St. Andrews Guild

The day usually begins with the entrance of Her Royal Majesty the Queen into the event area, accompanied by the entire Scottish Court in parade. Each person marches according to his or her appointed station: the Royal Great Secretary of State leads bell ringers and banner carriers, drummers and archers. Next come the Royal Star Chamberlains in robes and chains of office, the Lord Royal Great Chancellor, and the Royal Great Steward carrying the Royal Sword of Scotland. Her Majesty the Queen, surrounded by Royal Guard, leads the Ladies in Waiting, followed by priests, courtiers, ambassadors, Irish and highlanders. Once all are assembled at Court, the guests of the event are invited to come forth and meet the Queen.

Throughout the day, we seek out guests of the faire to participate in all of our events, so that they may take with them the ambiance of what life was like in those ancient days!

The Royal Dance Show is next on the program. This features courtiers and other nobles, in a full hour of ancient dance. The guests of the event are recruited from the sidelines to join in these dances, and are taught the steps before each dance is performed. The Dance Show is always pleasurable for all!

The Royal Trooping of the Queen's Own Halberdiers follows. The Queen's Royal Guard perform ancient military maneuvers on the parade green. The battle commands are given in Gaelic. These exercises are called the Royal March By or Trooping. They are concluded with the Swearing in Ceremony of any new halberdiers that have joined the regiment recently.

An exhibition of dueling is presented to the Queen as an act of chivalry. Often, the Halberdiers will find themselves poised in battle with cattle thieves or breaking up another brawl at the tavern...but you never know what trouble may occur in Scotland.

Before each Joust, the Queen's court will journey to the arena for the spectacle presented there. The Queen will bestow her favour upon one of the jousters and the Jouster will fight for the Queen's honor. Oft times a wager of sorts may be made between the Queen and her sister.

The riders' helmets are closed, and they raise 12-foot lances. Rope strung between posts separates their lanes, or the lists. At a signal the horses charge. Their hooves pound the hardened soil. The knights keep the lances raised until the last second, cradled on their outside arms. Just as they meet they lower the lances to the horizontal, across their bodies, aiming for the opponent.

Note on the joust: This may be a "reenactment" (they are not fighting "to the death") but if the jouster is un-horsed; the armour is real (Heavy Metal), the horse is real (huge and unpredictable), the ground is real (hard and quite a drop from the over-sized horses needed) and the possibility of injuries is real! This is truly the original "extreme sport."