Is there hair on my chest yet??

This weekend I attended my very first "event" with Curren (henceforth known as Adon). It was called Celt Wars and, if you hadn't guessed, was a battle.

Picture this...

A campsite. Fire pits, tents (some are period, some coleman).. sounds pretty average, yeah? Well, add people walking around in "garb" (meaning all kinds of plaid and stripes. No zippers, no Nikes. All handmade clothes from the 13th century. Tunics and stuff, get me?).

Add armor (metal and leather alike), weapons (spears, pikes, swords, bow and arrow, shields... stuff I don't even remember).

Add banners, colors, flags, kinsman cries, battle chants, clanging armor, dogs, kids...

Add digital cameras, a lineup of cars along the road and a port o potty and you've got yourself a (mostly) medieval campsite/battle ground.

It's pretty badass, actually.

So, Adon and I arrived at the site Saturday morning, set up the coleman, chairs and coolers, got dressed and went around saying hello to people (him) meeting people (me). Now, when we arrived at the site we were allowed to be in street clothes until our site was set up, after that if we weren't in garb, we were considered naked. I got dressed immediately. As it was, I had to go around "barefoot" all weekend because I only had sneakers, not appropriate shoes. It was no big deal, really. Everyone kept telling me that shoes are the last thing on the list. *phew*

After all the meet and greets, we gathered wood for that evening's fires, hung out and chatted while the men relived the fight. I read a book while the boys tried to get me cook a turtle they'd found for dinner. I said no way and threatened not to cook anything.


Not too long after, the men (and 2 women who were fighting that day) armored themselves and headed over to the battle field. There are many clans and groups that fight, but only 2 were heavily represented this weekend; Dalhraidia and Anglesey. Adon is the Warlord of Anglesey. They all battled for about 2 1/2 hours, taking breaks after 10 min or so. There are all different types of battles, and they mostly did resurrection battles and 4 on 4 group battles. There were a bunch of spectators, including myself, taking pictures and video while the men (and 2 women) clanked around and hit each other.


After the battle, I set up a light lunch of sandwiches, fruit and chips and salsa for the boys (I agreed to bring and cook food for Adon and three of his fighters, 2 of which this was their first fighting event). I think they were grateful not to have to worry about bringing food. Truth be told, I think they ate healthier than they maybe wanted to, seeing as how I brought veggies and fruit and nearly everything I bought was organic, including the salsa :o) They didn't complain, and ate everything I put out!


For dinner that night, I'd premade a shepards pie, which I set over hot coals to heat up. It took for freaking ever, which I figured it would, but it was totally worth it in the end. after dinner, everyone headed over to the main fire for songs, stories and beer. Except, we're not allowed to have beer onsite, so we drank "apple cider" and "fruit punch" (out of wooden mugs, pottery and metal goblets, of course). It was a ton of fun, but I was tired and turned in early.

So, let's talk for a minute about how cold it was that night. 25 degrees. I'm pretty sure that's the coldest I've ever camped, and it was freaking freezing! Thank God for all the heavy blankets!

The next morning, I expected to make pancakes, but having left the eggs at home (whoops!) I plied the men with 2 lbs of bacon, fruit salad and kielbasa. Luckily, Adon threw 2 kinds of kielbasa in the cooler at the last minute.

After out breakfast of champions, we packed up and headed home.

So, overall I would say my first event was just that... quite an event!

Pictures to follow...