Groomporter


    Location:
    Minnesota
    Home or favorite faire Home faire MNRF
    About Me I'm the owner of Rose & Pentagram Design/Macgregor Historic Games we research and sell our own line of card, dice and board games from the past in a "portable gaming hall" at Renaissance fairs, and historical reenactments and to reenactors around the world.

    My online nickname comes from the "Groom Porter" who was first appointed during the reign of Henry VII and was in charge of organizing gambling at court. Under Queen Anne, letters patent gave "full powers to him and to such deputies as he shall appoint to supervise, regulate and authorize ... all manner of gaming within the kingdom". The term continued to be used through the 18th and 19th centuries as a reference to the owner, or manager of a gambling hall, or what we would call a croupier running a dice table.

    I also do a demo of man-powered wood turning and have a little website dedicated to the research I've done in wood turning through the ages.

    Music Yes
    Movies Old horror movies
    Vices Gin Martinis
    Here For Not Specified

    The sounds of "Blessing" the MNRF site

    Monday, August 18, 2008, 06:35 PM [General]

    Here's a little after-hours treat for non-particpants.

    Every year the local Morris Dancers do a little ritual the locals call "Blessing the Site" of the MN Renaissance Festival. It usually happens twice a year during the run of the festival. Below is a link to a short mp3 of the event this year. The music is a little choppy, but I caught them at the very end of their procession around the inside perimeter of the entire ring of the 22 acre site, so their penny whistle player was getting rather tired. I believe the official name for what they are doing is connected with the "Abbots Bromley Horn Dance", but MNRF participants all refer to it as "Blessing the Site." On Sunday I asked what the name of tune was that they play but the dancer I asked couldn't remember off the top of his head.

    To set the scene, by this time it was full dark, and you could -just- see the Morris Dancers in their white costumes, walking single file, each one carrying a rack of deer antlers, with a couple dozen participants quietly following in their wake. You can hear the crickets in the background, and periodically one of the dancer rings a single bell. Whatever your religion it can be a moving/spiritual experience

    http://historicgames.com/sound/blessingsite.mp3

    Here's a similar street performance in England on Youtube with the tune played on fiddle. Although it's on a village street you can get a feeling for what it's like on the dark and wooded festival site.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXe0QL2t6Bk

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    "LARP" at Bristol?

    Thursday, July 10, 2008, 09:28 AM [General]

    Probably not an actual full LARP (Live-Action Role Playing game), but I just noticed on their website that Bristol is doing some sort of inter-active theater/ role-play game. Any word on how it's well it has gone so far?

    http://www.renfair.com/bristol/interactive/renQuest_info.php

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    Sorry for the late response, but thank you very much for adding me to your friends here. A have received a very warm welcome and I look forward to talking with you. Stop by and say hello sometime.

    Those cribbage boards are amazing!

    Shauna Burns
    May 03, 2008
    02:18 AM CST

    I doth have interest in the Tarot Cards. Pray thee kindly Sir, and share'st thou how I may these so obtained?

    Sir Mikel
    March 31, 2008
    02:13 PM CST

    Hey, just stopping by to wish you a great week.

    Ljdaguerre
    May 19, 2007
    08:03 PM CST

    Love the period game illustrations,great stuff!

    The Archer
    May 07, 2007
    09:17 PM CST