Icky Pickle

by Mellitus of Rouncivale

Have you ever heard of the Icky Pickle? Those who have been around Calontir for a while would be familiar with this lost Calontir relic. For the newer people in our Kingdom, here is a little bit of history.

For much of the earliest days there was a laurel medallion that had been fashioned from some sort of foam rubber. It was a greenish-brown disc with a green laurel wreath painted upon it. It was strung on laniard crafted from a green garbage bag. It was grimy-looking and someone's child and/or dog had chewed on the edges.

The"honor" of wearing the Icky Pickle went to the newest laurel. Each time a new laurel was elevated, the previous custondian of the Icky Pickle would besstow it upon the new laurel at the conclusion of their elevation. The idea was that this grotesque medallion was a reminder not to take themselves too seriously.

The tradition lasted until 1999. At some point, the Icky Pickle fell out of the custodian's basket and was lost. A replacement was crafted. and in some ways the replacement was ickier than the original. It was the same type of material, but it was painted in garish green colors. For some reason, the new Icky Pickle was not the icon the original was, and the custom of passing it to the newest laurel dropped away after a few months.

Here ends the saga of the Icky Pickle. If anyone knows who started the custom of passing the pickle long, please share it.

Comments:

There was also the stories that it was an actual pickle that had been preserved through dark arts or something.

• I think the creator of the Icky Pickle may have used a slice of cucumber for the mold, but the medallion itself was not a preserved pickle. - Mellitus

I understood the pickle was a copy of a Midrealm medallion that the Midrealm Crown gave Calontir when our jesses were loosed. -Sile

It was silicone. It wasn't actually that icky; just drab. - Magda

• I think the ickyness has grown in the telling. I think it was Baron Bob who replaced it, and tried to put together a bit of the history at that time. Was not the prettiest thing in the world but I don't remember it smelling, it the lanyard being a trash bag. -Catherine Kinsey
• Oh good. I was SO wondering what had happened to it between the last time I saw it, and the time of its disappearance. I just recall it looking kind of ... in need of good washing. -Nikolai
  • It had been handled a lot, and seemed to be slightly porous, so it had gotten dingey. -Magda
• Yeah, it wasn’t all that icky. I saw it after our first reign and during our second. -Hywela

No, it was NOT around in “the earliest days of Calontir” —I never saw it. It wasn’t at a Laureling I saw in 1995, either. So it must have been short-lived indeed — unless it was only circulated among a “select” group. -Susan Carna Mattingly

• I have seen it a time or two a considerable time ago in the physical possession of more than one person pretty sure Mikal was among them memory fails as to others. -Wolfram
• Ok, so not the earliest days, but early. I remember seeing it passed at one of my early events in 87 or 88. There were times when the holder of the Pickle couldn't make it to the next laureling so a few did get skipped. I am pretty sure Mikal had the second Pickle. -Mellitus
• I never saw it — and I was active until about 1991. And it’s not like I would skip Court. -Susan Carna Mattingly
• Luchiana told me once how it got started, but for the life of me, I cannot remember who had it first. I could be misremembering when I first saw it passed along. Perhaps it was later than I thought. I was laureled in 98 and passed it along to Kaz, who was laureled a week later. -Mellitus
• I don't think everybody got it. I'm sure I never did, though I remember seeing it. Of course, I got my Laurel at Estrella in 1995 and Cori got hers in B3R a week later, so it's likely it just jumped me. (Not sure if Cori got it either, for that matter.) -Kirk Poore
• I'm pretty sure she did. -Magda

I know I had it in '96 and passed it to Yoshi, IIRC. -Mikhail

Mistress Molly was the last to wear the pickle [the original?]. The green trash bag cord broke and it was lost at site, Kris Kinder of 1999 I believe. -Sile

It was still around in 2000 because Mikal the Ram gave it to me and I gave it to Lina. -Carla Tilghman

• I was going to say I first saw it on Mikal. -Sara Paterson
• I never wore it because it felt too much like hazing. It stayed in its box. -Carla Tilghman
• It had a box? I think you had the replacement pickle. -Magda

I was elevated to the Laurel in August, 2001, and did not receive the Pickle. -Drix

It did not come to me in January of 2002. So it was lost between 2000 and then. -Jorunn

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