Saint Clement of Ohrid

November 25 is the feast of Saint Clement of Ohrid, a disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In 893 CE, Clement was elected the first Bishop of what would come to be the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

 

 

 

St. Clement would have been important for Tamara for several reasons. First, he was a local saint and was the bishop for the region, albeit some years before she was born. Here's a regional map of the Kutmichevitsa administrative district for reference:

 

 

 

 

Today this area is in Macedonia (FYROM), not Bulgaria. Tamara and her family would have been influenced by Clement's teaching, since he was a founder of the Ohrid Literary School and was revered as a patron of education. He was an important writer in Old Church Slavonic and wrote the oldest church service dedicated to saints Cyril and Methodius.

 

 



Saints' Days, Fast, and Feasts

     Both today in Bulgaria and historically for my SCA persona, saints' days and church fasts and feasts would be very important. I'm going to try and record the ones still celebrated here in Bulgaria which would also have been important for Tamara.

     November 14 is an important day in the church cycle. It is Zagovezni, the day before the start of the Christmas fast and, like Mardi Gras, is a day to eat meat, eggs, and dairy products and feast with your family. A chicken was traditionally served and I will do the same tonight for dinner. Many families also serve sauerkraut and roast pumpkin. I think I'll do a pumpkin pie instead.

Today is also St. Phillip's Day, the apostle who was martyred while preaching to the heathen. Честит имен ден to all my friends names Phillip or Phillipa!

Home and garden updates.

We've been here for four years now. Four years of construction rubble and upheaval and moving boxes. Things are finally getting done and I have pictures to prove it! These are just for you, Genny!

Living Room/Dining Room

 

And the garden is coming along too. The last section that needed leveling was the front courtyard, which abuts the driveway. It's now leveled and ready for grass, a cherry tree, and flower beds. Before we plant, the builders are finishing the stucco on the front wall and completing the well cap. You can see there are just a few more days of work and we'll be planting spring bulbs in the new flower bed and planting the Japanese cherry tree that's being delivered on Saturday!

 

 

 

School's in Session!

     The academic year opened this week and the students have returned, so the College is also back in action. We had our first organizational meeting today and set schedules for fighter practices and A&S sessions. What a difference from last year! With so many returning students in the College, there is so much energy and we're actually going to have two fighter practices each week and A&S on Wednesdays and Saturdays! We've also got a new Castellan, who is really excited to work with the first year students who signed up to join the College at the club fair during Orientation Week. There were 32 of them and if we get a third of them as regular participants, it will be great. We've got other returning students stepping up as Web Minister/Social Media officer and Exchequer, which will take a burden off some of the non-student members.

     We've got the College's birthday coming up next month and our first group projects will focus on getting garb finished and banners and other decorations made for the event. Lord Guy is coming in from Insulae Draconis to serve as our archery marshal and everyone is excited to get back to shooting. A number of people got bows over the summer and several more are waiting for equipment to arrive. We've also got an event on the Kingdom calendar for April 2016 - Bows and Blows II. It will be concentrating on archery and heavy fighting, but there will also be A&S classes and maybe a surprise activity. I'm quite proud of our students. They are really interested in heraldry and six of them had names and devices registered over the summer. Six more have names and devices submitted and they should hear by January if they are registered by the College of Heralds.

     All in all, it bodes well for the College and its activities for the upcoming academic year!

Let the planning commence.

I've currently got 6 new  banner/other heraldic display commissions post-Raglan to finish by Yule,

When those are done, I've finally settled on what I want to make for myself in the way of SCA clothing - proper Slavic dress for the 2nd Bulgarian Kingdom in the mid 13th century. I'll be working from fresco portraits in various churches and monasteries, beginning with the portrait of Boyarina Desislava from the Boyana Church in Sofia, which dates to just that time period.

 

I have an enlargement of the full portrait (got it at the church) in my home office, so I can see the details well. I'm starting with the cap, circlet, and veil. The project may take all year!

In case you were wondering

why I go back to Raglan Fair, year after year, this photo by Lady Agnes des Iles should say it all.

 

 

 

The banners are the work of Lord Nicholas de Estleche dictus le Tardif. (and they are huge - 2 meters wide or so!)

Post Raglan musings

     I really enjoyed Raglan this year, despite being busier there than ever. I was reservations steward and I found that as much as I love talking to everyone and meeting new people, I have to schedule in a little down time away from the registration  tent. Plans afoot on that for next year.

     I loved participating in the fencing prize-playing as a time keeper for both the Free Scholar and Prefect bouts. I got the best seat in the place and could really concentrate on the fighting. It was my first time as time keeper and I hope it will not be the last.

     I taught a class in making basic thread-wrapped buttons that seemed to be well received. I also took a basic naalbinding class (for the third time) and this teacher was really good. Mistress Rogned actually made sense and now I can naalbind. I had a private lesson in sprang from Jahanarabanu and I think that may become a favorite activity. Her lord, Eldgrimr, made my sprang loom and it is a lovely thing.

     Our first student heavy fighter from the College of Saint John of Rila came to Raglan this year and after jumping right in and helping to set up around 10 encampments, he was authorized as a heavy fighter. He fought in the bridge battle and the Oxford Roll, as seen here.

 

He got his first two archer scores with his longbow.

And watching him become Lord Samuil Simeonov was just great. Good job, Sam!!!

 

More musings to follow...