I recently had the honor of attending my godson’s wedding in Finland. My visit was close to Christmas, so Father Christmas paid me an early visit.
My extremely long time friend gave me a bag she made of linen fabric that she dyed with plants by herself at the Hämeenlina renaissance fair. The bag was decorated with lace that her grandmother made a long time ago. As my friend wrote on the accompanying card, her grandmother gave those laces to her and she saved them. Now I have a piece too.
I am deeply touched by the gesture of my friend parting with a piece of lace made by her grandmother. She gave me a part of her family heritage, a touchable, tangible, take it with you piece of heritage that I can take to medieval events and share with others.
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Many of us in the reenactment world use our own ethnic backgrounds as the basis for our persona. And perhaps this is the reason why: To share our heritage in a very real, tangible, take it with you way. To show people there’s more to being Irish then wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day, more to being Italian then eating pizza, more to being Finnish then going to sauna. It’s our way of keeping our tradition and folklore alive and seeing to it that traditional arts and crafts are passed down and around for all to enjoy. It is a privilege to be in such a position, may we all rise to the occasion.
