[Artemisia] more on Court - Longish

[Mary Hodges]

Auraelia de Medici wrote:
> Greetings!
> 
> I have watched with some interest to the discussion
> about the length of court.  My first reaction was how
> can a discussion about Kingdom traditions morph into
> something not even related. 

 >Kingdom traditions, as I
> understand it, include a knight taking a buffet in his
> knighting ceremony, the pitcher used to wash a new
> peer, the crowns Their Royal Majesties and Their Royal
> Highnesses wear to name just a very few.  Surely
> length of court is not a tradition.

Whether it is identified as tradition or not, something  that happens
repeatedly event after event, year after year, is a tradition unless
some action is taken to change it.  It might be an unconscious 
tradition, but it is still a tradition.

For example, announcing the winners
of each and every one of the day's contests and activites at evening
court is a tradition at Uprising, probably stemming from when we here in
BOTE had a June event at Sealander Park, which was a big deal if we had
100 people.  There were a few classes, which I remember being
pretty well attended.  Most people were there to fight or watch the
fighting, and concentrate on living medievally at a camping event. We
locals had barely heard of households, and none of us had one. Sometimes 
we had feasts, mostly cooked on site.  The food varied from great to 
awful (I should know, I was the cook for a couple of them).  It was fun.

Announcements of any
kind took maybe ten minutes.  Now we have 800 people, twenty or thirty
contests or activites a day, and lots of time is devoted to these
reports.  Unfortunately, there are still the same number of hours in a
day, or an evening, a lot more ceremonies, and a whole lot more 
announcements.
> 
> Yes, I agree that court can get very long.  There are
> parts of it that I find tedious and boring, but will I
> complain?  No.  (Okay, I admit to getting antsy when
> court is late and I'll complain about that, but that's
> another thread).    
> 
> High Court is usually the culmination of many an
> event.  It is the time for peer and populace
> recognition, activities wrap up, event awards, kingdom
> news, special presentations, and sometimes
> entertainment.

High court should be the culmination of any event.  It should not be
a trial by ennui to see who can last long enough to appreciate what 
would be moving, emotionally charged ceremonies if every one weren't 
exhausted and miserable.
> 
> Now, you and I may have a differing opinion on what is
> and is not dull.  I, and many of my friends, may be
> utterly fascinated by who may have won the sheep
> sheering contest.  I may also yawn through who won the
> Hay Pitching contest, BUT out of respect for those who
> participated, and are interested in the Hay Pitching
> contest; I will listen, congratulate and celebrate
> with them.  

> > Respect means participating in the communal aspects of
> all the achievements of the SCA, not just those of
> your particular pleasure.  Someone’s well researched
> and implemented contest of skill is no less of
> importance than the more popular aspects.  We are an
> educational society, so anything done in that name and
> vein should be respected and shown to the populace. 
> Many of the gifts given to the crown heads are
> handcrafted beautiful items that should be shown to
> the populace.  Granted, it would be nice to hear what
> is said, but as someone pointed out once before, this
> is not a democracy.

Why would it be disrespectful to announce the previous day's contest 
winners at a low, morning court, instead of taking up time at high, 
evening court?
Why do announcements etc have to be interspersed with peerage ceremonies 
and awards?   Does an announcement deserve the same amount of attention 
as an award of arms?
> If we limit ourselves to only those things that are
> popular, then there is also less chance for the other
> arts and activities to be known to everyone.  Some
> people may not even know that a particular event or
> topic exists. 

Publicity is not the same as respect.
   Larger events have so many activities.
> I attended my first Estrella War this year and feel
> like I missed most of the event.  There is no way to
> know everything that is going on.  This, in no way,
> says I am not interested in what happened, I just
> can’t be in two places at once.  I also just didn’t
> know some things were happening.
> 
> Have respect for other people’s interests, their
> dreams, their desires, and their arts.  Allow them
> their time in court.

Respect has nothing to do with getting your name read off
in court because you won a contest.  People will respect your
abilities if you are good at your art or craft whether you enter
contests or not.

Demanding that people pay attention to things they don't care about is 
more liable to generate resentment than respect, especially if it delays 
the ceremony they really want to see.
> 
> If the Kings and Queens or the Barons and Baronesses
> will allow something in court, then allow them to run
> the court as they see fit.  If they are not pleased,
> they have the station to stop it.

Most of the people I know who have sat or are sitting on
thrones are far too kind and well-bred to do any such thing.  They might 
change things if we gave them our collective permission, but so far, we, 
as a group, have not indicated that there is any dissatisfaction with 
court, except by not showing up for court.

I remain,
your obedient servant,
Jehane de Saint Michael

I bear the arms "Per pale gules and argent a bordure indented sable."