Barony of Dragon’s Laire
&
Barony of Blatha An Oir
Their Excellencies Dragon’s Laire and Blatha An Oir invite you to join us for camaraderie and feasting, as we celebrate a joint Candlemas in the borderlands on February 4th, 2023.
The day will include a variety of classes and Scholars presentations.
Their Excellencies Blatha An Oir will entertain Sergeantry program applications.
A fine feast, prepared by Master Balin the Hunter and Domina Alys Graye, will be based on the book “To the King’s Taste”, recipes that Richard II had his cook record around 1390.
Our most excellent Event Steward is Arqai Ne'urin .
Contents
Volunteers needed!
Any event of this scale needs a lot of volunteers. Please consider helping out — in advance or at the event — giving just a little bit of your time. Meet people! Learn stuff! Be part of the magic!
Specific calls for volunteers are located here (link). Or interact with the Facebook event page or email Arqai Ne’urin (arqai@outlook.com) to ask about other opportunities!
Or just show up early or stay late to help with site set-up or break-down. Setup begins at 8am! Many hands make light work.
Activities
Blatha An Oir Sergeantry Program
Sargeant Candidates have time set aside for “meet and greet” and to discuss all things Sargeanty, starting at 10am.
Click here for more information about the Sergeantry program of Blatha An Oir:
http://blathaanoir.antir.sca.org/sergeants-of-blatha-an-oir/
Dragon’s Laire Sergeantry Program
Their Excellencies Kloe of Thira and Arion the Wanderer
will be welcoming any new individuals who wish to declare their intent to join the program. For more information about Sergeantry in Dragon’s Laire, click here: https://dragonslaire.antir.org/wordpress/welcome/sergeantry/
Please let them know if you plan to submit your letter of intent at the event, or other arranged method if you cannot attend, by January 29th, 2023, by emailing coronets@dragonslaire.org.
Story Time with Halldora
For the young — and the young at heart! Starting at 11am, Halldora Bjorn , the current Bardic Champion of Dragon’s Laire, is a great story-teller. She encourages parents to send their kids with a favorite picture story book for her to read. Halldora will also bring Aesop’s Fables, one of her favorite story books.
Arts & Sciences Activities
Dragon’s Laire Scholars Assembly
The Scholars program works to build a scholastic community, pledged to promoting research and writing, within the Barony and Kingdom. As part of this program, oral presentations of scholarly research papers — the annual Scholars Assembly — will be held at Candlemas.
This year promises to be an exciting one — we’ll have several presentations, starting at 10am! We invite everyone to attend and support our future Scholars. Look for PRESENTATIONS on our Schedule (click here to jump to the schedule).
Guidelines for the Day:
- Presentations will be in the classroom space adjacent to the kitchen and near the front entrance.
- Each Scholars presentation will be announced 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.
- Schedules will also be posted around the site and on the presentation room door.
- Most presentations will be via a Powerpoint presentation displayed on a screen and used to present the information from the research papers.
- Once a presentation has begun, there will be no further entry until the presentation is over.
- There will be a question/comment opportunity at the end of the presentation. Please hold questions/comments until then, unless the presenter has said they will take questions during the presentation.
- There will be a copy if each paper on the display table. Feel free to look at them, but please leave them on the display table when you are finished with them. If you wish a copy of the paper, please speak with the appropriate presenter. A copy of all the scholars’ papers are kept in the Barony of Dragons Laire library.
To learn more about the Scholars program: https://dragonslaire.antir.org/wordpress/arts-and-sciences/scholars-of-dragons-laire/
Artisan’s Auction for Charity
This is our first Artisan’s Auction, but it will hopefully become an annual tradition. This year’s proceeds will be donated to the Rheumatoid Arthritis Foundation, Help Fight RA, 501(c)3 (https://www.helpfightra.org/). We selected this charity in memory of Marquessa Laurellen’s mother, who was afflicted with this painful disease.
The auction will be held during the feast. To preview the items that will be available for bidding, please follow this link: Candlemas Artisans’ Auction. All SCA artisans and craftspeople were invited to donate a handmade item for this auction.
Fight Practice
Although Candlemas is traditionally an Arts-and-Sciences oriented event, there is also space for fighters of the two baronies to meet on the practice field. If the weather is nice, we expect that fight practice will be going on outdoors! Huzzah!
Feast Menu
Master Balin the Hunter and Domina Alys Graye have assembled a team to provide a sumptuous, seasonal, feast. Here is the preliminary menu (menu items and ingredients are subject to change due to availability):
First Remove: Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms, Herbed Bread, Cheese
Second Remove: Smoked Pumpkin Soup, Bacon Lardons, Cream
Third Remove: Smoked Chicken and Bacon Sausage, Roasted root vegetables
Fourth Remove: Gingerbread, Lemon Curd, Whipped Cream
Bacon and all Sausages Homemade
Bread Baked on site
Schedule at a Glance
| 8AM | Site opens for staff to set up |
| 9AM | Gate (event entry) opens for guests to check in |
| 10AM | BAO Sergeantry Meet and Greet begins Fight Practice begins (outside) Scholars’ Presentations begin |
| 10AM | Presentation: “Starch and Its Uses to Stiffen Linen Ruffs and Cuffs in 16th and Early 17th Century Europe,” presented by HL Annaka Poznanska |
| 11AM | Presentation: “Not Just Any Old Graduation: On the Nature and Importance of Imperial Roman Military Diploma,” presented by HL Owain ap Gwyllim Pengryth |
| 11AM | Story Time with Halldora Bjorn |
| NOON | Presentation: “The Experimental Redaction of Aliter Dulcia,” presented by HL Ciar ingen Fiachnae |
| 1PM | Presentation: “Bark Stripping, Tree Spirits and Food Colonization,” presented by HL Thea of Midvale. |
| 2PM | Presentations: Position Studies by Dame Madrun y Gwehyddes |
| 3PM | Court – combined for both Baronies |
| 3:30PM | Gate closes |
| 5PM | Feast and Artisans’ Auction (item preview page) |
| 7PM | (After feast) Clean Up |
| 8PM | Official off-site deadline |
Location, Cost, and Registration
See this event on the An Tir calendar of Events (link).
When: February 4, 2023, 9am-8pm. Gate hours 9am-3:30pm.
Where: Key Peninsula Civic Center, 17010 South Vaughn Road NW, Vaughn, WA 98394. Please bring only FLAMELESS candles (battery-operated). This site allows discreet alcoholic beverages, if you are of legal age.
Site Fee: Adult Non-Member, $20; Adult SCA Member, $15; under 18 free
Feast Fee: additional $10 per person (pre-registration and pre-pay required)
Pre-Registration
The feast has a limit of 175 people. Pre-Registration for the feast is closed, but there is a waitlist. If space opens up, we will invite people on the waitlist on a first-come/first-served basis. You might be surprised how often this happens.
Pre-registering for the event (gate) is NOT required, although people had the choice to pre-register and pre-pay until Jan 22nd. You can simply show up and the event and pay at the door. We *hope* that PayPal will be working at this site.
If you wish to stay for dinnertime but bring your own meal, there will be some limited space reserved for off-board feast seating.
Prepaid feast fees are non-refundable, unless you need to cancel due to COVID-19 infection. If you need to cancel, please contact our gate coordinator, HL Jessy Gateman, at jessy.gateman@gmail.com, for assistance.
About the Site’s Accessibility
This is an indoor site with paved parking and concrete sidewalks. The main entrance has a few stairs and a handicapped access ramp. There is another set of about six stairs to get into the gymnasium — there is a small chairlift.
New to the SCA? A little bit about what to expect…
You can check in and pay your daily fee at any time the entry Gate is open. Once you’ve checked in at Gate, you will get a site token to pin on your clothing, and you can come and go for the day. People will arrive at different times throughout the day, depending upon their interests and schedule.
For this event, you should try to come in “garb” (an attempt at pre-1650 clothing). You can borrow garb from the Gold Key deputy of the Chatelaine’s office, either for Dragon’s Laire (Kitsap county people) or Blatha an Oir (Pierce county people). Contact emails below.
Dinner is provided if you attend the feast, but lunch is on your own. Many people will bring a picnic lunch or go off-site to purchase lunch nearby.
You will want to bring a “feast kit” — a cup, a plate, a bowl, a napkin, and eating utensils. Feel free to bring more things if you want to dress up your place at the table, but those are the essentials! This particular site requires us to use flameless (battery-operated) candles for decorating. Most feasts just serve water, and there’s usually a coffee and tea service throughout the day. Some people bring their favorite soda. If you are of legal age, this site does allow alcoholic beverages–in discreet containers. Feasts often have extra food at the end, so you can bring leftover containers if you want to take some home. Plastic wrap to fit over your feast plate is the simplest!
Finally, this event has Arts & Sciences activities and space for Fight Practice. We invite you to watch the presentations, watch fight practice and meet some of our fighters, or bring a craft and join a table of people working on their own projects! Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself, let people know you’re new, and ask questions.
Contact For More Information
Event Steward: Arqai Ne’urin: arqai@outlook.com
Chatelaine for Dragon’s Laire: DragonsLaire.Chatelaine@AnTir.org
Chatelaine for Blatha an Oir: BlathaanOir.Chatelaine@antir.org
Arts and Sciences Minister: DragonsLaire.ArtNSci@AnTir.org
Baroness Kloe of Thira and Baron Arion the Wanderer: coronets@dragonslaire.org
COVID-19 Precautions
Updated COVID-19 rules can be found under the COVIDSafe Policy page — but, in short, at present, there are no particular requirements in Pierce county. You can find more information on Pierce County’s COVID-19 page.
“No matter what safety precautions we put in place, there is no substitute for each individual being educated about the risk to themselves and their loved ones and making responsible choices to protect themselves and others from this virus.“
From the Society