Re: On outlandish foreign customs

[WzrdKing@aol.com]

Poster: WzrdKing@aol.com

Good Gentles,
    As an outlandish foreigner myself, I must point out that the meanings
behind many of the rituals under discussion here, date very far back to the
early Triassic period of the SCA. As a matter of fact, the custom of not
wearing steel in the royal presence began in, (if memory serves,) the year
1970, when a Court Herald named Sir Richard of Speck, upon being censured by
the Emperor of the mid realm (as he was known back in the days of freon-helms
and court-hobbits,) did attack the emperor and empress with a rusted rapier,
sending them both to the local hospital. In fact the emperor Sir Cool's nose
never did grow back, although he did say he had been considering a vassectomy
anyway. Now admittedly, steps were immediately taken to prevent such a
disastrous occurrence from happening again, (one of which was the banning of
all disgruntled postal workers from SCA membership, which is still a little
known and seldom enforced bylaw,) as well as the banning of steel from the
Royal presence's. And these were also times early  enough in the Society's
history when electric kool-aid was still an acceptable part of many court
feasts. I am certain that this practice also accounts for the necessity of
bowing to empty furniture by lords and ladies who could not be reasonably
certain if there were indeed people, elves or glowing green paramecium
sitting there or not. It also gave rise to the practice of having a
designated walker who would forcibly take gentles by the arm to lead them
into the royal presence, thus avoiding the embarrassment of having tent poles
or other inanimate objects being mistaken for royalty. And though we of a
more refined time may look back askance at such customs as electrified
bagpipes and royal bongs, we must remember the roots of our society, and make
allowances for these rather bizarre holdovers from another epoch.
   Yours in the royal groove,
      Liuther map conan
      Amateur Apocrypher


        "Between Kipling and myself, we encompass all knowledge. He knows all
that can be known, and I know all the rest." MARK TWAIN

=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://sca.wayfarer.org/merryrose/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org