Varangians and Bindis

Jo and the boys and I went to the Mediaeval Fair out in the Hills today, driving as far as the really large Rocking Horse and doubling back to find a park. Mediaeval is suddenly popular, or at least today it was.


As soon as we got there we were immersed in skirmishes and duels, plenty of buckled swashes and a lot of guys in armour shouting ninth-century football chants.


Seemed like everyone, and even sometimes his dog, wore some permutation of something that could be classed as "mediaeval", even if some of it looked like they had dragged it off the bed on their way out, but the best of them were very good.


This chap above looked like he found a home in the army...


... and despite appearances, this guy wasn't an Odin worshipper, but wore a Thor hammer which could pass as a crucifix because, as he said with true Viking pragmatism, "It's best to hedge your bets."


I think I saw this chap in the Kevin Costner "Robin Hood" movie. Jo wanted to keep him. All it takes is a bit of black leather and some metal.


The boys tried on some hardware (some innate drive to look like a water tank I suppose). A faithful retainer retained the headgear from completely engulfing them. Liam looked a bit like a letter box. EJ was more comparable to an extra in "Labyrinth".


This gent with a wooden spoon in his hat in case of food actually gave a good history of mediaeval bows, whilst we were lined up at the butts for a turn. (Okay, I just wanted to say 'butt'. Hur hur hur.) Little bits and pieces like a longbowman being able to send off twelve shots whilst a crossbowman was still reloading from his first.


Good to see that not everyone was a warrior or a lady in waiting. Even the lepers got equal time at this fair.


And even the Varangian Guard need to check their exposures sometimes. It's quite likely that a Viking who got work in the Middle East would have had a camera, or at least wished they had been invented.


And here's a further cross section of the population, which in reality had to include farriers and fletchers, not to mention jongeleres, buskeres, gentille pardoneres and even gong-fermers (but you wouldn't use a wind instrument after one of them had played it).


Of course, villages contained many an honest artisan such as the smithy. I suspect some people returned to the car park to find their car missing and an extra large supply of wind-chimes on the market.

There were plenty of things to see, do - and buy. I drooled over the sword tent, where for a little over AUD$200 I could have owned a Viking sword, though I leaned toward the hand-and-a-half Bastard Sword which I had used with some success years ago in, um, a fantasy role playing campaign and if you tell anyone I will of course have to kill you.

While we are there, the next pic is for one of my fellow gamers of the time; we occasionally remarked how, whatever the setting, he always seemed to play a fourth-level half-elven female with a katana (containing embedded spells). So here you go, Kev, I take it back, you weren't making it up ...


This obliging Samurai was one of three who don't just dress up - they really train in the skills that go with the outfit.


The boys, after waiting in line for only about 45 minutes, got their turn to use real bows and arrows. Here we are at the butts (hur hur, he said 'butts' again) where the boys got a couple of minutes arching after their 45 minute wait.


After a few hours of watching grownups hitting each other with weapons, the area was full of kids who had either come in costume or bought plastic swords at the fair, hacking and slashing enthusiastically. Liam and EJ were of course more sophisticated, sneaking in just the occasional swat with a rolled up poster.

And posing for photos with any headgear they were permitted to try.

Well, that was a long post, but wth, I had lots of photos! The best part of the day? Well, the crowd were a fun lot and the re-enactors obliging and patient with photographers, and kids who wanted to try on helmets. The egg and bacon burger was really nice. I'd probably say the SMS that I got whilst at the fair, announcing that Sean and Louise in Washington now had a new little girl, Bindi, was hard to top!

Gidday, Bindi!