Birkabirkabirka....

Market Day at Birka is an annual event in the East that draws a very large crowd. It is held in the Center of New Hampshire at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester. I refer to it as SCA-con. It has a huge convention center filled with the most merchants I have seen in one place aside from Pennsic, it has a slate of classes and meetings throughout the day, and it also has the Birka Bearpit Tournament.

I... really don't like fighting Birka. I do it every few years, just because, but I generally go to marshal. Inspections start at nine, and the tournament ends at 2... it makes a full day. Generally I then hit the merchants briefly before meetings, but I didn't actually get a chance to do that this year.

Had two meetings... marshal's meeting and Unbelts. The marshal's meeting was important this year, as we have a new Kingdom Earl Marshal, Sir Jibril al-Dakhil. It was his first day on the job, and he used the meeting to pass down some guidelines to the marshals present, outlining our roles in marshaling fights, and a new system for censuring and sanctioning problem fighters in the future. Some concerns about the concept of "active marshaling" were addressed... namely, we as marshals will NOT be calling people dead, rather pointing out when something seems off. He also named some new deputies.... Sir Osgkar was named Earl Marshal Emeritus and will serve Jibril in an advisory role, Ryouko'jin Ironskies will be Deputy for Experimental Weapons, and I will be serving as Deputy for Rules & Clarifications.

The Unbelts meeting was interesting because as of right now, we don't technically have a team, captains,  a Chivalric advisor, or even an official fight at Pennsic, as negotiations are not fully underway. We discussed ideas for training, and drank some whiskey... it was kind of an awesome time. :)

After all this, I tried to go to the merchants quickly before Court... but I ran into so many friends that I didn't actually get to browse any merchants. I like talking to the friends better than spending money anyway...

I really wanted to be in Court for several reasons... first of all because Dalla was being made a part of Order of the Maunche. This is a pretty big deal, and I was very excited for her. I escorted her up when she was called in, and stepped back to wait till she was done... and it was a good thing I waited.
Part of the ceremony involves the presentation of a medallion with the badge of the order. One was being made for her... but had not arrived at Birka! Fortunately, I had one that I made for her as a separate gift in my pouch, and gave it to Their Majesties to present to her instead. It was carved stone, and had both the Maunche badge as well as the Silver Crescent, which she had been awarded previously.

A new member was added to the King's Order of Excellence as well, Lord Alexander Clarke from the Shire of Hadchester. Alexander does wonderful 14th century stuff, and has really gone out of his way to portray his persona in a period manner, including organizing period style deeds of arms. I was very excited to welcome him to the Order.

Icing on the cake for the evening was when two men who I greatly respect were inducted into the Order of the Pelican. Tiberius Iulius Rufus and his knight Sir Gareth were both made Peers of that order, and both well deserved. Tiberius has served as a shining example to me for many years in doing things in a period manner, and Sir Gareth has inspired me to try new crafts... it was due to an interaction with him at Pennsic a couple years ago that I started to embroider (though I'm not all that good at it).

All in all... it was an awesome day.