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| 2013, Drummer Baby |
As many of our friends and family know, Jade and I like to make up our own family traditions. I think it's safe to say that going forward, each June will find us at the Mutton & Mead Medieval Fair. We first attended the fair in 2013 when Eko was one-and-three-quarters. We were so bewitched with the playful spirit that we returned the following year donning Jade's last-minute elven wear. For the past few months we've been looking forward to returning once again with our now-three-year old, and this time we really got into character.
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| 2014, Axe-Wielding Elf Child |
To get Eko excited, we told him that we'd be dressing up again for the fair. He wanted to dress up like Fireman Sam. Clearly we needed more knights and dragons in his bedtime books. We tried to explain to him that firefighters aren't really in keeping with the theme and told him that the fair centered around the tale of Robin Hood. We showed him the 70s Disney classic, one of our own childhood favorites. Oo-De-Lally! It was a hit! For the next two weeks we literally watched that movie every day and acted out scenes, Eko's favorite form of play. Picture this: Jade (the sheriff) harrumphs around and bullies me (a poor person) for taxes. Eko (as Robin Hood) sneakily steals the coins from the sheriff and returns the coins to me. The game ends in an epic chase around and around the house as we wield wooden and invisible weapons. And then, start over! This was Eko's first taste of bad guys and social injustice, and Robin Hood really helped him process these big ideas. (Some days he'd just spread invisible oil on Prince John (me) that made PJ good, then lecture him about the error of his ways.) Eko learned all the words to Roger Miller's
Oo-De-Lally and would walk around humming the prince's marching song. As you can see, he was well prepared to get into character and travel back in time to the fair.
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| 2015, Robin and his Merry Men |
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| Ed the Wizard |
After ogling the blacksmith, archery and fencing areas, we got a great display of illusion magic from Ed the Wizard. As the first to arrive, Eko got a private performance: the wizard pulled a scarf out of his bag and asked Eko to name the color: red. Then Eko put the red scarf into the bag, but when he pulled it out again it was
blue. Ed the Wizard replied, "but you told me it was red; are you sure you know your colors?" Another round and the blue scarf became red again, and finally it disappeared entirely. We were all completely baffled. It definitely set the tone for a wonderful day full of surprises.
Next we watched a jousting tournament, where lances were shattered into splinters, hooves thundered, knights jeered at each other, and swords determined the ultimate winner. Then it was off to the Enchanted Forest Path, one of our favorite spots. The Forest is full of lovely installations and faerie folk. We tied bells to intricate webs, made a musical thunderstorm in the trees, and brought gems and pinecones to the faeries we spotted along the path. This year we made magic by blowing bubbles, tied a wish to the wishing tree, and walked in circles along a labyrinth. Faeries silently danced and swooned around their trees, gleefully accepted their tokens, and played piano with their feet. The silent Green Man was a little spooky at first, but with his Merry Mama's help, Eko gave him a pinecone and bowed.
On our way back to the blacksmith (Eko wanted to try out the hammers), we ran into Robin Hood and Little John standing near the joust pitch. Robin Hood recognized his younger
doppelganger immediately and in the Olde Medeival Speake, officially invited Eko to join his band of merry men, "He has the uniform already." Eko was very excited to show him all of his homemade weaponry. After bidding each other farewell, we heard stories and songs from Maid Marion and all of the Merry Men, including a now-household favorite, the Keeper:
(Chorus:)
Jackie boy! (Master!) Sing ye well! (Very well!)
Hey down (Ho down) Derry derry down
Among the leaves so green, O
After weeks of acting out Robin Hood scenes, it's fun to share with Eko a community who enjoys role playing just as much as he does. Maybe someday he'll be in the cast...
We saw a hilarious acrobat/ acrorat performance, Cirque du Sewer.
After another joust, and some jousting of our own with wooden swords (my knuckle still hurts), we concluded our day with a happy, costumed crowd limbo-ing with Little John's staff to Cu Dubh's thunderous bagpipe band at the gate. We returned to our present time on a golf cart ride back to our car.
It was amazing to see how much attention we received for Jade's awesome outfits. We didn't notice anyone particularly dressed as Robin Hood or his merry men and not many families were dressed as similarly as we were. People went out of their way to compliment us and Eko was always instantly recognized as the outlaw of Sherwood Forest. What a great day all around.
Huzzah!
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| Robin Hood mightily enjoys his mutton |
