Welcome to the Ildhafn 2026-2027 A&S challenge! This online challenge follows in the great tradition of
challenges in the Crescent Isles to help encourage our populace to Do The Things, as well as showcase
some of the amazing talent within our barony.
What to enter: You may enter any project that fits within one of the categories below, and may enter as
many (or as few) categories as you wish. Providing a photo of the finished product, as well as a short (a
few sentences is fine) description of what you did, is all you need! Entries will be hosted publicly here on
the Ildhafn page to inspire others.
Entries can be small or large, simple or complex! The challenge is about getting going in doing and
making things, so taking your first step into a subject area is not only permitted but encouraged.
Entries should be new projects, started this calendar year, and be suitable for use at an SCA event.
Who can enter: Anyone!
Entries are welcomed from adults as well as children, members old and new. Entries can be submitted by
individuals, or by a group. And for those who reside outside of the great City of Ildhafn, and the verdant
and prosperous Canton of Cluain please note that this Challenge is also open to entry from those from
elsewhere in the Crescent Isles, Lochac, and abroad!
How to enter:
Submit the following information to artsandsciences@ildhafn.lochac.sca.org
1) An image of the entry
2) A few brief notes about what you did, how you did it and what time/place in history inspired it. If
you’re keen, you can write more detailed notes, but it’s not required!
Child entries should be entered with the assistance of (and permission from) parents.
When to enter: As soon as you’ve finished your first project! The contest is open now and runs through
until St. Sebastians 2026.
Categories: This years’ categories are based on SCA period Chinese proverbs (谚语 yànyǔ)
- Let he who tied the bell on the tiger take it off (解铃还须系铃人 jiě líng hái xū xì líng rén)
You got yourself into this mess, and you have to get yourself out of it. Finish a project that, in
hindsight, may have been inadvisable OR a project that has drawn blood. - If there are three people walking together, at least one of them can teach me something (三人
行,必有我师 sān rén xíng, bì yǒu wǒ shī)
Teach someone something and post a summary of the lesson. - Good medicine tastes bitter (良药苦口 Liángyào kǔ kǒu)
Make something to do with medicine OR a project that benefited from constructive criticism - Ten years to cultivate wood, a hundred years to cultivate a man (十年树木,百年树人
Shínián shù mù, bǎinián shù rén)
A project to do with wood or self-improvement. - Food is the first priority of the people (民以食为天 Mín yǐ shí wéi tiān)
A project to do with food – growing, storing, or cooking! - Repay good with good (善有善报 Shàn yǒu shànbào)
Make or do something for someone who has done you a good turn. - Two benefits from one action (一举两得 Yī jǔ liǎng dé)
Complete a project that has multiple purposes or that accomplishes two goals. - Replace weapons with jade and silk (化干戈为玉帛 Huà gāngē wéiyùbó)
A project to do with weapons, armour, or luxury goods. - Covering one’s ears while stealing a bell (掩耳盗铃 yǎn ěr dào líng)
Something to do with headwear, ears, or music. - The gentleman understands what is moral; the petty man understands what is profitable (君
子喻于义,小人喻于利 Jūnzǐ yùyúyì, xiǎo rén yù yú lì)
Make a gift/piece of largess OR an item to sell. - When the snipe and the clam grapple, it is the fisherman who profits (鹬蚌相争,渔翁得利
Yù bàng xiāng zhēng, yúwēng dé lì)
Make something to do with fishing, rivers, or the ocean. - Drawing a dragon and adding the eyes (画龙点睛 Huà lóng diǎnjīng)
The little details that make something come to life! Add the finishing touches to an existing
project. - It is a disgrace for a gentleman’s words to be greater than his deeds (君子耻其言而过其行
Jūnzǐ chǐ qí yán érguò qí xíng)
Complete a project you told another person you would do (start date can pre-date 2026) - Water is not a drill for stone (but it can eventually wear through it). A rope is not a saw for
trees (but may still fell a tree if it is pulled over it many times) (水非石之鑽,繩非木之鋸
Shuǐ fēi shí zhī zuān, shéng fēi mù zhī jù)
A project completed through sheer persistence OR a project you finished despite not having the
‘right’ tools. - Only when you know why you have hit the target, can you truly say you have learned
archery
A project relating to archery. - How can the cleverest housewife make soup dumplings without flour? (巧妇安能作无面汤饼
乎? Qiǎo fù ān néng zuò wú miàntāng bǐng hū?)
Make a project involving substitution of a critical material or ingredient. - Heaven is high and the emperor is far away (天高皇帝遠 Tiān gāo huángdì yuǎn)
A project that wasn’t done completely by the book (the emperor is too far away to call you out on
it!); can include a new modification to existing projects.
(1) Song Dynasty, from the poems of Huì Hóng 惠洪
(2,3,13,10) Spring and Autumn Period, Analects of Confucius
(4) Spring and Autumn Period, from the Quanxiu权修
(5) Records of the Grand Historian 史记
(6) Southern Dynasties (464–549) New Wine and Meat 新酒肉文
(7) Han Dynasty, History of the Later Han Dynasty (possibly originally Ovid)
(8) Han Dynasty, Huainanzi 淮南子
(9) Spring and Autumn period, Lu’s Annals of the Spring and Autumn Period 吕氏春秋
(10,16) Southern Song, Lu You 陸游
(11) Warring States Period, Intrigues of the Warring States 战国策
(12) Southern and Northern Dynasties, from the History of Famous Paintings Across Dynasties (历代名
画记)
(14) Warring States Period, Shizi 尸子
(15) Warring States Period, based on text in Guan Yinzi Teaches Archery关尹子教射 Liezi 列子
(17) probably Yuan dynasty, near Zhejiang 浙江