Gallery Sunday, March 5: Domestic Handbooks for “Staging the Table”

The Canton of Whyt Whey and the Crown Province of Ostgardr invite you to join us for a casual weekend outing to one of our many world-class museums.

On Saturday, March 5, at 1 PM, we’ll visit the Bard Graduate Center Gallery (18 W 86th St.) to view their “Staging the Table” exhibit of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European household manuals describing the proper way to serve and conduct a formal meal, accompanied by examples of table linens and servingware.

Admission is $15. The museum advises booking tickets in advance to ensure availability. (Student, senior, and disability discounts available.)

The venue requires masking and proof of up-to-date Covid vaccination along with matching photo ID. The site is wheelchair-accessible and ADA-compliant.

The visit is expected to take around an hour or so. Some folks may choose to go to lunch in the neighborhood afterwards.

All are welcome to join us. No Society membership or previous experience required. Modern attire. Feel free to RSVP or just show up.

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.

Gallery Saturday, February 18: “She Who Wrote” Women and Writing in Mesopotamia

The Canton of Whyt Whey (or Appleholm-in-waiting) invites you to join us for a casual weekend outing to one of our many world-class museums.

On Saturday, February 18, at 2 PM, we’ll visit the Morgan Library & Museum (Madison at 36th St) to view their “She Who Wrote” exhibit of artifacts focusing on the lives of women in Mesopotamia during the Bronze Age. The centerpoint of the exhibit is a collection of cuneiform texts by the princess, priestess, and poet Enheduanna, the earliest individually-named author in world history.

Admission is $22, but the museum advises advance booking through their website, which costs $25. (Student, senior, and disability discounts available.) Masking is strongly encouraged. The site is wheelchair-accessible and ADA-compliant.

The visit is expected to take around one to two hours. Some folks may choose to go to lunch in the neighborhood afterwards.

All are welcome to join us. No Society membership or previous experience required. Modern attire. Feel free to RSVP or just show up.

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.

Minutes from January Commons

The canton’s quarterly business meeting was held online January 23. The minutes below were recorded by Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin and reviewed by Alienor Salton.

Attendance

Officers:
• Alienor Salton, Seneschal
• Zahra de Andaluzia, Exchequer
• Angelica di Nova Lipa, Chatelaine and Vicereine
• Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Herald
• Simon Talbot, Webminister (arrival delayed)
• Ibrahim al-Rashid, Exchequer Emeritus

Populace:
• Varenne de Forêt

Continue reading Minutes from January Commons

Gallery Sunday, January 22: “Ritual and Memory” in the Bronze Age Balkans

The Canton of Whyt Whey invites you to join us for a casual weekend outing to one of our many world-class museums.

On Sunday, January 22, at 1 PM, we’ll visit the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (14 E 84th St) to view their “Ritual and Memory” exhibit of artifacts from southeast Europe including Hungary and the Balkans during the Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages, approximately 8,000–2,500 years ago.

Admission is free. The venue requires proof of Covid vaccination. Masking is encouraged but not required. The site is wheelchair-accessible and ADA-compliant.

The visit is expected to take around one to two hours. Some folks may choose to go to lunch in the neighborhood afterwards.

All are welcome to join us. No Society membership or previous experience required. Modern attire. Feel free to RSVP or just show up.

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.

Branch Name Change Submission

The Canton of Whyt Whey was founded in the late 1980s, with its name registration appearing on the January 1990 LoAR. In the decades since, the original population has moved out of our region and been replaced by a new generation of participants, for whom the old name didn’t have the same valence, and over the last few years an effort was undertaken to consider possible changes. 

Following a great deal of thought, the populace settled on Appleholm as its new name, for which the forms were submitted this month. I thought folks might be interested in the documentation we included to support the registration.

Continue reading Branch Name Change Submission

Spiced Cider on the Promenade

Please join us this coming Saturday, December 17th, 2pm for a brisk outdoors social celebration. We are meeting in Riverside park, at the middle level promenade, on the parapet overlooking on the basketball court, around 102nd St. (It might be the roof of the 102nd St. field house? Google Maps to the field house will put you within sight of us.) We will have chairs, blankets, and mulled cider!

Come toast the health of our canton with the fruits of its harvest, hot spiced cider from our October picking, pressing & brewing season. Skies are expected to sunny and bright, temperature hovering around 40ºF with winds <10mph. Our cheeks will be pink and our spirits high!

[Update:] For those not familiar with this stretch of the park: from Riverside Drive at 103rd Street, take the stairs down into the park, then at the bottom of the steps turn left and go down the long ramp to the promenade level and you will be facing the terrace.

Cider Pressing Photo Gallery

The Whyt Whey apple pressing workshop yielded over five gallons of cider!

And gentlemen in Brooklyn now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That pressed with us on Crispin apples’ day.

— Þorfinnr Hróðgeirsson

Thanks to Þorfinnr for the use of his press and his advice on proper fermentation. Photographs by Þorfinnr, Alienor, and Mathghamhain.

Cider Pressing Workshop, October 30

With autumnal crispness in the air, now is the time for cider-making! Whether you harvested apples at the Provincial farm outing or bartered for them at a local market, join us for a hands-on session of mashing and pressing them for juice.

Thorfinn Hróthgeirsson has a cider press and has graciously offered to host a workshop at his home on Sunday, October 30, at 2:00 PM.

We’ll all work together to process the apples and share the combined juice. Please bring some apples and a large-enough container to take hone your juice; expect one gallon per 16-20 pounds of apples, or roughly one cup for every 3 apples.

Thorfinn will provide the equipment, and may be able to provide yeast for fermenting it if you desire. (If you would like to walk away with fermenting equipment, notify him in advance.)

To participate,

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.