Among the Bards

Yesterday I went to my favorite SCA event, the Bard of the Mists competition. The Bard of the Mists is the Court Bard for the Principality of the Mists. The Bard has many honors, such as the right to sit next to the Prince and Princess at court, to follow immediately behind them in procession, and to be fed immediately after them at feasts. The Bard may always perform at court, and at some courts is required to present a new piece. (The Bard must also always perform if requested by a child.)

The purpose of these honors and requirements is so that the Bard is aware of all that the royalty do, and is at the center of important events in the principality, so that the Bard may, essentially, write the history of the principality as it happens. To this end, the competition is really a job interview, so see if the competitors can do this job. Yesterday, all four competitors did a fabulous job, and an excellent new Bard was chosen.

All previous Bards are members of the Order of the Golden Branch, and as such we who attend the competition determine who the next Bard will be. (I've been the Bard twice before.) There were something like twelve of us (including one who was a competitor), which was very nice, especially since many of them performed between the competition rounds, so I got to hear quite a bit of good poetry, songs, and music. The final round of competition is the infamous "three words" round, where competitors draw three words from a hat and have fifteen minutes to compose a new piece containing those words. Several of the previous Bards also did this and came up with fun pieces. I thought about doing it, but I've really not written any verse since I last stepped down (shortly after maestrateresa's death), and I just didn't feel like doing it yesterday.

But let's talk about the feast. Mmmmm. Because, if you're going to spend the day listening to bards perform, what better way than to eat a fabulous feast while you're doing it? (Note that I had left my beloved at home to prepare for the fabulous feast we'll be having today. Because, well, I don't cook.) The feast had lovely roasted meats with delicious sauces, plus very nice tiny little tartlets with mushrooms and mint. I didn't try the soups, but all the rest was fabulous. Most of the food was served later in the evening, and I'd missed the comment on FB that we should each lunch beforehand, so I was a little hungry, but that just made the roast course that much better. Yum.

A fun day, filled with good friends and good entertainment, with the delight of coming home to my husband and our friend jeanvieve who was visiting. And today should be a delight as well.