a Cross cultural Experanice down by the river

"Hey Rachel, you should really come to our Middle ages event at the end of August, is is tons of fun! We do a lot of belly dancing!" suggested the belly dance instructor.

"yeah you totally should come! If any one knows how to party it is our middle ages group!" chimed in several other dancers

"well, i do like to dance, but that is the weekend before school starts, i'll probally come some time." I said in response, meanwhile thinking... 'i am not so sure about this, but it is 3 months away, so i should have plenty of time to decide'.



three monthes passes and we move to a new scene, the belly dance class in the middle of Aug.



"Rachel!!! You're back! That means you can totally come to our middle ages event!" Exclaimed the belly dance instructor.

"We were just talking about you, we thought we would send you an e-mail, your coming, right?" chimed in another dancer.

"well... ok, i suppose i could come, can i come on Sat?" i relpied, thinking 'i do love an adventure'.

"yeah, you can... i guess..."started the belly dance instructor, "but really we party pretty hard, you'll have to stay the night i am sure, you can always crash in our tent! seriously we have a blast!" she finished.



I decided to go.



On saturday i had some work to do at school, then i was planning on heading up to shelby. My first thought should have been "camping down by the river? intresting." But my first thought was: "what should i wear". Garbed in my belly dance attire (skirt, trolley top, tanktop, hip-shall, zills, and scarves) I headed up to the river. In 20 minutes i was driving down a gravel road looking for signs of life. To my surprise i pulled up on 50 + tents all along the river, people milling about in middle age attire, and jousting tournaments. I was informed later that middle age attire is anything pre-Elizabethan and jousting is a way to gain "status" with the king and the group. THis proved to be an intresting time.

That event was followed up by a knighting: people cried, water was poured over his head, a new belt was given, a new sword and he was pronounced a knight among many.

THis was followed by a feast and a time of fellowship... i met many people who love this so much and whose whole lives revolve aroudn this hobby, this community. how intresting. One man dressed in a kilt, tights, and a blouse said this "Its just nice to see people reconized for how good they are in everyway... you know we are not reconized beyond these meetings, but here we are and that is what i apperciate the most. Its about more than just dressing up, its about apperciating each other and spending time together".

I was intrigued by that statment becuase it seemsed to me that it was a lot about playing adult dress up and imagination. Beyond that i learned that everyone had made up names and had dishes that would have been used in the middle ages and a story that went along with thier name, plate, and charecter.

After the feasting was court, which is just what it sounds like a group of people meeting togheter with the king and queen in charge. After court was over, we broke off into several small groups and propane fires were started and the drumming began. So for the first time in my life i danced around an "open" flame in the middle of a campsite. Then story telling began about conquering evil werewolves and songs about journeys across the world to save fair maidens were sung.

SOmebody offerd me a cherry soaked in everclear, honey, and cinnamon.... it was like eating a shot.... i had only one... but everybody else procceeded to offer me some of thier "home brew" but due to the fact that they wanted me to drink it straight out of the bottle (and i hate germs) i decilned many of these offers. BUt after farewell wishes and many kisses on the hand (awk) i drove away from teh river on Sat, night and back to my other culture of conrad, MT where i am the only one in my house and no one belly dances or eats cherries soaked in Everclear.

The End.