To begin...

I've been re-enacting since I was 5, and the last 3-odd years of my re-enactment career has been focussed on getting onto the committee for my group. I won't lie, I'm a bit of a political creature; so, of course, the gods decided to put me on the committee for two groups. My current groups are the Knight's Guild of Wessex and Mercia, and Oltramar. I'm treasurer for one and VP for the other. Great fun!

So yesterday and today, KGWM had a show at a school. 110-odd year 6 students. We had an evening of activities culminating in a feast on Friday, and a morning of activities culminating in a Trial by Ordeal for the crime of theft (which was aborted when it was "discovered" by the kids that we had the wrong man).

A few things that astound me: firstly, kids' minds will invent things when they're told certain facts. For example - we found the "stolen goods" (all part of the production we were putting on) in with the gear of one of our members, just before another member, who had been falsely accused, was about to undergo the Trial of Ordeal (Hot Iron was the order of the day). All of a sudden, they were "remembering" how he had gone off to the bathroom and been gone for 10 minutes during the previous night's feast, and how he had a shifty look about him, and one was convinced he'd been seen walking away with the box the goods were in. The guy in question didn't leave the table at all during the feast, and certainly didn't go near the box. Very interesting. Makes you understand somewhat why you have to frame questions to kids very specifically so as not to plant any information that may cause them to re-frame their thinking when asking them about serious things.

Second thing that astounds me is how you can mistake a re-enactor's eating gear as the kind of stuff you'd typically find in a school tuckshop! I had a horrible moment after the feast where I'd lost my eating gear. It had all been together and had all been washed by some of the volunteer parents, but somehow my bowl and spoon had ended up being put away in the cupboard, but my plate, and cup and jug had been put with everyone else's gear... really amazing.

So, okay, that's my first gripe.

Also, people wore stripy socks in the 1200s!! This panel is taken from the Maciejowski Bible, and if you look closely at her legs you can see she is wearing socks striped in two shades of green. So very cool! Means I can indulge in re-enactment and wear awesome socks at the same time!! It's little things like this that make my day :).

Anyway, looooooong couple of days, very tired. Start prac on Monday, so tomorrow will be a prep day (and housework day... LOL!)

Cheers
Nat