Painting by Stephan Tot
Contribution by Ysabelle d'Angiers
The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).
At Pennsic XXXIV, the Far West ventured to Pennsic en masse for the first time. Stephan Tot, then Baron
of the Far West, soon went to merchants' row. Being a rather flamboyant dresser, he was taken by the
bright blue feathers. Unaware of the connotations* that a blue feather has in the SCA, he purchased one
and immediately put it in his hat. By chance, other members of the West Kingdom were at the same store
and wondered whether Stephan knew the significance of the blue feather and whether they should tell him.
It being a somewhat delicate subject, they decided not to mention it, so Stephan happily spent the
afternoon strolling around Pennsic sporting the blue feather jauntily set in his hat. When he returned
to the Far West camp, I was the first person he encountered. As his consort, I was bewildered by what
was on his head.
"Do you know what a blue feather means?" I asked. He did not. The
ensuing explanation resulted in the feather's prompt removal. However, it was too late, for word
had already spread throughout the West Kingdom camp. When Stephan arrived at Western Court that evening,
many a person jokingly asked him where his blue feather was.
In commemoration, Stephan painted this picture of the Far West at Pennsic.
Ysabelle d'Angiers
* For those not in the know, such as your friendly local history website minister, I asked a few people and found out: "Clan Blue Feather is the way that [gay] SCA people in not-gay-friendly states can identify each other. It's not that big a deal out here for obvious reasons." (Thanks to Margrethe Astrid Ravn for clearing that up ...)
The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).