My sister Katie writes from Bratislava, Slovakia, where she is interning with a missions organization. I dearly miss her scathing, perceptive sense of humor, nicely displayed in the following excerpt.
Today I went with Sarah and Carol to a medieval festival held at the castle overlooking Bratislava. Medieval history is Sarah's passion; she has a desk decorated with swords and ball-and-chain devices and other similar weapons. (Scary. One hesitates to argue with a supervisor whose desk is graced with a sword). Carol, it would seem, has little interest in this period of history, but being Sarah's roommate and close friend she takes the required medieval field trip at least twice annually. Today I was invited along, and spent no small chunk of time watching fully costumed men and women fight one another with swords and chains. I am told that the correct name for this activity is 'historical fencing' -- not to be mistaken with that derrivative and cowardly institution, modern fencing. No, no, they stand for no petty stick-swords or masks in this business. The limping, bleeding figures that I observed today stood as proud witnesses to the authenticity of the sport.
The chief attraction of medieval festivals, as I see it, is the quantity of cheap beer available. No Civil War re-enactors can claim this kind of diversion, available neat and in handy plastic cups. Admittedly, the pointy-toed shoes and loud brass instruments are a down side to the event. But on the whole, a better excuse for drinking is unlikely to be found.
By the way, if anyone wants to reach Katie, just drop her a line at kmesh@covenant.edu. I'm sure she'd love to hear from you -- unless you're one of those people she really doesn't want to hear from. (Dwell on that for a while.)
Posted by mesh at June 16, 2003 12:02 PM | TrackBack