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Last weekend an invitation for a birthday party from our good friend M. took us to Castle Ravensberg in the Teutoburg Forest.

A castle as such is already a very spiffy place for a birthday party, but M. had come up with something really special: a medieval party on a castle!

Therefore the guests had to appear in garb: as knights, damsels, squires, wenches, monks, thieves … or witches and wizards.

U. and I had been wanting to acquire some medieval garb for ages to appear “in style” at medieval fairs — and to maybe even look into participating in the “Society for Creative Anachronism” or take part in a Live Action Role Play.

So that was a brilliant opportunity for us to finally put those plans into action.

It was not easy to decide what to get! Various online shops for medieval garb offered a wide selection of costumes, first and foremost the Ritterladen (the “Knights’ Shop”) and Mittlalter.Net. But after lots of consideration we finally arrived at a decission: U. would be a knight Franconiae (wearing the colours of his Catholic, colour-showing, non-duelling fraternity Frankonia-Czernowitz of the CV at Erlangen), while I’d be simply his wife and damsel.

Stylistically, we based our costumes loosely on the late medieval manuscript “Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry”. Therefore some kind of cap and wide sleeves were an absolute necessity for me! But a practical belt pouch had to be included, too — big enough for everything you need in the Middle Ages: Sony eReader, mobile phone, digital camera, iPod …

The costumes arrived in time, fit perfectly and then we could barely wait to finally try them out for real. U. was especially looking forward to striking a threatening pose in his long black cloak at night, while I was curious how I’d fare with the long dress and those immense sleeves.

Last Saturday we finally started out northwards, packed up with medieval garb and gear. The journey went well and nearly as planned (apart from a not anticipated traffic diversion in Bielefeld). After nap in the hotel it was time to get out the garb and dress up.

And off we went. After a short trip with the bus we had to climb the mountain up to the castle.

Up at the castle various medieval folk was already waiting for us: a gleeman, buskers, a bow man, rope makers …

After the welcome speech we presented our host with his birthday gift. Together with our friends U2. and N. we had acquired a drinking horn with our well-wishes burnt in as ornaments.

Quickly it turned out that we had not come to Castle Ravensberg just for fun. A guided tour of the castle was a must — including a climb of the tower. I have to say climbing the narrow winding stairs was quite an adventure. Especially if you’re not really fond of heights like me. But the view was really worth it in the end.

The tower was also the perfect background to take some pictures of knights and damsels.

Once we reached solid ground again, it was time for even more warlike activities! Shooting with a bow takes lots of skill and training … U. was very intent and serious about it, but sadly he only managed to adorn the hare on the target with an ear piercing. For the “roast” we had to rely on N.. Shooting the hare straight through the head she saw to it that … at least theoretically … we wouldn’t go hungry … at least as long as the hare wouldn’t start moving …

Afterwards it was time for the banquet. And even though it was not quite medieval, there was a selection of various cold and warm dishes to be sampled and enjoyed. Later it was time for some entertainment: a choir sang a few songs for our host and the show of a fire-juggler was really impressive.

At dusk and with quickly darkening clouds and a fresh breeze it got cool quickly. A good thing if you had a warm cloak with you!

It was way after midnight when we finally climbed down from the castle. The drive home on Sunday was as awful as the party was wonderful (all of Germany seemed to be stuck in various and sundry traffic jams, it took us nearly eight instead of five hours to get home!), but all in all it was a really terrific weekend. Most of all: our garb was a great success — and we both agree that we have to find another opportunity soon to show off our medieval garb and gear!

( More pictures » )