Event Report: St Sebastian's

The Braythwayte Manor hosted the Feast of St Sebastian for the third time last weekend.  Five of us from Ildhafn City, plus Amalie visiting from Southron Gaard, travelled to Rotorua for the event.  Of course, St Sebastian is the patron of archers, so there was much shooting in a wide variety of archery games.  Judging by the bruises on Anna's arm, she is indeed an Iron Lady, if possibly a slow learner. 

There was a wide variety of other "village games" including village football: an all-ages all-in brawl to get a large, stuffed sack to the opposing team's gate.  I certainly found the challenge of running the ball to victory despite the variety of small children clinging tenaciously to my arms and legs beyond my athletic ability.  Another game involved standing on a hay bale whilst swinging a stuffed sack at an opponent, attempting to knock them off their bale; a sort of medieval pillow fight.  There was also a sort of sumo wrestling on stilts.  Elizabeth was kind enough to provide music for the refined activity of dancing.

Perhaps the highlight for me was the fire starting competion.  Edward demonstrated the use of flint and steel to start a fire, and offered a very fine wooden chest to the one who could most quickly light a lantern with the provided equipment.  Our own Anna lead the way, being the first to successfully record a time, but the chest was ultimately won by Svartr, with a very fast time (around a minute and a half).

Another aspect of the event was that of a harvest festival, and the harvest this year was clearly a good one.  We were treated to fabulous meals, including a sheep roasted on a spit (over the camp fire), and wild rabbit stew.

Despite the available activities, there was still plenty of time for relaxing and enjoying the fine weather and good company.  Caterine took advantage of the warm afternoon to get some button-holes done.  Naturally, Eleanor, Heloise and I took our weapons with us, and returned with enough bruises to show we hadn't been completely idle (thanks, Robert).

Once again, Edward and Elizabeth were terrific hosts.  Special thanks as well to Serafina, who was clearly working hard all weekend to make it all happen, as well as slipping us a modicum of contraband substances (mmm, coffee).

There are pictures of the event on the Cluain gallery.