York Waggon Mysteries, 9th & 16th July

York Mystery Plays, performed in the Medieval tradition from waggons at stations around the city.

Heslington Church was presenting the Winedrawers Pageant (hurrah!), of Christ and Mary Magdelene, with an introduction from the Carpenter's Pageant of The Resurrection.

I was singing with members of the Korean Church at Heslington, in albs borrowed from the Minster choir:

Christus resurgens ex mortuis ,
Iam non moritur, alleluia,
Mors illi ultra non dominabitur,
Alleluia, alleluia.

Christ rising from the dead,
Dieth now no more, alleluia;
Death shall no longer have dominion over him,
Alleluia, alleluia..

Nice of the Council to close the street off for the second week on our request, although it didn't actually reduce the traffic at all & motorists who had ignored these restrictions & were delayed for more than a few seconds by this beloved spectacle still tooted, revved engines and made a disgrace of themselves.

For a 'City of Festivals', the Council do rely completely on the sweat of volunteers to make these events happen & when you look at the hard work Chris & our waggon team put in, you'd think they deserved a bit more support.

See the Photo gallery. If you have other photo's of the plays, I'd be happy to put them up here - email to salvianus(at)kenwright.net

Arbeia Roman Fort, 15th-16th July

Comitatus, Dateline 400 A.D.

The ruins & reconstructed fort are in the unusual setting of quiet little streets by the Tyne which remind me of where I grew up by the Mersey. It was great to be able to travel light, lug a bedroll & bag (OK, a large bag) into the centurion's quarters & sleep in a reconstructed Roman bed - I got the commandant's wife's room, handily ensuite for Victor (or should I say Dominus?) in the commandant's room ;-)

Sunset behind the gatehouse was beautiful. We talked the night away in the triclinium, serenaded by candlelight on Victor's new lyre & Victor & Demetrius gave me a tour of the wattle & daub barrack block in the small hours - pointing out the location of the mail shirt currently in the Constantine exhibition at York by the lightening morning sky.

A relaxed morning, chatting to archaeology students & tanking up on water. The hourly displays were punishing in the heat with a bit of commuting the camp - oh when will my authentic water bottle arrive? Very happy with my bow - re-tied the archer's knot to raise the bracing height & hit 5 out of 6 on one of the displays. Sorting out the ranks for the foulkon whilst mustering reduced the faffing considerably - it's hard to fall into a pattern when we have a different set of soldiers each display.

The gatehouse assault was as fun as falling into a ditch can get. Leather soles & no hobnails = no grip & in the ditch I stayed, as I was unwilling to drop my shield to claw my way out & my spear arm was just not strong enough on its own.

Talked about hobnailing my boots, when they arrive - will see how they do at Sewerby. I can always keep my campagi for City shows. Left arm totally knackered, so dreamed of planing down my shield to lighten it, but I might be glad of the thickness in the cavalry displays. Put a slightly smaller & thinner (6mm?) patrol shield on the shopping list. Must paint some symbols on the interior of my shield & sort that strap out & linseed my bow.

A pizza run & a nice quiet evening, with Fortunatus as made up as me to be in these surroundings and a photoshoot for our furry mascot Julian & some local muppets. Caius & I tried passing juggling again, with more success - need a set of balls the same weight.

It was very hard to tear myself away in the morning, but the Waggon plays only come round every four years!

Standouts: Wishing I'd had an adventure playground like this outside my back door, the site of the mail shirt find in the pale skylight of 4am, Waking in a roman bedroom, juggling in the sunset & Julian making a public appearance to the delight of all.

See the Photo gallery.

Constantine's Septendecentennial

Comitatus, Dateline 25th July 306 A.D.

Seventeen hundred years to the day since Constantine was acclaimed Caesar by his late father's troops here in York. We attended the commemoration service as representatives of those troops & as honour guard to Archbishop Sentamu.

The service was held at the Minster, site of the very principia where it all happened. But a few feet higher, obviously. The Archbishop's robes are brilliant - he's completely updated the fossilised robes & actually carries it off! They brought the statue of Constantine to life & Demetrius & the lads carried him to his chariot & we processed down Stonegate, the fort's Via Praetoria, while the bish boogied along to a carnival band, to the Museum Gardens where we stood guard on the Museum steps & were entertained by Panther dancers, thoughts for the future, including banning aeroplanes & an 'It's a Knockout' version of the execution of Christians in the persecutions. Um.

But there were enthusiastic kids with DIY corni, the Museum staff gave us water & the whole thing finished with a falconer chucking a golden eagle at the Rev. It swooped up, turned over the crowd & flew towards us, then soared up into the sun - Aquila Invictus!

As we marched off, I managed to get the hang of Victor's tuba, & landed myself with the job of tubicens.

At the C4th Roman Bath House, Victor had already set up our new ballista. After a well deserved pint, we named it Constantine with some ceremony - a healthy 4th Century mixture of Mithraistic (incense & cymbals) & trad. classical touches (libation of wine & grains etc) and a bit of Latin I'd put together, hopefully without too many glaring errors:

( Click for text )

Rather pleased to find "my arms can bend a bow of bronze" in Samuel :-)

The Sacramentum was hard to read by candlelight, but Fortunatus helped me out & all were sworn in for another year. I must memorise it.

In Latin ;-)

Graham at the Bath House was very welcoming & we had a nice drink to celebrate at the Yorkshire Terrier. All set for the big weekend at Barley Hall!