Last Saturday I went with a friend down to Castle Fest, which was held on the grounds of an old castle, located in Lisse, which is just out side of Leiden…in Holland…right, click [here] for a map.
Castle Fest is an annual, weekend event celebrating Lughnassadh (the first harvest festival of the year) as well as all things renaissance and fantasy. Thus Castle Fest brings together individuals passionate about all things Pagan, fantasy, Druidic, Wika, medieval, etc. The day was full of friendly people, amazing costumes, (ok, some not so amazing but good effort none the less!) fantastic live music, events for all age groups, and tasty food. Not to mention the insane amount of tents selling everything ones medieval heart could desire; music, clothes of all sorts, masks, instruments, jewelry, metal weapons and full suits of authentic armor (plastic and wood is available for those who live in the U.S. /zing). It’s similar to the Renaissance Fair held in the U.S.
There were work shops for various crafts, one in particular I only caught the end of, was to modify NERF guns into Steam Punk variations. Fucking rad. Mmm, [Steam Punk]. There was also an area for pen and paper role playing games where players could sit down, roll a character and play a game with a Dungeon Master.
We chose to go on Saturday as it’s the day filled with the most events going on, band playing, and it’s also the day they burn the Wicker Man, burned as a right of spring, in the evening. People place offerings in and on the Wicker Man in the form of trinkets, cloth, food, etc. for various personal reasons. I suppose the most interesting aspect for me was that it rained later in the evening, stopped while the Wicker Man was burning, and then started up again when it was over with. Love it.
So yeah, totally worth the time and effort to get out there as well as being in the rain. Thankfully i had brought a small umbrella with me so we were spared a complete soaking. Below you can find all the pictures I took of the event, hosted my my Flickr account.
Related Links:
