Medieval Festival

A few weekends ago, I went to the medieval festival at Ft. Tyron Park. Two of my friends came to NYC for the occasion, making it an even more memorable weekend. The festival was held right next to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Cloisters, which houses the Met's collection of medieval art. It's located on a hill overlooking the Hudson and includes a medieval-style cloistered herb garden. Ft. Tyron Park also happens to be far enough from Manhattan that it feels wild. So really, the perfect place for a medieval festival in NYC.

[Grand tournament stage where there was jousting and a live chess match]

Lately, I've just had a general appetite for Arthurian legends and medieval-inspired fantasies. Last spring, I wrote a paper interpreting Tristan und Isolde (favorite opera). Ever since recently learned that the Met Opera is kicking off their 2016 season with a new production of the opera, and working my way through Sir Thomas Mallory, I just love all things medieval fantasy right now. As such, spending a Sunday dressing up in  and wandering through a medieval festival/village couldn't have happened at a better time.

[Selfie somewhat (wishfully) inspired by this John William Waterhouse]

Also, I debuted the red wig I bought at New York Comic Con last year. I had my doubts about picking this color, but I am so happy I did. My friend spot-on in pointing out, when I was debating whether to go for red, that it was essentially that perfect shade of purplish-red that was clearly not a natural hair color, but just unnatural enough that it would work well as a fantasy, mage-type color. It's also really, really curly. One festival goer asked me if it was my natural hair. One can only wish.

[Picture of the full costume]

Sadly, we didn't get time to go visit artwork in the Met Cloisters. I've been before, so it wasn't too disappointing, but near the end of the festival, we popped in to see if we could wander around. The Cloisters were closing, but I did get the chance to look at the first set of displays. Seeing fellow festival enthusiasts wandering around, looking at medieval art, in Ren Faire garb made me so, so happy! It was an all around lovely day, and a really great first medieval festival in New York.