Early Medieval Craft Fair

The final culmination of Spring 2018 HIST 246: The Material World of the Anglo-Saxons was an Early Medieval Craft Fair displaying recreations and activities designed and constructed by students. The Craft Fair took place on Mai-Fete Island on Lyman Lakes on Tuesday, May 29, 2018.

The goal of the Craft Fair was to allow students to choose a material or topic that interested them the most to pursue for recreation or demonstration. Students worked individually as well as members of teams, depending on the topic or material. The topics and recreations they explored are listed below.

• Riddles
• Boneworking
• Funeral & Burial Practices
• Ceramics
• 3D Printing
• Early Medieval Textiles
• Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Cooking
• Early Medieval Calligraphy in the British Isles
• Metalworking

The Craft Fair was overall success, although weather was a complication. The days leading up to the Craft Fair were a record-breaking heatwave, which waited three days only to finally break at ~4:30 PM, just after the Craft Fair had begun. The rest of the event was unfortunately beset by a thunderstorm, which students tolerated and continued to teach through.

The Craft Fair lasted from 4-7 pm. During the first hour, students manned various stations, describing the objects and recreations they had chosen to represent. At 5pm, period authentic food was served. At 6, proceedings for a funerary recreation began and the processional, rites, and Q&A lasted until the end of the event.

in retrospect, the rain really was inevitable