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Entertainment Magazine: Arizona: Reniassance The history of joustingJousting is given the 21st Century roar of approval. Knights will again strap on the heavy suits of armor, settle astride snorting chargers, take up their lances and tilt with each other for the annual Arizona Renaissance Festival Jousting Tournaments. Jousting at the AZ Renaissance Festival
This photo at the Renaissance Festival shows two tons of horse, knight and armor gallop onto the field prepared to do battle with ten-foot lances for a lady's honor at the Arizona Renaissance Festival. These Knights (actually stunt riders and actors) are regular performers at more than a dozen "Renaissance Villages" around the country and will be battling at the Arizona Renaissance Festival. They perform on a tournament field within the Festival park in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains just east of Apache Junction, Arizona. Jousting now, as 400 years ago, is a merrie sport; a make-believe pageant of Sir Galahads and Sir Lancelots, of villainous Black Knights versus the virtuous Red Knights, mounted on thundering steeds, plumes waving, chain mail clanking and the festival crowd sarcastically screaming "Cheat to win!!" Words like "pomp, pageantry and chivalry" serve to evoke the romantic aspects of jousting. When you get close to see the dull glow of chain mail next to bright armor, you begin to grasp how tightly woven the joust is with its history. An understanding of today's combats is impossible without the tracing of their ancient roots. Continue reading about the origins of jousting.© 1995-2023 Arizona Renaissance Festival/EMOL.org. Entertainment Magazine. All rights reserved. |
