Resa’s Pieces

”Frame your mind to mirth and merriment, which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.”

My quotation comes from one of the real stars of the Renaissance, William Shakespeare. You’ve probably heard of some of the others from this cultural era between the 14th and 17th centuries—big names like Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Not a lot of women got credit for much in this era, since men kept the records. Queen Elizabeth I, fortunately, liked watching plays when she wasn’t preventing Spain from invading England.

I’ve attended many Renaissance fairs across the U.S. and even in England where they are sometimes held in the ruins of real castles! Kansas City can’t match that, but they have put on quite a show since 1977 when the festival began to benefit the Kansas City Art Institute, a private art school. It’s estimated to attract over 200,000 lords, ladies, peasants over the weekends between Labor Day and Columbus, now Indigenous Peoples’ Day, rain or shine.

At the festival you can purchases all types of interesting things. There is a shop where you can buy a dragon’s egg guaranteed to hatch in one hundred years. You’ll want to leave instructions for care and feeding of said dragon in your will. Ladies can purchase perfumes, candles, soaps or clothing such as corsets (no thanks). Men can get a new sword if an old one has gone rusty or a pewter (poisonous once, now faux) beer mug.

Hungry? You can dine on such delicacies as turkey legs, hot dogs, ice cream, none of which were around during the Renaissance and are uniquely American.

There are jousts with horses. They aren’t to the death for the knights in the movies. These lords and ladies (this is the 21st century where equal opportunity is encouraged) only have to be able to gallop fast enough to catch a few large rings with their lances. Bored with that? Then you can watch Robin Hood and his Merry Men fool the Sheriff of Nottingham or pirates chasing wenches. The fun never stops.

Much of the “mirth and merriment” for me is watching all of the costumed people. I dress as a retired 21st century teacher, but I’ve seen gladiators, wizards, pirates, highlanders, barbarians. The garb of the royal court is gorgeous, worthy of showcasing any movie or play, and it’s done by the art students. King Henry VIII would have killed (actually he did too much of that) to have clothing looking this luxurious. Ironically, Henry is usually accompanied by Anne Boleyn still with her head as he makes his way among his subjects.

The absolute best costumes I have ever seen at the festival were sported by the landing team from the starship Enterprise! The three stayed in character as they moved among the crowds. There was Mr. Spock, Commander Uhura, and a younger unknown who would be killed as he didn’t seem to have a name.

They had “tricorders” to scan people and objects to report back to the captain (probably Kirk) saying such things as, “Captain, we seem to have encountered humanoid creatures attempting to return to what was one of the most violent eras of the planet Earth in order to escape their present.”

What else is there to say except, “Beam me up, Scotty.”