Ok. The very first order of business upon my returning to my poor neglected blog is to tell all about my experience at my first Renaissance Festival.
My daughter, Mini Me, was performing at the RenFest with her choir so I insisted that we go - my husband and I, I mean. He scheduled the day off of work about a month and a half before the date to ensure that everyone would know he would be gone (of course that didn't stop his cell from ringing 10 times in the 6 hours that we were actually at the RenFest).
I'd spent a full month creating Mini Me's costume from scratch. As my dad said, the costume took nearly as long to make as the actual Renaissance lasted! I'd initially thought it would be much easier but since I'm never one to keep things easy, it became progressively more complicated as the weeks went by. Finally my crippled old body finished Sunday night the day before RenFest. I was tired, aching, and crabby as things had been high stress and not working out how I'd wanted them until the very last minute, but everything was done and I was wired and exhilarated. This of course led to me not being able to sleep Sunday night and when Monday morning arrived (the day of the RenFest adventure) I was running on about 2 hours of sleep.
Fast forward to the actual Festival. As mentioned, I'd never been to one - in fact none of us had - so we didn't really know what to expect. We knew most people would be in some sort of costume and had to stay in character. That was all expected. What I did not know was how incredibly convincing the whole set up would be. I think I'd expected some sad little stands set up selling people's wares - tents, plywood tables, sawhorses - very temporary looking anyway. It wasn't like that at all. The location (not counting the asphalt shingles on the buildings that housed the shops) was convincing in a way I hadn't expected and made it so much easier to fall into the fantasy of RenFest.
We wandered around in the beginning wanting to see what was available for purchase before we actually bought anything. We visited with different shop owners about all they had available and while most of them were a bit on edge with so many teenagers being there (apparently they call this particular day of RenFest "shoplifting day" because so many local high schools are there) they were remarkably friendly to us and willing to talk and joke. Most speaking in accents that I cannot say for sure whether they were real or not (not all, but some). We did learn quickly however that our method of checking out stores and then planning to return to those we liked was a BAD idea. The set up was SO confusing. We were turned around and lost countless times and had a difficult time finding shops we'd liked. We learned that if we found something we really wanted that we would need to purchase it on the spot for fear we would not be able to again locate the same place again.
We struggled so much finding our way around that we actually missed the first two performances of Mini Me's choir. From what she's told us though, we were there for the best one.
Mini Me's plan was to get a henna tattoo done but decided instead on face painting. She had a beautiful painting done on her face that resembled a phoenix. The man who'd painted it on her was stunned by how nicely it turned out and took several photos. (She told us later that there were a lot of people taking her photo and asking where she'd gotten her costume which made me feel pretty great - I need a LOT of validation! LOL) She then found a couple of faerie items she liked and a pseudo glove thing (don't know what you call them). Those were her purchases and fortunately for her we bought lunch for her and one of her friends because she had run herself out of money.
We'd all made budgets for ourselves. You have to because it's far too easy to get carried away - especially when you're a Pagan surrounded by so many fantastic hand-crafted items you just can't find at Target!
My first purchase was a pair of small glass deer - a doe and stag. Deer are important to me and that's all I'm going to say about that - I was just determined to find deer while we were there. My husband was on a mission to find a ring. I had no idea that he'd want a ring, but he did and finally found one that suited him. I'd also convinced him to get a walking stick with an old man's face carved into the side (the old man reminds me a bit of a Druid so I of course loved it). We continued walking around for hours and gazed upon some of the most incredible things I'd ever seen. The artisans didn't seem as offended that you couldn't afford what they offered as much as they appreciated your appreciation of their work. We did.
We watched King Henry and Queen Anne parade through the town with their entire entourage. During lunch there was a young man running through the town with nothing but tights on asking if anyone had seen the "most beautiful maiden in all of the land" explaining that she was probably running and screaming "no! stop! get away from me!" - of course people in our area are very helpful and assisted him in finding this poor woman! LOL (yes, he was part of the show) The best thing I'd seen all day brought tears to my eyes though. There was a group of developmentally disabled people wandering through the village with their eyes enormous and jaws dropped just enthralled with all that they saw. One of the women who was watching over them was stopped by a pirate who decided to romance her for awhile (kissing her hand - well kissing would be putting it mildly). When he'd finished with her one of the small older women in the group hesitantly put her own hand out to be kissed, VERY hesitantly and shyly. The pirate didn't miss a beat, taking up her hand, gazing deeply into her eyes, kissing her hand and smiling at the happy wiggling of the enamored woman! It was so wonderful! She then wanted a photo taken with him so as they stood together she was trying to get her hood down but struggled with it, he helped her, the photo was taken, and the woman who was watching the group gave him a big hug at which time he whispered to her if there was anything they needed at all not to hestitate to let them know! I was just so moved by the whole thing that I wanted to share it with you!
Finally I settled on another item I wanted. In the same style of my husbands walking stick I found a wall hanging. (I'll try to include photos of these things later on) Of course after walking around for hours my back began to ache and my hips, knees, and ankles were killing me. Seeing that the walking stick was helping my husband so much I decided maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for me to get one as well. I found one. Mine is a bit shorter than his and has spirals carved down the length of it but the clincher for me was the top. On the top is a resin dome - with a scorpion inside! Being a scorpio I just couldn't resist and so I chose the cane with the best looking scorpio I could find and that was the one I got. The walking stick did make a big difference in my walking too so all the better.
It was nearing time to leave. I'd purchased a steel rose that was nice but I had a nagging that just wouldn't leave me alone and I told my husband that here we were, with all of these magnificent dragons around us and I just couldn't bear the idea of leaving without some sort of dragon. When he asked where I wanted to get one, I knew just the place.
I'd been on the search for an incense burner for quite awhile but just couldn't find one that I really liked but when I stumbled upon this shop, I knew I was going home with one of their pieces and I did. I purchased Oogie (as seen above but that is the link to the website that offers him and many other fantastic pieces - and such wonderful people!) the dragon incense burner. He's in natural stone color and is just the greatest thing! He has a stuffed up nose (well one side is stuffed with one of his claws, but that counts as being stuffed up right?) and so the smoke from the incense comes out of his clear nostril!! LOL I also got my choice of a free bag of cones so I opted for the sandalwood (the last one!) because I know it doesn't irritate me as some other scents do. Can't go wrong with sandalwood.
We spent the rest of the day talking about what a great time we'd had and only wished that we didn't have to go to Mini Me's volleyball game as we were all tired (yep - even Mini Me - if her boyfriend wasn't going to be at her game she probably wouldn't have gone either) but we did.
If you haven't gone to a RenFest - PLEASE go! It's such a great experience and I had the best time. It took me 5 days to recover, but it was worth every grunt, groan, and day in bed!!
My daughter, Mini Me, was performing at the RenFest with her choir so I insisted that we go - my husband and I, I mean. He scheduled the day off of work about a month and a half before the date to ensure that everyone would know he would be gone (of course that didn't stop his cell from ringing 10 times in the 6 hours that we were actually at the RenFest).
I'd spent a full month creating Mini Me's costume from scratch. As my dad said, the costume took nearly as long to make as the actual Renaissance lasted! I'd initially thought it would be much easier but since I'm never one to keep things easy, it became progressively more complicated as the weeks went by. Finally my crippled old body finished Sunday night the day before RenFest. I was tired, aching, and crabby as things had been high stress and not working out how I'd wanted them until the very last minute, but everything was done and I was wired and exhilarated. This of course led to me not being able to sleep Sunday night and when Monday morning arrived (the day of the RenFest adventure) I was running on about 2 hours of sleep.
Fast forward to the actual Festival. As mentioned, I'd never been to one - in fact none of us had - so we didn't really know what to expect. We knew most people would be in some sort of costume and had to stay in character. That was all expected. What I did not know was how incredibly convincing the whole set up would be. I think I'd expected some sad little stands set up selling people's wares - tents, plywood tables, sawhorses - very temporary looking anyway. It wasn't like that at all. The location (not counting the asphalt shingles on the buildings that housed the shops) was convincing in a way I hadn't expected and made it so much easier to fall into the fantasy of RenFest.
We wandered around in the beginning wanting to see what was available for purchase before we actually bought anything. We visited with different shop owners about all they had available and while most of them were a bit on edge with so many teenagers being there (apparently they call this particular day of RenFest "shoplifting day" because so many local high schools are there) they were remarkably friendly to us and willing to talk and joke. Most speaking in accents that I cannot say for sure whether they were real or not (not all, but some). We did learn quickly however that our method of checking out stores and then planning to return to those we liked was a BAD idea. The set up was SO confusing. We were turned around and lost countless times and had a difficult time finding shops we'd liked. We learned that if we found something we really wanted that we would need to purchase it on the spot for fear we would not be able to again locate the same place again.
We struggled so much finding our way around that we actually missed the first two performances of Mini Me's choir. From what she's told us though, we were there for the best one.
Mini Me's plan was to get a henna tattoo done but decided instead on face painting. She had a beautiful painting done on her face that resembled a phoenix. The man who'd painted it on her was stunned by how nicely it turned out and took several photos. (She told us later that there were a lot of people taking her photo and asking where she'd gotten her costume which made me feel pretty great - I need a LOT of validation! LOL) She then found a couple of faerie items she liked and a pseudo glove thing (don't know what you call them). Those were her purchases and fortunately for her we bought lunch for her and one of her friends because she had run herself out of money.
We'd all made budgets for ourselves. You have to because it's far too easy to get carried away - especially when you're a Pagan surrounded by so many fantastic hand-crafted items you just can't find at Target!
My first purchase was a pair of small glass deer - a doe and stag. Deer are important to me and that's all I'm going to say about that - I was just determined to find deer while we were there. My husband was on a mission to find a ring. I had no idea that he'd want a ring, but he did and finally found one that suited him. I'd also convinced him to get a walking stick with an old man's face carved into the side (the old man reminds me a bit of a Druid so I of course loved it). We continued walking around for hours and gazed upon some of the most incredible things I'd ever seen. The artisans didn't seem as offended that you couldn't afford what they offered as much as they appreciated your appreciation of their work. We did.
We watched King Henry and Queen Anne parade through the town with their entire entourage. During lunch there was a young man running through the town with nothing but tights on asking if anyone had seen the "most beautiful maiden in all of the land" explaining that she was probably running and screaming "no! stop! get away from me!" - of course people in our area are very helpful and assisted him in finding this poor woman! LOL (yes, he was part of the show) The best thing I'd seen all day brought tears to my eyes though. There was a group of developmentally disabled people wandering through the village with their eyes enormous and jaws dropped just enthralled with all that they saw. One of the women who was watching over them was stopped by a pirate who decided to romance her for awhile (kissing her hand - well kissing would be putting it mildly). When he'd finished with her one of the small older women in the group hesitantly put her own hand out to be kissed, VERY hesitantly and shyly. The pirate didn't miss a beat, taking up her hand, gazing deeply into her eyes, kissing her hand and smiling at the happy wiggling of the enamored woman! It was so wonderful! She then wanted a photo taken with him so as they stood together she was trying to get her hood down but struggled with it, he helped her, the photo was taken, and the woman who was watching the group gave him a big hug at which time he whispered to her if there was anything they needed at all not to hestitate to let them know! I was just so moved by the whole thing that I wanted to share it with you!
Finally I settled on another item I wanted. In the same style of my husbands walking stick I found a wall hanging. (I'll try to include photos of these things later on) Of course after walking around for hours my back began to ache and my hips, knees, and ankles were killing me. Seeing that the walking stick was helping my husband so much I decided maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for me to get one as well. I found one. Mine is a bit shorter than his and has spirals carved down the length of it but the clincher for me was the top. On the top is a resin dome - with a scorpion inside! Being a scorpio I just couldn't resist and so I chose the cane with the best looking scorpio I could find and that was the one I got. The walking stick did make a big difference in my walking too so all the better.
It was nearing time to leave. I'd purchased a steel rose that was nice but I had a nagging that just wouldn't leave me alone and I told my husband that here we were, with all of these magnificent dragons around us and I just couldn't bear the idea of leaving without some sort of dragon. When he asked where I wanted to get one, I knew just the place.
I'd been on the search for an incense burner for quite awhile but just couldn't find one that I really liked but when I stumbled upon this shop, I knew I was going home with one of their pieces and I did. I purchased Oogie (as seen above but that is the link to the website that offers him and many other fantastic pieces - and such wonderful people!) the dragon incense burner. He's in natural stone color and is just the greatest thing! He has a stuffed up nose (well one side is stuffed with one of his claws, but that counts as being stuffed up right?) and so the smoke from the incense comes out of his clear nostril!! LOL I also got my choice of a free bag of cones so I opted for the sandalwood (the last one!) because I know it doesn't irritate me as some other scents do. Can't go wrong with sandalwood.
We spent the rest of the day talking about what a great time we'd had and only wished that we didn't have to go to Mini Me's volleyball game as we were all tired (yep - even Mini Me - if her boyfriend wasn't going to be at her game she probably wouldn't have gone either) but we did.
If you haven't gone to a RenFest - PLEASE go! It's such a great experience and I had the best time. It took me 5 days to recover, but it was worth every grunt, groan, and day in bed!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment