janestarz | Bourgondisch Brabant

This Saturday I was volunteering at an event in the Open Air Museum in Eindhoven, as announced earlier on this blog. Although I had no idea what to expect, that could not spoil the fun. I had bought munchies and set the camera ready for NoKey to drag along (Can't go running around in Historic Garb with an SLR camera around my neck, now can I?)

I was there pretty early, as requested by the main organiser Bas. Janeth had prepared packages of clothing for the volunteers to wear. I had brought my own shift and apron home to iron, but the rest would be picking it up at the atelier.
But Janeth wasn't there and I was thrown in the deep end. Luckily she had tagged their forms with numbers and had tagged the bags with numbers too, so I could hand out the bags with clothes in them. Little did I know they needed to sign for receiving (hey, if you're not there to tell me what to do...)

Around eleven I had already made several rounds through the museum, saying hi to the people of Zwaardkring and getting my bearings. Although I go to the museum every Thursday it's not like I spend a lot of time on the grounds. I was dressed up and ready to go.
The headdress I wore (a coif with a veil pinned to it) was slowly slipping backwards, and as fun as veils are, this wasn't my idea of a good time. I took it off somewhere during the day.

Instead of the apron I wore my thin belt (maybe next time stick with the apron instead) and my job was to dress up visitors in Medieval clothes and have them dance to the tunes of Gheselle, an elderly couple that was really nice and made dancing fun. Other volunteers here were Sanne (orange apron), Mark (grey tunic), Yvonne (not in the picture) and Janeth, who showed up around lunchtime as her duties in the atelier were concluded.

I had not expected this to be such a success, but most of the kids and even some parents were very happy to dress in the medieval clothes and do a silly dance with us. Of course, being a cheerful volunteer helped a lot. Although I don't like kids, this I can do. I got them to like me by dressing their moms and dads in the most ridiculous hats. One mother and father had brought their baby along, who was far too young to understand any of it, frowned at the cap she got on her head, but they have some nice pictures for the family album as mom and dad dressed up in everything.

At the end of the afternoon I was dead tired, but I helped prepare dinner with the red chili peppers from hell (I believe the skin under my nails is finally no longer burning), which was fun to do with three ladies in a row. Two of the more helpful volunteering men stirred the large pans on wood-fires behind us. Visitors enjoyed the extra show.

I hitched a ride with the Zwaardkring guys, who are really funny. Maybe next time I'll be on their demo team, instead of volunteering with the museum.