Am Mor Salann Fasach’s Twelfth Night Revel was held 14 January A.S. XII (1978).

 
We did all gather upon the 12th night after Christmas to lay honor unto the arrival of the wise men. Procession¹ began as usual but ended precipitately as our Abbot of Misrule, Abbot Ethelred, charged forward and took the throne, starting a riotous evening of games and forfeits.

We all participated in games of Blind Man’s Bluff, Queen’s Chair Out, and Blazons², while the Abbot ran games of Lou and Whist in the library.

The favorite parts of the evening were the sessions in the Abbot’s Court of Misrule. Our good Brother John held name badges (the forfeits) over the Abbot’s head reciting “Heavy. . .a. . .’eavy, ‘eavy hangs. . .a ‘angs over thy Head,” with the Abbot asking Fine or Superfine (Male or Female) and thereupon, the answer, doling out penalties.

The penalties consisted of various participants sitting on lighted candles, kissing candle holders, jumping over chairs, and a couple trying to find each other while blindfolded. The most entertaining and unexpected was by Geoffrey McDonald who received the Boor’s Badge by virtue of his creatively striped, gracefully displayed (while doing penance) underpinnings.

The other awards of the evening were: the List of Grace, going to our fair lady fighter, Willa Myopia, and the List of Chivalry received by our Knight Marshall, Robert de Spencer. Also, the List of Gross, was presented to Sister Scholastica as being the one most in spirit with the evening’s fun.

The reveling ended as the Abbot abdicated the throne, during closing court until next year.

From The Questing Quill, Vol. II Issue II, February A.S. XII

Notes:

¹ Because so few in the shire had ever actually met royalty, and because all of us were very new at this, we instituted the practice of having a procession to empty thrones at the beginning of nearly every event. This served two purposes: 1. to familiarize the populace with protocol to be used with royalty, and 2. to help people learn each others’ names. (Everyone was announced, since no one at that time had any awards at all.)

² Blazons is a Bingo-like game I put together to help teach heraldic terms.