My first event

[edricus]

 

As I remember it my first event took place sometime about mid november - mid december 1996 - I might be off a year here, it was the first, and perhaps the only, Champions tournament for the then Crown Principality of Nordmark.

About a year before the Barony of Nordmark (Sweden) had been approved as a Crown Principality and for the second reign Marcus and Katarzyna had won and now served as Viceroy and Vicereine. So this event was a local small event to give them the opportunity to practice as well as for a bunch of us new to the society to get our first experience. I think we might have been max 20 people attending, it was a small and cosy site that Lady Emma had arranged through some relatives, and the atmosphere was great.

I had first seen the SCA some years before at a roleplaying convention in Malmö and got interested but it took a few years before I found my way to the local group the Shire of Attemark.

As it turned out the new Vicereen was a friend at our local student pub which led to me joining for an event. I managed to borrow some garb and found enough stuff at home to work as feast gear, had a sleeping bag and off we went. 

The weather was grey and boring as is typical for that time of the year in that part of Sweden, but as mentioned before the site was nice and cosy with candles and warmth, the singing rang through the darkness and entered my soul filling the heart with joy. The smell of medieval food hit my sense of smell for the first time and a completely new world of spices and flavours showed itself. It is now so long ago but It was a transformative experience. I was helping out in the kitchen and have a memory of carrots with butter and honey that was a marvelous dish. 

Her Excellency the Baroness Nordmark Estrid, or was it Edela at that time, held a short introduction for us who were new, covering a bit of history, courtesy, the chivalric ideals. I often wish that I could give such a good introduction to the SCA as I got at that first event. For it was a great way to get hooked in society.

The champions tournament was as I recall it a mix of several aspects of the SCA heavy combat, a form of duello archery and perhaps chess. I no longer remember who won, but I believe that Matthew, Sigismund and Rhys participated.

There was a court even if I can't say that I remember much about it, more than it was wonderful. As time has passed I have since been to countless more courts, I have held offices, run events, cooked feasts, fought in tournaments, sewn garb, travelled to other groups near and far made many friends and I still smile when I meet the others from that first event at different gatherings across the known world.

As I recall bits of memory from that first experience of the SCA  some 20 years ago I think that I am still trying to find my way back to those moments when I went to my first event.

Comments

[kareina]

Thank you for sharing this, and for describing it so well that I can picture myself there.

[edricus]

My pleasure, I find my self thinking back to that event every now and then.

[korpikuusi]

I'm still kicking myself that I didn't get involved in Finland around that time. My SCA experience would have been Very Different if I had. I try to keep telling myself that being older and in some respects wiser I have more things to contribute.

[edricus]

I know what you mean, I did have a hiatus for quite a few years. The feeling I had when I started and when I came back were similar but different in some ways.

But personally I am glad that you are involved.