, and we were going to have the expenses of the travel and admission fee whether we were merchants or not.

So, I consider it a positive experience. We visited with many different people who wandered by, and during the slow times, I finished the handwork on a couple of pieces of garb for Keely that I've been working on for a while. I have caught myself several times saying, "Next time..." as I talk about the weekend. I guess I'll try it again.

One nice thing that happened at this event was that the King and Queen gave Keely and four other members of her shire awards for their hard work and leadership in building their shire and getting these annual events started. Keely is now Lady Catherine the Wierd, and she has a circlet to wear on her head.

In the photo below, Isaac and I are sitting in our little market booth. I have some sewing on my lap. We are both wearing garb that I've sewed (as were several other people!) Our tent is in the background. If we were hard-core re-enactors, we'd have medieval camping gear as well as medieval clothing to wear.



Related:
In May of 2006, we attended the Tennessee Renaissance Festival This blog entry about the festival contains many photos of the different garb and costumes that people were wearing.


Technorati tags: SCA Cumberland Centre medieval reenactment

Adventure of the Castle Ruins

Another Trip Down Memory Lane... Life In Germany...

When we lived in Kleinwallstadt, Germany, we had a wonderful local map that showed all the bicycle trails, walking paths, Roman ruins, castles (either ruined or still occupied), and interesting sites of all sorts.

One January day, I convinced Dennis that we should visit the ruins of Wildenburg, a castle on top of a small mountain (or an extremely large hill).

We left the car in the parking lot at the bottom of the mountain and put Keely in the stroller. (She was about two years old.) There were several marked trails up the mountainside, but Trail "A" was supposed to be an easy route, so we took it and started the climb to the top.

The trail wasn't very well marked and we finally lost it but we continued hiking up and when we emerged on the broad hilltop, we wandered through the woods and across a small meadow and found the castle ruins.

When we were done exploring, we started down the mountain on Trail "A" again, which we had rediscovered (or so we thought.) The forest was dense, and it was a long time before we could finally see the valley through the trees. Then we were sure of what we had been sensing and fearing. The path was leading down a different side of the mountain and we were miles away from our car.

January's days are very short in Germany. We were afraid to go back to search for the path down the right side of the mountain because it was already getting dark.

All we could do was hurry down the wrong side. We finally reached level ground again and hiked across a farmer's field, climbed over the barnyard fence and walked through the sheep and chickens as the farmer observed us curiously from the barn door. Then, a short trip down the lane and we were out to the highway at last.

It was fully twilight by then, almost dark. We decided that I would wait beside the road with Keely, while Dennis hiked down the busy road to our car, at least five miles away. He set off and I settled in for a long cold wait in the dark. I zipped Keely into my coat to keep her warm and sat down on a big rock in the ditch.

We didn't have to wait long. To my happy surprise, Dennis came back in about 15 minutes. Someone offered him a ride and he took it.

All's well that ends well, but we didn't make that mistake again. Before we went on another adventure with that map, we bought a good compass. You might do silly things when it's just two adults but when you have a baby with you, you have to be a little more careful.




Technorati tags: Germany castle ruins adventure map compass

A Medieval Battle Hymn

This morning at church we sang the great old hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God". Martin Luther wrote this hymn sometime in the early 1500's. 
I think it was easy for the churchfolk of that day to imagine a mighty fortress, a sword and shield of victory, a Champion sent out to fight, an attack of enemy hordes, a mighty battle, and finally God himself fighting at their side with the supernatural weapons of the Spirit.

 
Virtually every medieval village was built around a castle or strong house of some sort. When enemies attacked, the villagers retreated to the best fortress they had and helped in the battle.

 
If the Christians of Luther's day had not personally experienced the seige of a fortress, certainly such battles were remembered in their oral traditions and recorded in their written history. Particularly in eastern Germany, they had been attacked by the Magyars and the Mongols, as well as enduring the ongoing skirmishes between local powers and rivals. 

Here is the song text as it was translated from German for the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978.) This is a victory song of the epic battle between God and Satan, waged on the Christian's behalf!

A mighty fortress is our God,
A sword and shield victorious;
He breaks the cruel oppressor's rod
And wins salvation glorious.
The old satanic foe
Has sworn to work us woe!
With craft and dreadful might
He arms himself to fight.
On earth he has no equal.

No strength of ours can match his might!
We would be lost, rejected.
But now a champion comes to fight,
Whom God himself elected.
You ask who this may be?
The Lord of hosts is he!
Christ Jesus, mighty Lord,
God's only Son, adored.
He holds the field victorious.

Though hordes of devils fill the land
All threat-'ning to devour us,
We tremble not, unmoved we stand;
They cannot overpow'r us.
Let this world's tyrant rage;
In battle we'll engage!
His might is doomed to fail;
God's judgment must prevail!
One little word subdues him.

God's Word forever shall abide,
No thanks to foes, who fear it;
For God himself fights by our side
With weapons of the Spirit.
Were they to take our house,
Goods, honor, child, or spouse,
Though life be wrenched away,
They cannot win the day.
The Kingdom's ours forever!