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Middle Earth Festival returns in 2012
After an absence of 5 years the famous Middle Earth Festival returns to Leuk in 2012. I myself have attended three times so far, and every time was tremendous fun. Let's take a look back.
2003 I didn't have a clue was I was getting into when I signed up for the 3rd Middle Earth Festival in 2003. The reason for going was my good friend Ronny, who is a huge Lord of the Rings fan, didn't want to go alone.
I most clearly remember the workshops featuring fighting skills such as Sword Fighting and Archery, but also the concerts by An Lar and Saltatio Mortis in the evening. We had such great fun at the concerts that we blocked the bands from leaving the stage! Only after Saltatio Mortis appealed saying they had to travel another 300 kilometres tonight, we appeased and gave them a rest ;).
All in all it was a wonderful experience.
Unfortunately for this review, the Middle Earth Festival happened before I started blogging and before I acquired a digital camera, thus there are no further posts and pics to link back to.
2005 When I learned that the Middle Earth Festival would take place again, I didn't hesitate to sign up. This time I even signed up alone, knowing that there are so many wonderful and friendly people there, that I wouldn't feel left alone.
The day before it all started I joined the Caradhras expedition, for a day-long trek with beautiful summer weather over the Gemmi pass.
This time my focus for workshops shifted from fighting to dancing (Irish Dancing, Medieval Dancing, etc.) and I didn't regret this choice, because they all were great fun!
But let's take a look what I had to say about it at the time:
Mittelerdefest 5
Pics from Mittelerdefest 5
2007 Signing up for 2007's Middle Earth Festival was a no-brainer ;), after two such wonderful events, I just had to be there.
Same time as last year I joined the Caradhras trek a day before the festival. However, this time we were not so lucky with the weather and ran into a snow storm!!! Remember, it was the 5th of July! We all made it through and still have fond memories of our heroic feat :)
Fortunately the weather improved for the rest of the Festival. Having loved the dance workshops in 2005, I signed up for more dancing in 2007 and again it was great fun.
But let's take a look what I had to say about it at the time:
Caradhras
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Conclusion With great joy I learned that the Middle Earth Festival will take place again in 2012 and immediately marked it in my agenda :). I can't wait to meet all those wonderful people again :)
More information about the Middle Earth Festival 2012 can be found on their official homepage.Labels: Event, mef, Middle Earth, Mittelerde
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MEF Film Premiere
On Saturday we made a pilgrimage to the Gemmi pass to celebrate the Middle Earth Festival (MEF), or to be more precise to celebrate the premiere of the fantastic documentary about the MEF. And fantastic it was, in 70 minutes we could relieve the best scenes from this event and it felt like all those memories just happened yesterday. After the movie we made a torch procession (we had problems getting started, because the icy wind always extinguished our torches) followed by a good meal. Then it was time to party! Or for some of us, time to play 'Werwölfe von Düsterwald' till 3.30am !!!
It was an unforgettable experience and to share this I've posted a couple of pictures on my web page.
By the way, my Rincewind hat was quite the running gag of the evening and almost everyone wore it at one time or another (photographic evidence here) :)Labels: medieval, mef, Middle Earth, Mittelerde, pictures
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Middle Earth Festival (MEF) 7: Day 3
After a refreshing swim and another great breakfast we were ready to face the last day of this year's MEF. My two workshops were again devoted to dancing, leading to a total of about 11 hours dancing during the three days :).
It's worth mentioning that today was again fantastic weather and temperatures rose up to 30 degrees centigrade. So most people were desperately looking for a place in the shade. Thus I was quite happy to go into the Knight's Chamber to participate in the Medieval Sewing workshop. The introduction was very practical and interesting and we soon could start with our own work, so I decided to make a "Bundhaube" a kind of medieval protection worn instead of a hat to keep the hair clean. As of today it is still a work in progress, but it was good to get some guidance to start :).
Soon afterwards the long awaited Knight's banquet started. All visitors assembled in the inner ward and awaited with suspense what would be up for dinner.
Between courses the different artists looked after our entertainment. Especially memorable were the Falconers, who brought two falcons an eagle and an eagle owl along and Forzarello ("Ouuuuiiiiii").
The main act of the evening was Omnia a Pagan Folk Band from the Netherlands. Their music was very atmospheric and I liked it a lot. However, they tended to talk an awful lot, it was in English, so no problem for me, but I could see people who were distracted by it. And for the last evening I would have wished for a band with more mass appeal such as An Lár. Anyways it was a good show and we had our fun :).
Then came the most touching event of the day, a fireworks display synchronized to the music of Lord of the Rings. It was way too beautiful to describe it with mere words...
The final point of the evening belonged to the Phoenix Fireproject and to Forzarello who performed another stunning fireshow.
And then it was slowly time to say goodbye to many good friends, even though we partied till the last bus left at 4.30pm it was over way too soon.
This MEF will stay in my memories for ever, it was a perfect event and I had enormous fun :) and if we're lucky the myth will one day be continued.
On Sunday we saw that Petrus indeed was a fan of the MEF, because now that it was over, it started to rain again...
All the pictures of the last day.Labels: Event, mef, Middle Earth, Mittelerde
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Middle Earth Festival (MEF) 7: Day 2
Staying in Leukerbad in a four-star hotel had several advantages: First the comfortable beds, second the swimming before breakfast (there's nothing better to revive the tired limbs) and then of course the huge and excellent breakfast itself :). The only disadvantage was the overcrowded bus we had to take to get back to Leuk...
Having had so much fun dancing the day before I went straight to the next dance workshop :).
Returning to the castle I received the biggest surprise of the day. Thyrion approached and told me: "Scrappy, you are nominated for the costume competition." I didn't know what to say! So I ended up on stage together with a Nazgul, two riders from Rohan, two towers from Gondor the biggest dwarf in Middle Earth and Kankra (well, she waited in front of the stage). I didn't rank in the top three, but just being part of this was honor enough for me :).
The waiting time till the next workshop was shortened by an impromptu gig by Des Königs Halunken, a Swiss Medieval Folk band.
You can probably guess what I did next. Correct, I went to the next dance workshop *g*.
This evenings activities started with a big show block where most of the artist gave a small sample of their trade. Thus we could hear songs from Duivelspack and Romolus, witness a stunning performance by Phoenix Fireproject and laugh ourselves silly because of Forzarello (two amazing Jugglers).
The main event this evening was not a concert per se but a Dance Event led by Knud Seckel and accompanied by the Tom Bombadil Folkband. At the beginning there were so many people participating in the dances that there was barely enough place. Dancing the Polka was especially tricky, trying to avoid colliding with other couples dashing over the dance floor :). Still it was great fun and stopped way too early.
Last but not least were two stunning fire shows which brought another fantastic day to a breath-taking close.
All the pictures of this day.Labels: Event, mef, Middle Earth, Mittelerde
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Middle Earth Festival (MEF) 7: Day 1
The day after our climb over the Caradhras pass dawned bleak and cold. It was still snowing outside our hut. By taking the Gondola down to Leukerbad we could at least leave the snow behind, however we were greeted by slight rain. A trip to the Burgerbad revived our senses and we were ready to tackle three days full of Middle Earth.
The Middle Earth Festival is mainly dedicated to Tolkien's books, yet also offers a lot of opportunities for fans of medieval times. There were dozens of workshops ranging from Archery over Dancing to Excursions. Additionally there was a small medieval market as well as several musicians around to create a fitting atmosphere. And once again the icing on the cake were the visitors, most dressed in medieval or fantasy garb and as always extremely friendly and happy.
My first workshop was a play of Jugger. That's a kind of Rugby played by two teams at six players each. Five of the players were armed with latex weapons with which the opposing players could be "frozen" for five seconds. The sixth player was unarmed and the only one allowed to touch the ball. His task was to drop the ball in the opponents goal. Our team was called "Böö" (Swiss German for "er"). Apart from having a huge amount of fun, we even managed to win the tournament!
Next up was my first medieval dancing workshop of this year and it was huge fun. The advantage of medieval dances is that (more often than not) the steps are quite simple and thus easy to learn and dance. So we managed to try out several different dances within this two-hour slot :).
At night it was finally time for the first concert. Die Streuner played a great selection of sometimes funny and sometimes saucy songs.
Finally our attention was caught by the birth of a dragon!
All the pictures of the first day.Labels: Event, mef, Middle Earth, Mittelerde
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The Caradhras Adventure
To get into the right mood for this year's Middle Earth Festival (MEF) about fifty brave souls clad in medieval or fantasy clothes met to climb the Caradhras pass. We started from a gondola station close to Goppenstein. The weather was overcast and quite fresh, however, this didn't stop us. Soon after leaving we encountered the first snow flakes. Fortunately they didn't last long.
At the first resting point we were greeted by blue sky and the sun. So we dutifully applied sunscreen to prevent sunburns. Maybe we should have known better than to scorn Saruman and Petrus... And so they decided to send out everything they got. The first warnings of what was to come arrived about thirty minutes later with the first snow flakes. This time, however, it did not stop, on the contrary, more snow started to fall and a piercing wind accompanied it. So it shouldn't have come as a surprise when we faced a snow-covered way. Only the footprints of the leading group showing us the right way... At times we were facing up to 20 centimeters of snow and sometimes we preferred to walk up the riverbed, which wasn't empty by the way, instead of in the snow.
After a pretty long and difficult climb we caught up with the leading group. They had stopped next to a big rock because they could no longer fathom where the way was supposed to lead! It looked like Saruman would triumph and we would have to turn back! But then help came from an unexpected side, a group of hikers descended from the mountain and they could point us in the right direction. And even better, we could follow their footsteps almost all the way up to the pass.
The weather there wasn't any better. Heavy snowfall, a biting wind and temperatures around zero degrees centigrade. Nevertheless we stopped there for almost twenty minutes to wait for more people. Yet not everyone was content with waiting in such an exposed spot where Saruman could spot us easily and send even bigger foes than the weather. And so a brave fellowship consisting of thirteen people started the descent from the mountain.
The shelter we hoped to find on the way did not turn up, but we did see improvements, for there was less snow on the way than before. We could even see a couple of flowers which weren't completely covered in snow.
After another tiresome two hours of walking we came to a crossing where our destination wasn't marked, still it had to be close-by, we were sure of that. After deliberating for a while the fog started to lift a bit and we could see a big house on top of the next hill. Guessing that this had to be our destination, or at least a place where we could get directions, we started walking again.
To our great relief, we discovered that we did guess correctly and that we finally reached our destination. We were welcomed with warm tea which we drank gratefully. It took almost another hour until the last people arrived. But we all made it in one piece. We managed the thing that the Fellowship of the Ring could not, we bested Mount Caradhras!
Pictures from this adventureLabels: Event, hiking, mef, Middle Earth, Mittelerde
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Mittelerdefest 5
It all started last Wednesday, ~ 80 people met in Kandersteg to wander over the Gemmi, which was renamed to Caradhras for this adventure. Many came in their costumes, some even with scale armour or chain mail. Which caused oncoming hikers to wonder what we were up to. I spent most of the tour with Ranarion & Naraka. It took us almost 8 hours to reach our destination, however, there were many long breaks in between for Lunch, Drinks and to catch our breath. The scenery was amazing and the sun was out most of the time. After dinner we heard traditional folk tales in the local dialect, which at times was hard to understand, even for Swiss German speakers.
Thursday morning we took the Gondola down to Leukerbad to visit one of the spas. We arrived in Leuk shortly after two p.m. Naraka and I went directly to the first workshop, Hobbit Dances. First we learnt the basic steps and at the end of the two-hours we had rehearsed almost a complete dance. Together with Silver and Azrael I joined the guided tour of Leuk, where we visited the local chamber of bones. After dinner, an excellent swordfight show and the traditional torch procession through Leuk, Glenn of Guinnes played the first concert and we danced throughout the whole set.
On Friday I woke up with extremely sore muscles in my legs. But after half an hour in the hotel pools and a lengthy breakfast I could walk again. The first workshop was Rohan Dances, this time we spent much more time to practise the basic steps and at the end of the first part we barely had the first part of the dance together. After a two-hour break the second part took place and in hard work we managed to learn the complete dance. I returned to the main area in time to see the finalists of the costume competition. This evening there were two concerts. First the Bell Bottoms a local band playing Irish Folk and then Fiddler’s Green from Germany.
Saturday started with sore muscles, as expected, and the second part of the Hobbit Dances Workshop. We repeated and completed the first dance and then practised another one. I found Jan and Naraka playing guitar and singing songs so I joined them. Later the different dance and music workshops presented what they learned. This meant that I first danced with the Rohan group and then the two pieces with the Hobbit group. Even though I made a couple of mistakes it was great fun and I was very pleased with my achievement. Next was the big medieval banquet, one of the highlights of the festival. The last band to play was Schelmish a group specialising in medieval music. Their show was great and everyone joined in dancing and jumping around. A big fireworks display put a worthy end to these wonderful four days.
It ended way too soon. The atmosphere of the Mittelerdefest is simply unique, everyone is friendly and it is extremely easy to get to know new people. It is amazing how much effort is invested into the costumes. For four days I felt that I was part of Middle-Earth. Thanks to everyone who made it possible and especially to those that made it special.Labels: mef, Middle Earth, Mittelerde
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Mittelerdefest 5 - Pictures
After four fantastic days, the Mittelerdefest had to come to an end.
My pictures: http://www.im-spycher.ch/scrappy/mef5/
More pictures can be found at: http://www.snaplife.ch/gallery2005_3/view_album.php?set_albumName=mef5
I'll write more about the festival tomorrow, now I'm way too tired.Labels: Middle Earth, Mittelerde
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