So, what is the Renaissance Faire...In future, I hope to have more information here about both the Northern and Southern Faires. Meanwhile, you can call the Living History Center at 909-880-6211 for information on tickets, dates and times, and check out Banshee's Ren Faire pages for lots of Faire info. This site is mostly geared toward participants, not guests, by the way.
The Faire is a theatrical show, a craft fair, a giant food-court, a social event and a meet-market. There are booths selling almost anything you may want: costumes, blown-glasswork, falafel, chocolate-covered strawberries (Mmmmmm), swords, good-quality jewelry, pewter mugs, gyros, Robin-Hood hats...etc. There are guilds and theater troupes doing improv acting in the streets and there are stage shows performing everything from Shakespeare to Commedia del'Arte. Actors portray characters ranging from the Queen and her most noble courtiers to peasants, and every station in between. There are Puritans and washerwomen, sailors and country-dancers and merchants and shopkeepers and Yeomen of the Guard, farmers, visiting Irish and Scots, mercenary soldiers, tavern wenches and fencing masters. All of this is set in Queen Elizabeth I's England, in a country town called Chipping-Under-Oakwood.
...and why do you spell "Faire" with an extra "e"?
That final letter "e" in "Faire" was stuck on there in an attempt to look
more "Elizabethan" and to provide a more copyright-able name.
Personally, I hate it. For a while, I resisted using it, but I have now
caved in and sold out (too much peer pressure, I guess). So "Faire" with an
"e" it is, alas.
If you want to stop by the Faire and say hello, you can get information
on the Faire from the Living History Center at 909-880-6211. The Faire
site is in the Glen Helen Park near San Bernardino. Faire opens on April 20th
this year and runs every Saturday and Sunday until June 16, so you have lots of
time to drop by if you want. I will be in the Military Camp quite often, and I
almost always march in the Queen's Progress (which is a parade held every
afternoon). I'll probably be there every weekend this year.
Once again, I will be playing Jane at the Southern Faire in San Bernardino this
spring. I won't be in the Royal Court there, though. Instead, I'll be with the
Queen's Guard, which is part of the military.
Visiting Jane at the Southern Faire
Jane is the second daughter and third child of a very prosperous yeoman
farmer. She's sixteen years old, and hopes to be married sometime
soon (no current prospects, though). She'll marry a man her parents approve
of, so the best way to court Jane is through her father. Jane has a married
older sister, Margaret, and an older brother named Simon who is currently
serving as one of the local Company of Foote (local militia). Jane also has
a bunch of younger brothers and sisters--her parents have seven living
children. Check out Jane's
family tree for more
details on the Barnes family.
Jane's Family
Family connections meant quite a lot in the Elizabethan era, even in a common family like Jane's. Indeed, Jane was hired by Lord and Lady Bath on the recommendation of her cousin Kennedy (her Aunt Anne's eldest son), who was a Groom of the Stables for the Baths at that time. The Elizabethan family was an economic unit as well as a social one, so Jane's placement with the Baths is a coup for her whole family, not just for her personally.
Jane is expected to do well, so that the Baths will hire more Barnes's and the family will be able to profit by their connection to nobility. At the moment, Jane's performance is less than a delight to her parents, though!
Jane's Personality and OpinionsJane loves to gossip. She's afraid of ghosts. She's afraid of Lord Grey de Wilton. She's afraid of the Seadogs. Jane likes to go shopping at the fair, and is easily astonished at the sights there. With her limited religious knowledge, she thinks the Puritans are wonderful saints and can't figure out why they don't seem to be living up to what they preach. Jane is very modest, for an Elizabethan, and wears her partlet closed (a partlet is basically the shirt fabric covering a woman's chest. Worn open, you can see a little or a lot of cleavage, depending on how far open it is, but worn closed, you don't see any).
The StillroomThe most common job Jane has to perform, now that the Queen's Court is visiting, is providing hangover remedies. The remedies the Elizabethans used weren't very pleasant, and Jane often tries to "improve" upon them. Unfortunately, she's a lot more concerned with the efficacy of the cure than she is with the taste or smell, so most of the things she adds aren't very nice.
I will put up more info on the Stillroom when I get a chance, perhaps including some of Jane's favorite recipes.
In Service to Lord and Lady Bath...It was quite common for an English family to send their sons and daughters into service in another family's household around the age of fourteen or fifteen. A few families sent their children earlier or later than that, but nearly all children were sent to another family to be trained in running a household or in some specific skill. All but the most noble children were sent into service, because everyone would be in service to someone as an adult, and they needed to learn how to do it. Even noble children were sometimes sent to other families--Lady Jane Gray was sent to her cousin the Princess Elizabeth's household during the reign of Elizabeth's brother Edward.
The Queen was in service to God, and everyone else was in service to the Queen. Even the highest nobles in the land were servants of the Queen, so service was not looked down upon as it was by the Victorians and still is by some modern-day people.
Jane's service to the Baths is a golden career oportunity, not a source of shame. Furthermore, it improves her marriage prospects. For one thing, Jane will receive a very nice dowery from Lord and Lady Bath. Furthermore, her future husband and his family may be able to profit by her connections to the nobility.
