Atlantia’s Kingdom Arts & Sciences Festival happened on March 4. Aside from displaying in the Open Display (a writeup of the Coronation and Twelfth Night clothing for Their Majesties), I handled the display space coordination for both the Open Display and the Persona Pentathlon.
As always, the day went well, the company was good, and the works were exciting and inspiring. Court came, and I watched a friend be elevated to the Order of the Laurel, and others recognized for their service and artistic achievements.
And then, the unexpected. I was called into court. As a Peer, you can used to being an NPC in someone else’s game, as a friend put it. You learn to value your contributions without expectation of reward (or award, or sometimes even thanks) because those contributions are what makes the Society work.
However. This time, Their Majesties and my beloved chosen family had something else in mind, and I was made a Baroness of the Court of Abran and Anya for contributions in clothing Their Majesties, supporting Their reign with classes and activities, and coordinating arts and sciences. The court barony carries no precedence and I doubt I will start going by “Excellency” since I am rather attached to “Magistra” (although La Baronesa may make an appearance). I do get to wear a beautiful tiara, and I have an exquisite piece of art in the form of a scroll by Korrin Villman and Lanea verch Kerrigan.
Photography by Lord Thomas de Winter (Thomas Beebe).
Illumination and calligraphy by Laurel Kolfinna Valravn, wordsmithing by Ollamh Lanea Inghean Uí Chiaragáin
AND THEN…
We turned the tables, as my apprentice Mariana Ruiz de Medina received her very deserved Pearl.
In Atlantia, the Order of the Pearl is a Grant of Arms level award for excellence in the arts and sciences. It is a polling order, and is often considered the intermediate step on the path to a Laurel.
Mariana was aware that she was receiving the award - there was no way we could get her non-SCAdian fiance there without her getting suspicious - but she did not know the details of the medallion and scroll.
The medallion was my own, made by Lord Edgar refskegg (who, earlier in the day, won the Royal Brewer competition), and was given from my own neck.
The scroll is another work of art, a collaboration between Kolfinna Valravn (art and calligraphy), Ollamh Lanea Inghean Uí Chiaragáin (wordsmithing), and Lady Nyvein bat Rav Adam (Hebrew translation). The scroll is based on a medieval kitubah (marriage contract) and was read in both Hebrew and English.
Mariana is mundanely Jewish and much of her SCA research involves the study of the lives of Jewish women in medieval Spain. In addition, His Majesty Abran is also Jewish, so the entire ceremony became extra-special. I hope we did her proud, and I hope we can top it for her inevitable elevation to the Laurel!
Photography by Lord Thomas de Winter (Thomas Beebe).