Monday, August 2, 2010

Costumes






Walking through the shops and entertainment at the Colorado Renaissance Festival was like a time-line gone bizarre. Of course the majority of people were dressed for the hot weather, shorts and tee shirts, and then there were those that chose to dress for the fair in period pieces. At the entrance you could rent a costume for the day. Watching the mingling crowd was fun to observe and to photograph.

There were the nobility and royalty represented by the Elizabethan era. Mixed in with this were a lot of pirates. I had a vibrant conversation with one about how far they would come to bury their treasure. I saw Robin Hood a good distance away, (too far to get a good picture) what era was that? If I’m not mistaken between 1,100 and 1,200 A.D, he wasn’t wearing tights. There were faeries, no they weren’t the common everyday type, these faeries had wings and no, they weren’t flying silly, they were people dressed up like the magical creatures. The only picture I got of them didn’t turn out very well.

There were people from Scotland and Ireland, dressed in kilts. The bagpipe show was fabulous with the accompaniment of drums. A must see. They played traditional music with a good mix of contemporary songs. At one point they started with ‘The House of the Rising Sun,’ and blended in ‘Amazing Grace’ to finish. I found that a little strange, but enjoyable. There were other shows, one with washing wenches, another with German stand-up comics speaking perfectly good American English.

One thing I was curious about were the number of people sporting one or more fox tails. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good picture of this. I finally asked someone what this represented. He told me that during the Renaissance times, because people didn’t bathe regularly, they cut off the tails of animals they hunted and wore them so the fleas would go into the tail and not on them. Now that just made me itch!

Thanks for stopping in.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like good times. We have a place called Medevil Times, a dinner show with knights jousting and wenches serving grog. No silverware for dinner too. The kids love to go there.

Stephen Tremp

N. R. Williams said...

I'm jealous. There is nothing like that here.
Nancy

Helen Ginger said...

That would make me itch, too. Hopefully, the guy selling pretzels wasn't wearing fox tail.

Sounds like y'all have fun!

Straight From Hel

N. R. Williams said...

Fortunately, they weren't real and as far as I could tell, everyone was recently bathed.

Nancy

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

We love going to the Renaissance Fair when it comes to the Charlotte, NC area! The kids just love the costumes, shows, music, etc. The only bad thing is that they'll pull me into the show sometimes (you know...how they'll call out to audience members, etc.) I always try to hide from them, but somehow I usually seem to get picked!

Unknown said...

The Renaissance Festival here in Atlanta is a lot of fun, and the actors really get into character. (Hey, I just noticed you have it linked in your sidebar!) But I do get tired of being called a wench all day long!

N. R. Williams said...

Thanks for the comments, Elizabeth and Nicole. I've never been called to the stage and I've never been called a wench, but I was called, "Mi Lady."
Thanks for dropping by.
Nancy

Elle Carter Neal said...

Oh that looks like so much fun. I would love to dress up in a situation like that where a lot of other people are doing the same. And, yikes, I'm also feeling rather itchy at the idea of the fox tail flea "trap".

Elsa Neal
HearWriteNow & Blood-Red Pencil

N. R. Williams said...

Thanks Elsa for stopping by and leaving a message.
Nancy

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Okay, I didn't need to know about the fleas...

N. R. Williams said...

LOL
Nancy