A few of us Storvik residents have formed a small support group to work on the Atlantian Persona Pentathlon for next year.
What, you may ask, is the Persona Pentathlon? It's totally a challenge: create five items that all could have been used, worn, performed, or eaten by a person out of a single time and place within the SCA. But wait -- if you're really good at something, like tablet weaving (for instance), you can't just make five tablet-woven bands and enter the competition. Oh, no! You have to make/bake/perform items from at least three different categories:
- Category 1: Manuscript & Fine Arts (bookbinding, calligraphy, drawing, illumination, painting, papermaking, pigments & inks, sculpture)
- Category 2: Garb & Fiber Arts (beadwork, clothing accessories (including belts, pouches, and fans), clothing/costume, hats, knitting, nalbinding, knotted work, lacemaking, needlework (counted thread or free form))
- Category 3: Glass & Pottery (ceramics, enameling, glass blowing, lamp working, lapidary, mosaic, pottery, stained glass)
- Category 4: Medieval Life (basket weaving, brewing & vintning, cooking, dyeing, furniture making, herb craft, soap making, spinning, toys & games, weaving (full-sized fabrics or narrow bands))
- Category 5: Performance-Related and Writing (lyric composition, masks, music composition, performance (vocal, instrumental, poetry, storytelling), poetry, prose, dance performance and composition, martial arts performance, research paper)
- Category 6: Metal, Leather, Wood & Other 'Hard' Arts (armor, chain mail, blacksmithing, jewelry smithing, iron work, tool making, casting, leather work, wood carving and construction, making musical instruments)
- Category 7: Miscellaneous (heraldic display, horse barding, subtleties, and anything else that just doesn't seem to fit into the other categories)
One might think that, as a dabbler in many different A&S activities over the 17 years of my SCA adventures, I would find this competition easy as pie. Heck, no! Remember, I dabble, not excel, at many things. I take a class, learn some new method, use that method to make a couple of things, then move on. (I probably have ADHD, though I've never been formally diagnosed.)
Now, I'm crazy about the history of Lithuania, as you probably know. But to figure out five things to do related to Lithuania? Early period (like the experimental archaeologists at Kernave) or late period (like Bona Sforza and her descendants)? What to do, what to do?
Don't worry, I shall let you all know what I decide.
