Finola O'Cleary
HE Finola O'Cleary
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- Link to Calontir Armorial - http://armorial.calontir.org/Pages/FinCla.htm
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Why Finola is the Fyrd Mom
Come little children and you shall hear Of Fyrd Mom Finola, who we love so dear Joined nineteen hundred and eighty five And scarcely a soul is now alive Who remembers and is not a peer.
It's just not practical to detail the nearly half century that led up to it, but believe me it mattered. The woman who we know as Finola O'Clary fed her first SCA person in December of 1980. She joined in February of 1985. She watered bystanders at her first Crown Tournament in May 1985. She was beginning to formally waterbear when asked by the KCh Merriam bat Eliahu to create a Waterbearing Guild. At that time the waterbearers in Calontir were a few fighter's girlfriends with 2-liter pop bottles. Within two years Finola developed the Calontir Waterbearers that have been imitated all over the Knowne Worlde, and had the organisation to the point that it continued without her which is the true glory of the thing. By the time the Calontir Waterbearers at Estrella were being mistaken for the official war waterbearers and Resurrection Point, Finola had discovered Knorr's Chicken Noodle Soup, and how to make beef jerky. Armed incidentally with her own money but mostly her own effort, Finola O'Clary INVENTED the Fourth Company. It would take an anthropologist to understand what this has meant but Pavel said she had changed Calontir itself and I must concur. For these things Finola got Torse, Calon Cross, and Court Baroncy from the Crown. From the kingdom at large and fighters both Calon and others, she got Love. The years went by, Finola could no longer travel to distant wars, she could no longer run into a battlefield during a Hold with two full gallon jugs of water on each hand. But there were those who had not forgotten. Halvgrim was the ringleader, but he was not alone. Not being a Fyrdman myself I am not privy to the details. I know that Halvgrim secretly contacted me to warn me. At the Coronation of Ariel and Martino the Fyrd of Calontir, Iren and Boga (there were no Fera there and no other Fyrd orders), knelt before the Falcon Thrones and Begged a Boon, that the Crown of Calontir acknowledge a Truth already self-evident, and declare Finola O'Clary to be The Fyrd Mom. The reaction of the populace can only be imagined. I am not capable of describing it. If I were so talented, my mundane title would be Nobel Laureate in Literature. I was genuinely afraid that the Fyrdmen striving for the honour of escorting Finola into court would jostle her off her feet. TRM acknowledged the Fyrd's request, and for Their part bestowed an Augmentation of Arms. Every other Augmentation I have seen in Calontir has consisted of purpure, a Cross of Calatravia or. Finola O'Clary has a Fyrd badge. If you see her heraldry you will see that her rooster azure holds on one claw a rondel of a Fyrd badge with the spear on one side and the bow on the other. Why is Finola the Fyrd Mom? Love, that is why.
Jenna of Southwind Dale Brad, historian, inter-kingdom anthropologist And Finola O'Clary's daughter
- Attached to my shoulder bag is my "Finola's Army" tag. I almost never go anywhere without my bag, and that tag is one of the reasons why. -Ridgley Schlemm
Mine is on one of my squire belts. - Hroller McNutt That was a great moment. I still have my Finolas Army tag. -Sile O'Kyan File:Https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v9/f6c/1/16/2764.png<3 -
- I had the honor of water bearing with her at numerous wars. Some of my best SCA memories. - Siobhan McKee
- One of my favorite things when going to Pennsic, was working with you & Fiinola at the Calontir Soup Kitchen. That made it all worthwhile. -Monizcka Poznanska
- When I wrote this song, I hoped to move Finola to tears with it. When I first performed it for her, it was I that was crying. http:www.calonsong.org/CalontirSongs/hymnsoupkitchen.htm - Andrixos
Oh Lord that moment. Those tears are preserved in a casket of gold, and will be among the pearls that adorn her robes of estate she will wear in Her Father's House. - Jenna
- I would not be in the SCA today If not for Finola. I am not Fyrd but Finola is my SCA Mom. She made garb for me, helped me find my way in my early years, and always made sure I was well-fed at events. I was in camp when the singing started tonight, and the hymn for Finola could be heard on the winds. It brought a year to my eye to hear this living tribute sung for her. - Mellitus Rouncivale
- I had the distinct pleasure mere days ago at Lilies to share with several who asked about the ties between waterbearing and Finola, 'how we did things in the early days' and its evolution to present day. The bearers hold a special place for me as I was able to be a part of those origins that Jenna so accurately detailed. It is the first area I often guide our new people to as it is where much of our Calontir fun begins, confirmed by their smiles and stories after.
> (Thank you, Jenna and yippee for Longfellow!) - Cadfael > > She is also one of my SCA moms... She gave me a name for what I was doing (I am one of the few pre-Finola waterbearers). I fondly remember the Pennsic when I switched over to fighting a little cheer from the sidelines full of pride... There she goes... She is one of us... Finola was hollering as the tide of fighters churned by with me in the midst (with a certain awesome greatsword fighter by my side keeping a lowly shieldmaiden like myself alive far longer than I had any hope to be....) I swelled with pride at the claim. - Miriam von Schwarzvald > > >
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