[Artemisia] Honoring lost loved ones

[morgan wolf]

Perhaps my vision of it did not come through in the email-

Artemisians of all ages gathered around a fire, a Herald reads off the name of one of the fallen as a family member steps forward to place the empty tankard with his/her name written on it into the fire, a few moments are taken as it catches and burns to, well, eulogize our friend,  we raise our tankards, be they filled with beer, water, or nothing at all, to our friend, then the herald reads off the name of the next, and so on.  Not a drunken scene, but a uniquely Artemisian memorial.  Perhaps is is my mundane upbringing coming through, but I much prefer the wake to the funeral, a celabration of the life now ended rather than a mourning of the death.  This ceremony could easily be as formal as any Coronation, but remember that we even joke at our Coronations, so...

Morgan

----- Original Message ----
From: Rebecca Mikkelsen <mikkelsen_rebecca at hotmail.com>
To: artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 8:07:50 AM
Subject: [Artemisia] Honoring lost loved ones


Morgan wrote:
>As I sat here reading of the loss of another friend, and the things done in
>other kingdoms to honor their fallen, I began to think "that's nice, but is 
>it
>really us?"  I mean, the riderless horse is cool and all, but does it 
>really fit
>*our* fallen?

>I propose that we, as a Kingdom, are a bit different.  Certainly our 
>warriors
>are just as fierce, our artisans are just as skilled, our Crowns just as
>marvelous as any of the Knowne World, but we have that one thing that makes 
>us.
>Artemisia- our sense of playfulness.  We named our Kingdom after sagebrush, 
>for
>pete's sake!  Our's is a kingdom much given to sitting around a campfire 
>with
>friends, enjoying a tankard of whatever we like to drink, telling stories,
>singing songs, druming and dancing, and I think that this is what makes us 
>so
>special.

>I propose further that we honor that difference as we honor our fallen 
>friends. If the event staff at Uprising, the biggest/most attended event in 
>our Kingdom,
>will allow, I invite those who have lost a loved one to join me at my fire
>Saturday night, to place an empty wooden tankard bearing the fallen's name 
>into
>the fire in memoriam.  If the event staff/Crown prefer to use a different 
>fire,
>I fully support their decision and will join the memorial there, if this 
>humble
>proposal is accepted.  I further propose that we consider doing this each 
>year.

This is not the way I would want our *Kingdom* to honor our fallen loved 
ones.  "sitting around a campfire . . . enjoying a tankard" is not what 
makes our Kingdom "so special".  A wooden tankard in the fire is appropriate 
for individuals to do, but not as a Kingdom.

Our Kingdom has created some incredibly impressive and moving ceremonies in 
the past.  I'm sure we can come up with something equally impressive to 
honor our loved ones.

Rebecca

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