Hoggetowne Medieval Faire

We have so much fun going to the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire. 

We go on Student's Day--not only is the price great, but they have many educational talks, as well as, the various performances. 

I really enjoy the talks on armory and jousting. 

We learned about the type of horse that was used in war and how each part of the armor worked. We also learned that what was allowed in a fighting situation might be considered unacceptable in a joust.

I did not realize how many rules were involved in jousting.

At the end of his talk, he took questions from the group. I asked about the vision with the helmet on.

He asked for a volunteer to try on the helmet. I was very surprised when Angel raised her hand.

I was even more surprised when she did not freak out when he attached the helmet on.

Here he is showing the extremely limited field of vision when you are wearing a helmet. 

Then . . . I wish I had a picture of this but it happened so fast.

He asked "With such a limited field of vision, why would you wear a helmet?" Before any one could answer, he pulled a broadsword out of the ground and hit the top of the helmet. I think you could hear the "thunk" out in the parking lot. I kind of stared . . . not really believing he had done what I saw him do. I thought the knight that was with him for the demonstration was going to die. He had to walk away, he could not believe that my daughter was just whacked on the head with a broadsword. He looked at me and my husband and we started to chuckle (after all, I have no problem with a hands-on approach to learning something) and then he started to chuckle. The helmet was removed and he asked her if she was hurt . . . she said no. And then she got to sit down. No one asked any questions after that . . . wonder why? 

I wonder if he knew we were homeschoolers? I think I would worry about the school getting upset if that was attempted on a public school kid.

I will tell you something now--my daughter doesn't argue about wearing bike/scooter/skateboard helmets. I just remind her of the knight at Hoggestowne Medieval Faire.