House Capuchin 3

Some quiet weeks are nice. It was frantic around here during parts of the summer, so it’s nice to get a bit of a break. OtOH, the flooding leaves a lot to be desired. None of us are affected, but there are places where it’s bad.

Looks like none of us are getting to 11th night. It’s already filled up.

The garden has mostly wound down and Herbs is into processing the harvest, as well as learning to make incense. Anja and Loren are starting some of the potluck cookery, so’s to have some of the test dishes done soonest. The Birka chicken looks like a good one for the feast. Embroidery and Sewing went on this week, too.

Adiantum A&S is on Tuesday and an extra Herbs Workshop earlier in the afternoon. Regular Herbs on Thursday. Sewing on Saturday and then our Project Day and Potluck on Sunday!

Project Day is now open for in-person meet-ups as well as in the Virtual Realm! Potluck this month will be Virtual and Real-World! Herbs Workshop and Sewing are ongoing. Masks required. When will the rest of these open up in person? We’ll keep right on with the virtual ones side-by-side with the actual. 

• Herb Bunch – At Ancient Light, Thursdays, 7am-9pm, doing incense
• Herb Workshop In the Garden – Irregularly scheduled. Please ask to join the facebook chat! New!
• Sewing Time – At Ancient Light, Saturdays, 3-5pm
• Project Day – At Ancient Light, Sundays, 1 to 5pm
• Cheese and Wine happens irregularly, usually announced with little notice on our Facebook group.
• Next Potluck – 11/21, 12/19, 1/16
• Winter Feast LVI, Norse Theme. Page here – https://housecapuchin.com/winter-feast/winter-feast-norse-feast-as-lvi-february-2022/ More pages coming!

Here is the direct Portfolio link which has all the past Project Day reports and various projects, original here:  https://housecapuchin.wordpress.com/portfolio/  and new one here:  https://housecapuchin2.wordpress.com/portfolio/ and number three is here: https://housecapuchin3.wordpress.com/portfolio/

Events

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2021 AT 10 AM – 8 PM – Summits Winter Investiture – Event by Principality of the Summits, Shire of Coeur du Val and Jacob Sanchez, Philomath Scout Lodge, antir.org/events/summits-11th-night-investiture – Good people of An Tir, join our Alpine Highnesses Kenric and Dagmar as they bestow the Summit Coronets unto their heirs, Viscount Luciano Foscari and Signora Tessina Felice Gianfigliazzi. To the rapier fighters of the Summits, bring your courage and steel for the tournament that decides who will stand with Their Alpine Highnesses as their Captain of Cats. (Waiting list of over 30 people on Monday 11/15. <sigh>)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2022, 9AM–7PM – Adiantum Mid-Winter’s Feast – The Long Tom Grange – Event by Barony of Adiantum and Nái Martyn
Public · Anyone on or off Facebook
Event Main Contact (Event Steward): Naible Martyn
Event site: Long Tom Grange, 25823 Ferguson Junction City, OR 97448
This is a Level 2: Branch Event where no Kingdom or Principality business is expected to be conducted event.
Join their Excellencies of Adiantum for a Midwinter Feast & Revel. It has been a long dark winter, but we are in this together. Let there be light, laughter, music and revelry.
All attendees will either show proof of full vaccination or show proof of testing within 72 hours of the activities pursuant to the Society’s Policy dated September 25, 2021.
“Although the SCA complies with all applicable laws to ensure the health and safety of our event participants, we cannot eliminate the risk of exposure to infectious diseases during in-person events. By participating in the in-person events of the SCA, you acknowledge and accept the potential risks. You agree to take any additional steps to protect your own health and safety and those under your control as you believe to be necessary.

JAN 7, 2022 AT 2 PM – JAN 9, 2022 AT 12 PM – An Tir 12th Night 2022 – DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport – Tickets book.passkey.com/go/SCA22 – We welcome An Tir and the Known World to the celebration of our Crown and Kingdom. This grand celebration will be hosted by the Baronies of Wyewood and Madrone, on January 7th-9th, 2022 at the Double Tree by Hilton at Seattle Airport.
We are pleased to announce that room reservations are now open for An Tir 12th Night 2022. This grand celebration will be hosted by the baronies of Wyewood and Madrone, on January 7th-9th, at the Double Tree by Hilton at Seattle Airport. Our room rates are available for the 6th and 10th as well should you opt for a longer stay. The parking cost is contracted to be 50% off their daily rate, which at one time was $32 but may change before our event, thus an additional cost of $16/day per vehicle parked. Please understand this is an airport hotel, that dictates the parking market. You may reserve online with this link: https://book.passkey.com/go/SCA22You may also reserve by phone. Please call toll free (800) 222-8733. Reference the group code: SCR, or the group name: SCA 12th Night

Dance Vids – Turbo medieval dance lesson // The Contessa’s Quickies #shorts – The Creative Contessa – Learn the basics of the bransle, a 16th century French line dance enjoyed by commoners. A Renaissance Peasant dance for the win!

Classes – 

Wrap Shots Demo Sir Ataias – Kingdom of AnTir, SCA – Sir Ataias demonstrates how to do a wrap shot.

1415: The French Disaster Of Agincourt | Medieval Dead | Chronicle – Chronicle – Medieval History Documentaries – The Battle Of Agincourt may well be the most famous battle of the entire Middle Ages. During the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, Henry V, the young king of England, lead his forces to victory on the plains of Azincourt in northern France. For the French, it was a catastrophe. Despite outnumbering the English by far, they lost over 6,000 men, in comparison to 400 on the English side. How did this young king secure one of the greatest military victories of all time? And what can archaeologists at the burial sites at Agincourt find to tell us about this grisly moment of medieval history?

Writing The Perfect Medieval Letter // Contessa Quickies #shorts – The Creative Contessa – Explore how to write perfect medieval letters based on an actual piece of medieval correspondence written in the 15th century. The Paston Letter are a collection of upper middle class correspondence that offers a window into daily 15th century/late medieval live in England, from parties, balls and feasts to commerce through to birth, marriage and death. Also interactions between peasantry, merchants and the nobility.

Early Week – A little embroidery got done and a bit more writing.

Cookery – 

Thanks to some of the House folks I’m going to have to call it roasted stuffed chicken instead of spit-roasted…. 🙂 The Birka chicken got started on Saturday after some harvest. The stuffing got made at home and then the chicken got baked on Sunday at the shop and finished just at closing time. We took the chicken home and ate it there.

More on the stuffing

Baking the chicken on Sunday – Donededonedone….and tasty! The filling is a different kind of flavor, not acid at all, despite the whey. Nowhere does it say to salt it, although I did….but not enough. The basting does give an interesting taste to the skin and the outer meat, although the basting with egg right at the last didn’t seem to do anything. …and Loren actually *likes* the stuffing!

The Past is a Foreign Pantry@foreign_pantry – Wonky selection of medieval manuscripts biscuits for reading week (does this count as research?)

Sewing – A fair amount of embroidery happened during evenings this week.

Bast Fiber! Unearthed textiles from Stone Age settlement reveals history of clothes making – https://phys.org/news/2021-11-unearthed-textiles-stone-age-settlement.html

Sundials, etc. – 

Mystery of 8500-year-old copper-making event revealed through materials science – https://phys.org/news/2017-08-mystery-year-old-copper-making-event-revealed.html

Going to make a new shade or pavilion? Read this first! – Tent poles, the long and short of it. – https://sawdustandshavings.home.blog/2021/11/08/tent-poles-the-long-and-short-of-it/

Anja says, “At one point I had most of these, but not the awesome case! You’ve seen my ironwood come-along (made by my Daddy) in various projects. That’s the tool that’s top center, surrounded by some lovely pegged framing wood.”

Ticia Verveer – Archaeologist – This 10th century portable sundial was discovered during alterations to the cloister garth of Canterbury Cathedral in England. It consists of a silver tablet, inscribed with the names of the months and with holes through which a peg was inserted. Around its sides runs the inscription ‘[SA]LVS FACTORI [PA]X POSSESSOR[I]’: ‘Health to my maker, peace to my owner’ If the tablet was dangled from a chain, facing the sun, the position of the peg’s shadow gave a rough idea of the time. https://t.co/w6qKKiGpME

How Ale Was Made | Tudor Monastery EP3 | Absolute History – Absolute History – The team wean piglets, cultivate wild yeast, malt barley, make ale and bread, harvest honey and beeswax, dip candles, shave their sheep’s hooves, demonstrate period hair care methods, roast lamb, and celebrate both a mass and the midsummer festival. They take custody of a boar to service their sows. They observe the shaping, moulding, and pouring of a bell, learn about period clock mechanisms and observe a wind-powered grain mill.

Viking House: Full Bushcraft Shelter Build with Hand Tools | Vikings – -TA Outdoors – We build a bushcraft viking house from the viking age using hand tools only. Inspired by vikings, who were very resourceful and created buildings using the natural materials they scavenged around them. We used simple hand tools such as axe, saw, auger, drawknife, bushcraft knife and other simple tools.
To begin with we cut cedar logs from trees that had been felled in the forest. We used an axe and saw to make log cabin notches and built the foundation of the viking house two logs high. We then used the hand auger to build the timber frame. This consisted of 3 large “A” frames. We burnt the ends of the logs in fire to evaporate any moisture and create a rot-proof layer of charred wood which will help to preserve the timber frame foundation when the poles are in the ground. We used a long cedar log as the ridge pole which sits on top of the a frame of the bushcraft shelter. The next stage was building a viking longpit or firepit. This we wanted to make as historically accurate as we could. So we dug a pit about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. We lined the pit with large stones found in the nearby area. In order to reduce waste of any materials, we used the clay from the pit to secure the stones. We added water to the clay to make it easier to work with and we filled in the gaps between the stones. We then lit a small fire in the pit and let the clay dry out for a few days. At this point we realised we could make our job easier by building a diy saw horse. So we used the drawknife to remove bark from a log (helps to prevent rot). We used the auger to drill four holes for legs and then we made four wood pegs for the top of the saw horse. For the rafters we used more cedar logs and again burnt the ends. It is an ancient japanese technique to preserve wood which is called shou sugi ban.
It was then finally time to build the roof of the house. For this, we peeled the bark off the cedar logs. We then put this on the rafters and secured it with some roofing tacks. We had to be fast when doing this, as the cedar bark shrinks and cracks when it dries. We put it on in layers like roof tiles. We built a wood ladder to get up high on the roof and secure the final bark layers.
Using an axe and bushcraft, we made some wooden wedges and split a few large cedar logs. We then hewed these logs and built a raised viking bed for the inside of the house. We also made some benches to sit near the fire. At the back of the viking house, we built a folding window and support arm so that we could let light into the house and also improve the airflow. We dug an air vent too, to allow more oxygen to get to the fire. To make the shelter more secure, we built a perimeter wall use cedar posts and hazel saplings (also known as wattle wall). To help further improve the airflow inside the shelter, we cut a hole in the roof and built a ridge cap or ridge vent to act like a chimney and let the smoke out. Overall this viking house took about 10 days to build. It was in winter, so we were restricted by daylight hours. This is not a historically correct viking house. Traditional viking houses were built with large timbers that were hewn from big logs. They had large gable ends almost like log cabins and the roof was made from wood shingles. Often they looked like viking longships or longboats and had many decorative viking features. In a viking longhouse, there would be enough room for many people and animals as well. But this was our take on it.
We have done a number of different camping overnight trips in this shelter. We have cooked meat over fire, had great viking feasts and spent many hours keeping warm around the firepit. I hope you enjoyed this vikings inspired bushcraft build. To watch the whole series of individual episodes (where we talk and explain what we are doing) then please follow links below.

VIKING HOUSE BUILD (Each Episode): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxnadpeGdTxD9wUrrSUQojUgTowrFMJeg

Herb Bunch – Finally harvested various things for the dishes in cookery and then Incense got another batch of incense sticks made. They were dry on Sunday, so got boxed up and put by. We got dough made for Clearing incense sticks and a bunch of herbs processed for drying.

Why Frankincense And Myrrh Are So Expensive | So Expensive – Business Insider – Frankincense and myrrh are perhaps best known for their biblical connotations. But this tree sap has been prized across the world for over 6,000 years. These fragrant incense pieces come from the Burseraceae family of trees and are found across the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. But despite recent attempts to protect these trees, they could soon be headed for extinction. So what makes frankincense and myrrh so expensive?

What Are Frankincense and Myrrh? – ReligionForBreakfast – According to the Gospel of Matthew, the magi bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh as expensive gifts to the young Jesus. We all know what gold is, but what is this frankincense and myrrh stuff? What did the ancients use it for?

Why Agarwood Is So Expensive | So Expensive – Business Insider – For thousands of years, agarwood has been known as “The Wood of the Gods.” First-grade agarwood can cost as much as $100,000 per kilogram, making it one of the most expensive raw materials in the world. Aquilaria malaccensis is a tree native to the rainforests of southeast Asia. The healthy heartwood inside Aquilaria trees is pale, odorless, and worthless. In order for this tree to produce any agarwood, it must first become infected with mold. So how does this infection process work? What is agarwood used for? And what makes it so valuable?

Ingredients Uncovered: The Story of Sandalwood – LUSH – Sandalwood is in high demand as an ingredient in perfume, but the supply of this precious material is scarce. Sandalwood trees are in danger of extinction due to increased logging in places such as Tanzania and Kenya. This short film explores the positive action being taken to prevent its illegal felling in Kenya and sustainable ways of cultivating the fragrant trees.

Project Day – Anja started with processing pictures, then went on to the chicken and then to embroidery.

Helen Louise said, “Making stays today…”

Arlys said, “I’m sorry I missed Project Day. I’m getting ready for two big shows–the Portland Holiday Market, this weekend at the Portland Expo–and Geek The Halls, which will be the following weekend at the Lloyd Center Double Tree (we held a Twelfth Night there not too long ago, and the room we used for Merchants is being used for Geek). My orders showed up early so I spent the day bagging, tagging, and packing because it all needs to hit the Expo tomorrow.Portland Holiday Market Nov 18-21Geek the Halls Nov 27-28I’ll be with the NIWA booth (NW Independent Writers Association, across from Santaland). Hope to see some of you there!

Feast Planning – The test dish for the week was the Birka roasted stuffed chicken (in cookery above). We’ve also started a boiled bread, but that’s for this coming week.

Miscellaneous pix

Hledači na Rakovnicku našli zlatý poklad nevyčíslitelné hodnoty – https://www.novinky.cz/domaci/clanek/hledaci-pokladu-na-rakovnicku-nasli-zlaty-poklad-nevycislitelne-hodnoty-verejnosti-je-zatim-nepristupny-40377797 – Searchers in Rakovnicko have found a golden treasure of incalculable value. (Picture captions in the original post) 

Music – 𝔈𝔡𝔡𝔞 • myths from medieval Iceland – 𝔐𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔞 𝔐𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔳𝔞𝔩𝔢 – Ensemble: Sequentia – Album: Edda – Myths from medieval Iceland
Video: Selection of many runic art photos, courtesy of Alessio & Valentina
http://www.facebook.com/musicamedievale

Untangling among the myriad of musical projects inspired by the Vikings born in recent years is something really difficult. To help those who are looking for something more credible and historically accurate, even if perhaps less easy for the common ear, here is the musical version of the Edda proposed by Enseble Sequentia.
The Edda are the sagas of medieval Iceland, as they are usually called, a series of texts describing various aspects of the society from their laws to their religious beliefs. Some texts are in prose, while some are poetic. The latter are the subject here, and are performed primarily as preserved in the Codex Regius (early thirteenth century).
The sagas of medieval Iceland are some of the West’s most fascinating literature, arising from one of the West’s most fascinating civilizations. Iceland was settled by the Norse in the late 9th century, and has been inhabited since then. It’s cultural distinctions include not only that early exploration and settlement but a democratic parliament as well. Many of the sagas apparently date to this period, and possibly even prior to settlement, but were written down only from around the 13th century.
This poetry and its recitation are inherently oral traditions. There is no musical notation which accompanies it, and so Sequentia’s reconstructions are particularly hypothetical. They are based both on their own study of medieval poetry as it is linked to music elsewhere, the various modal gestures entailed, as well as some of the earliest written descriptions (18th century) of Icelandic recitation by European musicians. The amount of effort put into this production is very impressive, based as it was over the course of years of study.
Regarding the resulting music itself, some sections are particularly compelling, and regardless of provenance (whether medieval Iceland per se or the minds of Sequentia), make for a fine program. There is an alternation of more lyrical passages with some more dramatic recitations, as one might generally say this material was typically performed in the bardic tradition. Medieval pronunciation is attempted as well.
Benjamin Bagby, legendary performer and teacher, has always been interested in Iceland, and in fact he lived & worked on that mysterious North Atlantic island during summers as a student, studying the language. It is only natural that his passion for medieval music would find an outlet in the many medieval texts preserved by the Icelanders. In this project (which was staged as a music-drama production in Luxembourg in 1995) the myths of the ‘Edda’ are interwoven, to tell the stories of creation, destruction, and of the gods Odin, Thor and Baldur. Bagby, Thornton and Gaver are joined by long-time colleague Lena Susanne Norin for this first great reconstruction project of a lost musical repertoire, for which Bagby’s work in Icelandic archives was the basis. The philological guiding light in this project was the Icelandic scholar Heimir Pálsson, and the CD was recorded in the church at Skálholt, in Iceland, a place rich in history.
More info: http://www.sequentia.org
•
00:00 1 Leikr elds ok ísa “The song of Fire and Ice” (fiddle)
02:16 2 Veit ek at ek hekk “Óðinn’s Rune-verses” (voice, lyre)
07:58 3 Hlióðs bið ek allar “The Prophecy of the Seeress” (all)
18:08 4 Vreiðr var pá Ving-Þórr “The Tale of Prymr” (voice, lyre)
32:00 5 Nú erum komnar “The Song of the Mill” (2 voices, fiddle)
44:18 6 Baldrs minni “In Memory of Baldr” (fiddle)
47:52 7 Senn vóru æsir allir á þingi “Baldr’s Dreams” (2 voices, fiddle)
57:23 8 Þat man hón fólkvíg “The Prophecy of the Seeress” (2 voices)
01:03:47 9 Ragnarok “The End of the Gods” (fiddle)
01:05:16 10 Á fellr austan um eitrdala “The Prophecy of the Seeress” (all)
•
Barbara Thornton – voice
Lena Susanne Norin – voice
Elizabeth Gaver – fiddles
Benjamin Bagby – voice, lyre
Benjamin Bagby & Barbara Thornton – dir.

Links

Calverley Old Hall: Historians make ‘once in a lifetime’ discovery as they find entire lost room of Tudor paintings in Yorkshire medieval hall – https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/calverley-old-hall-historians-make-once-in-a-lifetime-discovery-as-they-find-entire-lost-room-of-tudor-paintings-in-yorkshire-medieval-hall-3449288

Archeological dig in Newfoundland unearths what could be Canada’s oldest English coin – https://vancouversun.com/news/national/archeological-dig-in-newfoundland-unearths-what-could-be-canadas-oldest-english-coin/wcm/58b37e13-d133-4b9c-aa01-662dcb25455b

Archaeologists discover ancient ‘hangover prevention’ ring – https://www.cnn.com/style/article/archaeologists-ancient-hangover-prevention-ring-amethyst-scn/index.html

Good largesse project, no-sew crayon wrap. – https://www.smallfriendly.com/small-friendly/2012/02/no-sew-crayon-wrap.html

Video & Podcast Links

PODCAST: Hans Holbein the Younger’s Captivating Portraits – https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/podcast-hans-holbein-the-youngers-captivating-portraits/

13th Century Interior Design | Secrets of the Castle (3/5) | Absolute History – Absolute History – Ruth, Peter and Tom enter the surprisingly colourful world of medieval interior design. The castles that we see today are in fact scarred by centuries of decay. Most of their original roofs, carpentry and interior finishes have long since disappeared, but in their heyday they were lavishly decorated.

Celtic and Anglo-Saxon treasure found – but what is treasure? – Hidden History – Two recent treasure finds have highlighted an important issue. What is treasure? How is it decided what qualifies as treasure? And how can finding it land you in trouble with the law?

Medieval Badges with Ann Marie Rasmussen – Medievalists – If you were suddenly transported back into Northern Europe in the latter part of the Middle Ages, a lot of the people you came across would be sporting something shiny on their clothes or hats. This week, Danièle speaks with Ann Marie Rasmussen about medieval badges, how they were made and used, and who was wearing them.

The column and equestrian statue of Justinian, a landmark of Constantinople, with Elena Boeck – Medievalists – Though it is often overlooked today, Justinian’s column and colossal statue, which stood for a thousand years next to Hagia Sophia, defined the City almost as much as the Great Church itself. In this episode of Byzantium and Friends, we talk with Elena Boeck about the symbolism, history, and the engineering of this monument.

Funnies