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Please join the Barony of Stargate as we celebrate our 35th Anniversary with our annual Yule Celebration. The Barony will also be choosing their A&S and Bardic Champions. The Norse have opened their longhouse and invited Ansteorra to celebrate the day with feasting, friends, and mirth. This year's Yule theme is based on the Myth of Mistletoe.
Site Info & Fees Site opens on Saturday, December 6th at 8:00 am and closes at 11pm. Site fee: $10 ($5 age 5-12; no charge under 5 yrs); $30 Family max. Feast: $8. Make checks payable to SCA Inc., Barony of Stargate. Non-member surcharge: $3. ACCEPS is available. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. They may also attend with a 21 year or older adult with a signed and notarized Minor Event Waiver form from the parents. Service animals only. Site is wet in period containers. Merchants are welcome, please contact Lady Elizabeta Maria dei Medici. Schedule (subject to change)
Feast A wonderful feast by Mistress Ellisena de Bayonne will be served. The tentative menu is: Soup, Bread and Butter; Meat Pies and Salad, Roast Beef or Chicken and Seasonal Vegetables; and Bread Pudding for dessert. Feast is limited to 100 persons. Please send feast reservation requests to yule AT clancircle.com. Arts & Sciences and Bardic Championships ~ Table Decorating Competition The A&S competition will be a body of work with one piece submitted for judging. The Bardic competition will be similar to last year's: the first two rounds will be bard's choice in different styles of singing, storytelling or poetry. The final round will be judges' choice from three pieces that the bards provide. There WILL be a Table Decorating Competition at Yule this year; event-themed tables welcomed but not required. Classes
Toys for Tots Raffle Stargate Yule is having our annual Toys for Tots raffle. A wonderful prize has been donated by Duchess Julia for this event. We have requested the presence of the Marines as usual so that they can accept the toys at the event. This is the last event of the year that we will be doing a Toys for Tots raffle and we would like to give the Marines as many toys as possible. Please bring a new or gently used toy and you will receive a raffle ticket. For more information, please contact Lady Valeria Martinez, Toys for Tots Liaison & Arbelast Herald.
Event Steward Viking beliefs of Mistletoe's powers were rooted in the myth of the resurrection of Balder, the god of the summer sun. As the story goes, Balder had a dream in which he dies. The dream alarmed his mother, Frigga, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, for if Balder died, so too would all life on earth. Frigga went to all the elements - air, fire, water and earth - as well as all the animals and plants on earth and asked them to spare her son. Satisfied that she had secured the cooperation of all, Frigga assured Balder that he would live forever.
Legend says that the tears she shed during those
terrible three days turned into the white berries on the Mistletoe plant. In her
joy at Balder's resurrection, she reversed Mistletoe's poisonous reputation,
kissed everyone who passed beneath the tree on which it grew and issued a decree
that should one ever pass beneath the Mistletoe, they should have a token kiss
and no harm would befall them. |
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But Balder had one enemy, Loki, the evil
Trickster God, and Loki found out there was one plant that Frigga had overlooked
- Mistletoe. Mistletoe grows neither on the ground or under the ground - rather,
it is an aerial parasite that has no roots of its own and attaches itself to the
tree it grows on.
Loki
made a poisoned arrow tip with the Mistletoe and tricked Balder's blind brother,
Hoder, into shooting the arrow and killing Balder. For three days, the earth
grew dark and the skies poured rain. Each of the elements in turn, tried to
bring Balder back to life, but none were successful save for Frigga, his loving
mother. 