Medieval Week Festival

Each year hundreds of people across Europe awaken the ancestor inside, find their heritage and their roots by recreating and reliving the distant past not just as lords and ladies, but also by playing the parts of merchants, craftsmen, musicians, foot soldiers and peasants. History is “in” and people flock to take part in the combination of history, role play, and shows that some call “histotainment”.

What man has never secretly pictured himself as a chivalrous knight in shining armor? What woman has never daydreamed of being a fair maiden in flowing robes?

While it’s meant to be fun, authenticity is important. Cottage industries abound that provide not only materials but even finished products for use by re-enactors. Clothing is sewn by hand from hand-woven, naturally-dyed materials. Headgear, footwear, military equipment, weapons are created in old ways to be as close to the originals as possible.

Despite its peace-loving image, Sweden has a colorful history of Vikings, dynastic struggles, and clashes with neighbors on all sides. Today that past, peaceful and bellicose, is revived each year at over 80 different festivals, re-enactments and historical theme markets. The biggest of these is Medieval Week on the Baltic island of Gotland in August which draws crowds of close to 200k well over half of them dressed in period costume. People of all ages and from all walks of life throw themselves into the fun. For many, it soon becomes a hobby. For some, it even turns into a way of life.

Markets are filled by the songs of strolling musicians, jesters, fire-eaters, and aroma of ancestral foods. Colorful stalls sell the fruits of spinning, sewing, weaving, cloth dyeing, basket weaving, rope making, leather-working, shoemaking, metalworking, glass-blowing, woodworking, blacksmithing and other crafts. There is dancing and juggling, flirting and feasting.

But the crown of any medieval festival is the lance-splintering action and glorious pageantry of the tournament. Knights mounted on horseback, fighting men on foot, broadswords crossed, helmeted archers testing their skills. Trumpets sound, banners whip in the wind, hooves thunder, gallant warriors, like their ancestors of old, seeking fame and glory. It I s a living echo of the past, revived to thrill the present.

And, all breathlessly watched by entranced crowds and garland, silk-clad ladies. After all, what would a knight do without a beautiful damsel in distress?

by Private InFlight

Share This

Would you like to comment "Medieval Week Festival"?

Grab this Headline Animator