The Fete de St Jean le Baptiste

Even when temperatures are in the 90s, being outdoors can be enjoyable. When you are under lots of big shady trees in a park on the Wabash with a nice breeze blowing off the river, and with good friends and fun activities... I was glad I braved the heat.

The event was The Fete de St Jean le Baptiste, a reenactment of the celebration of the birth of John the Baptist that was celebrated in 18th century French Canada.

A small group of living history reenactors set up at Fort Ouiatenon (site of The Feast of the Hunters' Moon) and invited people to come out and learn about 18th century living .

This included learning some of the games and ways that people of that time entertained themselves.

Lisa and Leslie played some games together (Leslie was not in charge of this particular event and had come for the fun) and it was really nice to have the time together - usually she is running everywhere and working at these events! She wasn't even dressed in period clothes!

Things were pretty quiet while we were there. The heat had cut down on the number of participants but it was also lunch time and people were taking a break from the heat to eat.

We wandered around looking at displays

and several of the participants even invited us to stop and have lunch with them. (The living history crowd is close knit and very friendly.)

Long time reenactor Ken was there and in charge of the musket demonstrations. This photo makes him look grumpy but he absolutely is NOT. Willing to share his knowledge of the time period, generous, and funny, he offered to teach Lisa and me how to load and shoot a musket!

I let Lisa go first and Ken explained the parts of the musket and demonstrated the sequence to load the gunpowder.

A ring wrapped in ribbons and fabric strips was across the grounds on a post. The point of the shooting game was unexpected - it wasn't to shoot through the ring, it was to blacken the ring with gunpowder! You wanted to shoot close to, not through, the ring.

Ken shot first, then handed the musket to Lisa for her turn. But first, with Leslie's help, he taught her the "proper way" to open the packet of gunpowder. 

They were teasing her a bit, but she got it right her very first try!

Her first shot was good, too. I declined my turn and let her go again and she had another good shot to blacken the ring!

We chatted with Ken a little longer. He shared about the other things he'd brought to demonstrate and all too soon it was time for me to go home and get some other things done.

Ken invited me to heft the other musket he'd brought - they were two different kinds. This one was really heavy compared to the first one. I've never been interested in the muskets in all the years I've done living history, but I found these more more interesting that I thought I would.

Such a lovely afternoon on the Feast grounds. 

The Wabash River

Hard to believe that in just four months these grounds will be packed with tents, people, bagpipers, drummers, and fifers, and the smells of cooking foods wafting through the air!

Here's the fife and drum song, Hell on the Wabash,  played many times at the Feast. It's a well done rendition (although the photo is of the Civil War time period, not the 18th century.) I can play the flute, the piccolo, and a little bit of fife, and the fife is by far the most difficult instrument to play. These musicians are incredible. 

Listening to it makes me want a meat pie and some homemade bread!