2001
Our "first time" as a herbalists took place in the Biskupin Archeological Museum, about 80 km north of our hometown. It
is not very spectacular a place for a debut as far as the historical
accuracy is concerned but it guarantees the wide public. A year before,
in Biskupin there had been an Archeological Festival with a pitifully
uninteresting display of their own herbalists. Since all the Sci-Fi fans
consider themselves to be better at performing than the non-Sci-Fi fans,
we decided to submit our application for participation in the next
Festival, being persuaded that we can do it better.
The effects were to be admired during the 6th
Archeological Festival in 2001. For the chief, who reverentially
died for the period of the duration of the event, we arranged quite
a funeral (the final speech was delivered in a foreign language, the
spectators were touched nonetheless). The herbalists' hut was overcrowded
and even the smoke, acrid as it was, could not stop us from making
new, interesting acquaintances. We have also learnt a few important
things. Firstly, if one chooses to deal in certain illegal substances,
there is nowhere to go but Biskupin to do it - usually 500 times a
day (estimating 2 persons per a guided tour group) a question about
the particular kind of herb was asked. Secondly, no amount of tea
for hangover will suffice to satisfy the demand. Thirdly, the Biskupin's
mud is going to soak through any kind of footwear, with the exception
of, perhaps, wellingtons. Generally speaking, the 6th Archeological
Festival was well worth going to, although we returned to Poznan with
a sore throat and no back lights in the car.
2002
The following year (2002) was generally a year to try the acquaintances made in Biskupin out. After spending a winter with needle and a thread in our hands (our previous clothes cried for remodeling) we were ready to conquer Warsow - The Barons' League invited
us here to 7th International
Tournament of King Zygmunt III Waza's Sword. There, the
more beautiful part of our group, dressed up as nuns, were giving
the aforementioned lovage to drink to the Polish and foreign knights
(with impunity and to the best effect!). We also showed up on the
8th Slav and Vikings Festival
on the Wolin Isle where we began to amass our historical
clothing by means of purchase or barter. Since this festival, we used
to dream about hundreds of warriors banging their shields with the
swords to the accompaniment of drums nearly as often as about the
Russian women’s period costumes, which had defined for us the
unattainable ideal of refinement and the amount of meticulous work
sacrificed to prepare the historical outfit.
Poznan's Potato Festival (our district is called
humorously "Potato Land") became an opportunity to extend
the herbal assortment. Biskupin
2002, despite the sparse food supply, was the best event
of that year. Scars, professionally made by Pyskata, were highly praised
by the audience, including the makers of the Stara Basn movie (My
God, what happened to you?!). Our special tea for hangover was so
repulsive that the people promised never to touch alcohol again. Due
to the invaluable contribution of the firefighters who helped us to
start the fire in the rain, we managed to marry a maid to an appropriate
(rich) suitor. That time, we returned home with all lights in our
car intact. Moreover, Merle and Pyskata had had their pictures taken
by a photographer who had been preparing documentation for the Stara
Basn movie, and, although they did not get a part in the film, one
could admire them i.e. in the December 2002 issue of Fantasy magazine
as well as in the April 2004 issue of Gazeta Rycerska magazine (on
our site you can see it here).
2003
The year 2003 we spent on the road. We started modestly at V Nationwide Sci-Fi Convention 'PYRKON' in our hometown Poznan, and later we crossed the Europe. We got ourselves
to be known in Denmark (festivals in Ribe,
Odense, Hobro),
Belgium (Oostende)
and Norway (Gudvangen).
We were also present at the 8th
International Tournament of King Zygmunt III Waza's Sword
and the two biggest Viking events in Poland: 2nd
Mazovian Historical Festival 'The Vikings and the Vends' in Rynia and, of course, 9th
Viking Festival on Wolin Isle.
We took part in the smaller events as well: Prudnik
(pre-elections to the EU), Kruszwica
(One Day Of Prince Popiel's Life), Stettin
(3rd Colleoni Historical Fair) and Bydgoszcz (the promotion of Stara
Basn the movie). One of our herbalists introduced lavender and
other, less fragrant, herbs to the schoolchildren at the First Piasts’
Museum in Lednica (with the Slavic warriors of Jantar group performing
the first Piasts). Neither did we forget about our home city. We were
baking flatbreads and making hot tea both during the rainy Military
and Air Show and the sunny I
Archery Tournament, where our brave herbalist Krystian
won 3rd prize (and a diploma:))). To Biskupin that year, for a variety
of reasons, we went solely as tourists. After all, without us it was
not the same...
2004
The 2004 season was opened at the VI
Nationwide Sci-Fi Convention 'PYRKON', unofficially on Friday,
12th March, and officially, on Sunday, 14th March, during the St.
Patrick's Day in the ZAK Club. May was very busy: the
first weekend of the month found us far north of Poland, in Gryfino,
celebrating the 750th anniversary of the city foundation; a week later we went south Poland, to Wolow
(greetings to the Blue-Tongued Maids!). Next event, held in the shades
of magnificent ruins of Castle of Ogrodzieniec went on peacefully but under a spell of bad weather
(rain with snow). For a change, 2nd
King Arthur's Sword Tournament in Niwka was really hot and sunny.
June was equally busy: with our befriended warriors'
help, the Three Herbalists as the Three Witches held a
meeting with Terry Pratchett on 3rd June (in the British
Council Library and the Bookarest bookstore in our hometown, Poznan). The first weekend of
June we spent in Rynia near Warsaw on the 3rd
Mazovian Historical Festival 'The Vikings and the Vends'
- congrats to our minivan:) Later this month we catered for a big company event (for 400 people) at the Castle of Chudow. Unfortunately,
the 3rd Historical Festival
in Gniezno become probably the worst event of this year (using
our godi's measure - for 3.5 mead bottle).
The weekend in the Western Lands was
calm and quiet. In Cedynia it was the brave townsmen, making terrible havoc among the fighting,
that were the main attraction for the spectators. Nearly each and
every man lost his heart to our new herbalist, Natalia A.K.A. Nicole
(although calling her a 'doll' is hardly an exaggeration). In Stettin was raining almost all the time, and we suspect one of english warriors named Luke for bringing this "english weather" with him to Poland.
July was, unfortunately, rainy too - we do not doubt,
God forbid, our godi's powers but perhaps they would be worth strengthening?
Not with mead, albeit! The 7th
Merchants Festival in Recz, despite the unstable weather,
was quite a nice event (we were literally the last people to leave
it). The most important event in July, however, was the birth of the
first Herbalist baby - on 6th July 2004 Alicja Emilia, the daughter
of Kasia and Przemek, was born. That month we were also, for the second
time, to Kruszwica,
where, as the witnesses could testify, our two-men-team made triple
efforts ;). We were also hired for the "old Polish" (or more
like "old Nordic") company show at Swinoujscie.
Jumme! Jumme! Our massive attack on Jomsborg settlement
started on the 5th August, and the besiege (also of the shops, especially
those equipped with fridges...) lasted until the evening of 8th August,
accompanied by other participants in the number of 1300 (sic!). Viking
Festival on the Wolin Isle is something everyone should
experience at least once a year. Later, we slowed down to make an
appearance in the Netherlands at the beginning of September, during
the Viking Weekend at Archeon.
In the October
issue of Gazeta Rycerska there was published a long story by Emer
under the meaningful title Herbalists without herbs, where
you can read about herbs, the difference between a herbalist and a
witch as well as find out whether the Slavs and Vikings used hemp
for anything but making rope;)
We finished the season later than the previous year,
in November. Our last show in 2004 was the Independence
Day in Jarocin, held in complete darkness, except for
the light of bonfire and candles. The entire number of events, fairs
and festivals we took part in was 18 (we have had bigger plans; for
many reasons, however, they were never fulfilled). Our group grew
a bit bigger and, with Alicja, we are also sure our "pedigree"
will last. We have widened our "herbalist" assortment: the
variety includes bathing salts and new teas now. And, last but not
least, we enriched ourselves with new, spacious tents :)
2005
The April opening of the season outperformed all
the previous ones. It took place as far from our hometown of Poznan
as... Texas. Although the Viking
Fest there was not the largest of those we have been
to, we managed to identify a few acquaintances from Poznan among "The
Dirty Dozen" of Phil Burtham. In April there was also published
the 8th issue of Gazeta Rycerska magazine with the Recipe for
love: a treaty on ancient aphrodisiacs and love rituals by Magdalena
(Emer).
By the time some of us returned to Poland, the rest of Herbarii
Posnaniensis took part in VII Nationwide Sci-Fi Convention 'PYRKON' (like Marcin and his lecture about swords) and bravely inaugurated the season in Poland during the extraordinarily frosty Lednica
Festival (like Karolina and Robert). II Invasion of
the Barbarians on Ogrodzieniec cost them blisters on the hands after baking dozens of flatbreads. Robert was doing great however our second new mercenary, a ginger-haired Julia, was more useful in driving warriors crazy then doing her side jobs:)
The beginning of June found us in the capital city
on the anniversary celebrations of the 10th
International Tournament of King Zygmunt III Waza's Sword.
It had already been four years since we went there for the 1st time...
The next sunny weekend we spent in the former capital city, Gniezno,
on the Meeting with History
(greetings for Mister Grumpy! We didn't like you!!!).
Nameday of King Jan III
Sobieski in Wilanów appeared to be, fairly unfortunately,
one of the worst organized events we had ever been to. As it turned
out, the enormous budget is not enough for a success if twined with
the lack of imagination and coherent concept as well as the inability
to promote the event appropriately in the media. Nevertheless, we
managed to test the skills of our new mercenary, Maciek, and we got
acquainted with the recipe for delicious porter drink. Therefore, we may conclude: all's well that ends well. The
Midsummer Celebrations in the Wroclaw-Lesnica,
in turn, had all what had been missing in Warsaw. It was there where
we got acquainted with some of the very interesting Polish alternative
bands, such as Yerba Mater. If one happens to like the ethnic music
in the "no boarders style", it is well worth listening to.
The beginning of July we spent at the 8th
VIII Merchants Festival in a small but historically significant
town of Recz. The voyage through Scandinavia took us the remaining
part of the month. We travelled from Sweden to Norway and Denmark.
During our stay in Norway at the Egge
Viking Market (about a 100 kilometers from Trondheim)
we had an opportunity to experience amazing White Nights. The next
longer stop we had in Denmark in Leire
(near Roskilde), a small village impossible to find in any road atlas.
We were the first Polish Vikings to appear in the Leire Middle Age
Theme Park. In July Emer's name appeared again among the names of
the authors cooperating with the Gazeta Rycerska magazine. In the
July 2005 issue of the magazine you can find her epistolary short
story about inquisitive young ladies troubling the magazine’s editors
with the question: How to marry a Norseman?
August meant, first of all, the unchangingly busy
and sleepless Wolin Viking
Festival, memorable this year also because of the Magdalena
nad Krystian's Viking wedding. The other event that took place in
August was German Ukraneland in Torgelov,
where we went for the first time. We are going to remember it for
a long time due to the "Take off their socks" game (who
said the Germans cannot have fun?).
The first week of September we spent, traditionally,
at Archeon in Holland.
It is an event extremely conducive to sociability (on Friday our stall
was the last one to close) and extraordinary as far as intellectual
(Grzes Pilarczyk's unforgettable jokes about tapeworms) and nutritive
(olives, peanut butter, nutella) aspects are concerned. The last event
this season took place in Szamotuly, where, despite the rainy weather
forecast, the sun was shining all day long and the public were so
numerous and eager to find out about the Viking and Slavic traditions
as much as possible that we are sure to go there the next year.
The year 2005 in numbers: we took part in 14 events,
one third of them being the festivals abroad. We enriched ourselves
with three new souls: Agnieszka, Julia and Maciek and contributed
greatly to the return of Robert to the Viking stage. This year was
also rich in marriages: Magdalena and Krystian's and Basia and Marcin's.
Apparently, we are very likely to become a family group in the future.
For the time being, however, the first herbalist baby was one this
year (see the photo).
The number of photographs taken during the trip to Scadinavia: nearly
a thousand (!), the number of visits to our site (till the end of
September): 2546, with the record number of 455 in August.
2006
The 2006 season has fantastically started in March
with our local Sci-Fi Convention (calling by the pet name PYRKON).
Then was a moment for a break which was the last in this season. May
was marked by Silesia. Event at the Castle of Ogrodzieniec
was carried out on a grand scale (there were quests from four countries).
However, there were still few visitors and abnormal weather conditions:
the wind was so gusty so few tents were literally flying. The next
event, "Brewerie", in a town with a graceful name Pyskowice
(it sound like our chieftain Pyskata has her own town...) delighted
us with diversity of attractions and rich fare on the first floor
in Pyskowice town hall). We recommend everybody this charming town
and we send our best regards to charming Mr Adam. In May summary we
should not forget about our new thrall - Maciej, from that moment
called „Wearing a Hat”.
June became The Mercenaries Month. We started to
test the new acquisitions during the tournament in Warsaw.
We went on there along with our mercenary Asia. She is a young lady,
however she is not a flighty but very bright girl, indeed you will
hear about her. Then ways led us to Elblag. We were
there with Asia and Maciej, for who, unfortunately, was it the last
event. Next breathtaking with a magnificent and rich spread that defeated
all other ones, was „Meeting with history” in Gniezno.
Here was also our next mercenary Patryk who had improved his skills.
All the same, the biggest party we had ever took part in, was in Chorzow.
There were 700 people forming a queue thirsty for our tea and flatbreads
- and it was a great practice before Wolin festival. In Chorzow we
also tested our new mercenary Piotrek. The last party was the Gryfits’
Day, taking place in Cerkwica, nearby a drain where
St. Otton was to christian north part of Poland, called Pomerania,
in one go in 1124. Admittedly, we came here only for one day, yet
at full six strength.
July passed by the moose sign (though, the animal
that had crossed our way we may only mention the fox). On our one
month’s expedition where we five went on were: Pyskata, Krystian,
Asia, Piotrek and our brave Opel Astra. For which it was the second
expedition to the high mountains. Once again we had visited Oslo (Viking
Ship Museum, Polar Ship Museum and Kon-Tiki Museum). Admittedly, wicked
gremlins tried to spoil something in our car in Sweden. But they did
not succeed:) In spite of those diversions we were on time in Borre.
At 4 am., a very polite cycling Viking showed us the way to the festival.
There were tents with a view over the sea, pizza and the night ceremony
with burning torches. What a pity this festival happened biennially!
As we had been missing the white nights and the moose stews we had
set out on a trip to the north, to Egge. Besides,
this party is always ranked highly in terms of social life. Mostly
thanks to the Poznan-Wroclaw-Norway fraction. Leaving hospitable Stansjer
during drizzling rain, we crossed the high mountains and long tunnels
(the longest one was 25 km) to Gudvangen. This is
a small market, but a family atmosphere and stunning landscapes make
up for a tiring journey (try to cram two tents with all the of equipment
into an estate car, plus four people, their luggage for four weeks
and a guitar - and, what is more, provide everybody with so-called
living space!). Being enriched by new experience (Piotrek...), reindeer
skins and valuable herbs we set out to reach our last destination
- Sarpsborg. Here we were the first Polish Viking
group to appear and next year we hope to come back here. Friday Night
Market with the flash of lights made a tremendous impression on us.
The days here were unusually hot. Therefore it was needed to cool
yourself in the lake continually:) When we were to leave, at the very
end we had discovered a raspberry grove. It was remained intact by
Norwegian hands, to our sadness – we did not have time to take
care of those raspberries! In Sweden we treated ourselves to one hour
stop for burial-mound sightseeing (in Borusfesten). It was quite dark
in there that is why was hard to find if we had hit the target:)
August confirm that Herbalists’ life is more
than hard - after one month of sleeping under canvas, only one night
was indoors and then a few nights in a sleeping bag again. Welcome
to Wolin! This year’s festival, in terms of
the amount of rainfall, beated all the others. Inhabitants of nearby
lands instead of tents they had indoor swimming pools and the most
popular sport was a mud fight. To everybody’s surprise - the
rain did not disturbing visitors. We are full of admiration at those
who were doggedly standing in a queue in order to buy flatbreads,
despite the fact that water was pouring down on their heads. Those
who were tenacious had met on Sunday with the shining sun and they
were able to come back home just enough dry. From participation in
Meetings of Slav Warriors in Grzybowo and from Rynia Festival we must
have resigned.
September always means Archeon to
us. This time, it was more rainy than usual (what’s wrong with
that weather?!), but as always successful in the part of social life.
However, one unpleasant thing has happened, and all what we can say,
is there are pigs who act better then human. Finally, the second event
in September – and the last in this season –was small
Historical Fair in Gostyn. A sunny fair (finally!).
We prepared paper making show and run a flatbreads making workshop.
And accompanied by medieval knights, we bravely defended the honor
of the Middle Ages.
The year 2006 in numbers: we took part in 15 events,
5 of them being the festivals abroad. For a moment or for longer,
4 new mercenaries joined us: Asia, Piotrek, Patryk and Maciej. The
number of visits to our site was around 300 per month, with the record
number of 393 in March. The number of fish fillets we used to bribe
Eric the Red, our Very Offended Cat (how could we left without him
to Norway for a month!): 27.
2007
Cooming soon:)
2008
In progress.
...
