[MR] For Heralds, how a little white stick will make your job easier

[Sean D. Sorrentino]

The color white indicates that a person is exempt from combat. It is a
signal that the person carrying it is intent on talking. Medieval heralds
would carry a white baton to signal their status, and it was a grave
violation of the rules of war to lay hands upon a herald. You wouldn’t
think that a little white stick would make much difference in your life,
but it does. I finally got a chance at 12th Night to try out the Herald’s
Baton that I was given at the end of Pennsic. Wow.



Clothing choices do a lot in the modern world to signal job function and
intentions. If a man in a blue outfit with a badge and a gun showed up at
your door, asking questions, you’d know immediately what was going on. Same
goes for the guy with a yellow bunker suit and a red or black plastic hat.
But clothing choice in the SCA tends not to have the same effect. We cross
so many time periods and cultures that the sheer number of different
outfits makes it difficult to see anyone who might be wearing some sort of
uniform. The little Herald’s baldric or favor doesn’t even register in the
riot of color and style. A lot of times even a full Herald’s tabard doesn’t
immediately indicate what you are up to. This is a problem when you need to
command a little attention because you have a task to complete.



Here’s where the little white stick shines. Take that baton and hold it up
for people to see. Even people who have no idea what it is will look at it
and wonder what you are about to do. You can start your “Oyez” and people
will pay attention. The little stick over your head even gives them
something to look at. I don’t know about you, but I find that I always hear
better if I can see who’s talking. If all you need is to get through the
crowd in order to pass the Crown’s message to the intended recipient,
people will get out of your way. SCAdians are generally polite people, so
they just need to know what you are doing and they will either help out or
get out of the way. It is generally considered dangerous and even unwise to
enter a SCA kitchen if you are not working there, but hold up your Herald’s
Baton and even the Head Cook will understand that you are about the King’s
Business and will refrain from stabbing you with a kitchen knife or worse,
giving you vegetables to chop. This is handy when, as at 12th Night, the
Royal Room is through the kitchen and a Peer has asked you to tell His
Majesty that they have found the medallion for the Laurel he intends to
make in 30 minutes.



So how do you get your very own Herald’s Baton? I had some at 12th Night
that I handed out, but the simplest way is to make your own. Go to Lowes.
Ask them to show you where you can find the wooden dowels. Select the 1¼
inch diameter Poplar dowels. They are 4 feet long and cost less than $4.
Have the nice folks at Lowes use their saw to cut the dowel into three
equal lengths, or just a bit less than 16” once you account for the part of
the dowel cut away by the saw blade. (Kerf, for the woodworkers out there)
Grab a can of white spraypaint on the way to the checkout counter. If you
have access to a sanding disk or a fixed belt sander, you can round the
edged of the cut a bit before you pain the stick white.



That’s it. That’s all there is too it. You have a short, handy little baton
useful for getting attention when you go about your heraldly duties. It’s
small enough that it will fit in your belt, or in my case in my haversack.
It’s cheap and easy to make. When you make one for yourself, you have two
more to give to other heralds, spreading the love. What’s not to like about
it?



I don’t know if there are any decorations that can be put on the stick.
I’ve read some places that it’s ok to hang some ribbons on them, or to
paint the Kingdom badge on the end, but I simply don’t know. Do a little
research before getting crazy. I keep mine plain because I don’t want to
worry if I lose it. I’ll just go down to Lowes and spend about $5 making 3
more to replace it.



So that’s how a little white stick will make your life easier. If you have
one, you’ll quickly see the utility. If you aren’t a Herald, and you see a
guy holding a white stick in his hand, you know he’s a Herald and is about
his duty.



Domenico

Boreas


-- 
Sean D Sorrentino

Email:
sean at seansorrentino.com