The 2014 Roma Lupercalia Weekend

On the weekend of February 22 and 23, the ROMA community held it's Lupercalia Festival. For those who don't know, it was a festival in ancient Roman times held in February. The name comes from the Lupercal, the cave in the south side of Palatine Hill in Rome of which it's legendary founders Romulus and Remus were supposedly nursed by a female wolf until found by a shepherd. The festival was best known for it's rite of naked youths lightly flogging people with goatskins in the belief that this would encourage fertility. At least one description had the goatskins soaked in milk first.

In celebration of this most ancient of festivals we will be performing a Roman ritual for Faunus Lupercus, the God of Wild Things and Lupa, the she-wolf who nourished the founding fathers Romulus and Remus. After the rite, we will have the Running of The Luperci - half-naked youths who bless the citizens of the city. The citizens will run ahead of the Luperci, who will lightly flog them with the goatskin floggers in hopes of fertility (both of mind and body). Following the ritual, we will have our traditional Lupercalia Feast - and clothing is optional!

The first and main event, the Lupercalia ritual, took place at 10AM in ROMA Transtiberim (68, 200, 54). The Lupercal cave was recreated there, and residents and visitors gathered to either observe or take part. The event was designated as "clothing optional," though few went completely nude, some instead wearing much fewer clothes. One resident had his legs completely in goatskin, with hooves on his feet, giving him a saytyr-like appearance. The sight of a fur led someone to make an "animal sacrifice" joke, which was countered, "(laughter) We don''t do animal sacrifice in ROMA." "It's a touch subject for the vegetarians."

Gaius Tiberius Curio (guillaume.mistwalker) and Maali Beck explained the ritual, Gaius saying, "The rite will begin in a moment, but before we start, we'd like to explain a bit about the Lupercalia and the rite. The Lupercalia festival was in honor of the She-Wolf (Lupa) who suckled the infant orphans, Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.  The name of the festival, Lupercalia, translates into 'Wolf Festival.' The festival was celebrated near the Cave of Lupercal on the Palatine (one of the seven hills of Rome), to expiate and purify new life in the Spring. The religious ceremonies were directed by the Luperci, the 'brothers of the wolf (lupus),' a corporation of priests of Faunus." Maali added, "In today's rite, we will invoke Faunus Lupercus (otherwise known as Pan in Greece), as He is the God that presides over Lupercalia. Lupercalia is primarily a festival of fertility, and Faunus was seen by Romans as the epitome of the lusty passion from which fertility is born."

Gaius continued, "The ancient festival began with the sacrifice by the Luperci of two male goats and a dog. Next, two young patrician Luperci were led to the altar, to be anointed on their foreheads with the sacrificial blood, which was wiped off the bloody knife with wool soaked in milk, after which they were expected to smile and laugh; the smearing of the forehead with blood probably refers to human sacrifice originally practised at the festival." Maali added, "The sacrificial feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs from the skins of the sacrifice, dressed themselves in the remainder of the goat skins, in imitation of Faunus Lupercus. They then ran round the walls of the old Palatine city with the thongs in their hands in two bands, striking the people who crowded near."

Gaius went on, "Girls and young women would line up on their route to receive lashes from these whips. This was supposed to ensure fertility, prevent sterility in women and ease the pains of childbirth. Today, the blessing we ask is for the fertilty of body and of mind, a blessing on the creative process in all it's forms." Maali added, "Maali Beck: Here in our Roma, we do not practice blood sacrifice, but we will be celebrating the latter half of the festival, much as the Romans would have. After today's rite, we will lead you in the Running of The Luperci - as you race behind us, the other Luperci will follow behind you to bless you with their lashes as they pass."

Gaius and Maali roleplayed the ritual in both English and Latin, "I consecrate this altar. ... Immortal Gods, I call You. Please bless me. As it is said, so must it be! ... Hail, Father Janus - Janus of Beginnings, Two Faced Janus, Janus Door Opener, Janus Home Protector, Janus of the Folk! ... I pray to You so that You willingly might be well-disposed towards me. May I behold the Shining Gods! ... Hail, Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Almighty Father, King of Gods and Men. Or by whatever title else that You may have willed to be named." "If by obedience I am deserving, then give to me and to our Roma prosperity as well as happiness in our work." "Hail, Faunus Lupercus. With good prayers I offer to You this wine. May it be Your will to look with favor upon these folk who have honored You, for which purpose I make this offering. ... Faunus Lupercus, God of the Wilds, bless us this Lupercalia. Yours is the season of fertility, passion, and lust. Grant us fertility, not only of the body, but of the mind. Let our creative visions come to fruition. Grant us passion, not only of the flesh, but of the heart. Let our spirits be enflamed with the passion of living. Grant us lust, not only of our loins, but the lust for success, in all our endeavours. Let us acheive all our desires." "Father Janus, Father Jupiter, and Faunus Lupercus, if anything was displeasing to You in the offered gift from me, receive Ye this rite of atonement. ... "

After a few more lines, Gaius stated, "The rite is now ended - The Luperci will now lead you from the cave for the Running of the Luperci. This year we race to the field adjacent to the Field of Mars for our post-ritual celebration! Maali and I will lead you, and the other Luperci will follow behind the crowd, snapping their whips to bless you. (And hurry you along, perhaps!)" Unlike ancient Rome however, most of the Second Life Romans donning the goatskin flogs were female. Whom was going to whip whom this time?

We then ran out of the cave, going down the path up the hill, and at the spot chosen to be the site of the dance, near a roasting pig and a jar of wine. This time, a number of residents dropped their outfits to go about in the buff. Yours truly took several pictures, but after the one shown (left) was when several more showed up sans toga. Someone stated, "In ROMA specifically, you can be topless any time, but full nudity is only allowed at events like this."

People talked about a contest for the most imaginative lines for graffiti to be places in spots on the sim, and taking Latin classes. There was also general talk, "I think it's a good thing to be naughty once in a awhile. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone else."And there was some joking around, "She's a mer(maid) ... We have to dump water over her head once an hour or something." "So if I told her to 'go soak your head,' that wouldn't be taken as an insult? (grin)" "(giggle) Not at all! She'd probably thank you for offering."

Other lines included, "I resent that remark. am never a slut. I am just.... naughty." "I bet they really, really regreted pressing the self-destruct button in Pompeii." "And we thought you were just here to dance nakie and have fun!" "(This) is the one time of year i throw caution (and clothes) to the wind!"

Eventually the party wound down. Many would show up at the Wolf Hunt at Noon.

Time for another Hunt - ROMA's own version of hide and seek+tag with prizes! For Lupercalia, we will have cunning wolves for you to chase - how many can you tag in 1 hour? The Hunt is confined to Transtiberim, but the wolves are clever and hard to find! Prizes will be awarded to the ones who have tagged the most wolves - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

I didn't make it to the wolf hunt, though I did catch the end of the last event for the day, the "Venus Truth or Consequences" which began at 1 PM. Much like the "Truth or Dare" games I'd seen earlier. People were sitting on a few pillows, with some standing, with a "spin the bottle" in a space in the middle of the scene.

A woman playing the part of the Goddess Venus had an "enchanted rose" which asked the questions. Among them were, "Has anyone ever seen you completely naked in SL. If yes, who?" Someone commented, "It's Lupercalia, is that fair?" The person asked answered, "ermmm ... a couple years ago the whole of Roma saw me in my birthday suit (grin). Damn SL would not rez my clothes." "What is the funniest thing that ever happened to you while you were having sex?" "Oh, the bed broke one time!" That answer got a number of chuckles, one saying, "Note to self: never have sex in a homemade bed."

On Sunday, there would be three more events. At 10 AM was the "Lupercalia Name That Quote Trivia."

Do you love trivia? Do you love movies? Well this game is both! In this trivia game, you'll be challenged to identify movie quotes - the theme for this Lupercalia edition is Romantic Quotes. The contestants with the most points at the end of the game will win 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place cash prizes.

Several people were taking part in the contest, with a fierce competition for first place.  Steelhead resident Cray Juliesse and Melanippe of Themiscyra (melanippe.karas) ended up tied for first with a score of 18 quotes correctly guessed each.The tie-breaking quote was, "I have this dream of being whole. Of not going to sleep each night, wanting. But still sometimes, when the wind is warm or the crickets sing... I dream of a love that even time will lie down and be still for." And they needed to name the movie, the actor, and the character's name. Cray answered, "Practical Magic, Sandra Bullock, Sally." The Steelheader was declared the winner.

It would be about an hour until the next event, the Grand Feast, at Noon SL time.

To top off this festival weekend, we have The Grand Feast of Lupercalia! Join us for an evening of feasting, dancing, and good company, with live music by Taunter Goodnight - as well as our Lupercalia Costume Contest! Our costume theme this time around is Mythological Beasts. So come as a creature of myth or legend! We will vote for best male and female costume - the winners will receive $L1000!

Mark Allan Jensen (majjackslade) provided the music for the party, as people danced in the grass in the clearing beside the food table. Among the creatures present were a faun and naga, and a couple followers of Anubis.

The party didn't have much time to wind down when came the last event, the Harpastum game, a kind of Roman football.

Come join us as our Legio faces off in a game of Harpastum in honour of the Lupercalia! Harpastum, was the ancient Romans answer to soccer/football. For this game, you'll see the contestants display considerable speed, agility, and physical ability. All citizens are invited to participate in the game or watch from the sidelines!

The game area was set up in ROMA Vinovium. One team was led by Melanippe of Themiscyra. The other was led by Torin Golding. The game would be played much like Soccer/EuropeanFootball, except that the entire end of a field was a goal. If a ball fell into the depression behind the line, it scored a point for the opposing side. Five goals would win a game.

The first game went fairly easy for Torin's team, ending with a score of 5-1, Torin doing a victory animation with each. But Melanippe's team recovered, and won the second game. The third game was a hard fought match, with the score 4 to 4 at one point. But Torin's team got the last goal and the victory. The players on his team each got a prize.

And so ended Roma's Lupercalia Weekend of 2014, with lots of fun in the historical community.

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes from the Krewe Bayou Parade in New Toulouse

Last weekend at the New Orleans-themed sim of New Toulouse, the Krewe Bayou "Wild and Wonderful Creatures Parade" took place.

  If the parade looked a bit like Mardi Gras, it wasn't a coincidence. This was the first event of New Toulouse's Carnival season. People of all kinds from furs to tinies to not so ordinary humans, and avatars that defied description took part. The "Oh Lord What is That" marching band was aptly named.

 Nikita Weyman described the paraders in her New Toulouse Blog, "from the very tall Trombone Creature, who set the pace, to the Toad King bringing up the rear. Paraders included tinies, chariot drivers, a kraken on horseback, equestrian butterflies, a tiny Mayor Godenot, a deep-sea diver in an aquarium, a bird-headed man, and Superman; umbrella dancers added to the magic and the color of the event."

The parade went down the streets of early 20th Century New Orleans. Some were carrying hippo balloons. February 15 was supposedly "Hippo Day" in Second Life. There were also some beads being flung around.

Yours truly did his best to keep up with the throng of people. Someone passed to me one of the hippo balloons, and a couple beads were thrown my way.

 The parade ended  at the Town Square.

 And with that, the paraders danced where they were.

There was also a video of the event made, by Natascha Rant.



(Click here if the video fails to load)

Z

Nikita stated later that evening, there was a fireworks show at the river (photo by Liza Veliz), "At nightfall, Taloosters who were not yet too drunk assembled at the city docks to ooh and aah at a spectacular fireworks display shot off from the top tier of the steamboat. There were cheers, funny comments, and admiration for the awesome display. Spectators were witness to a twenty-minute finale ..."

A great time was had by all.

Keep an eye out for Mardi Gras early next month on Tuesday March 4.

Source: www.newtoulouse.org

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes from One Billion Rising 2014

Friday February 14, 2014 was the day of the Second One Billion Rising event in Second Life. The OBR blog (link) described the event across the world, "ONE BILLION RISING began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE is a call to women, men, and youth around the world to gather safely on 14 February 2014 outside places where they are entitled to justice – court houses, police stations, government offices, school administration buildings, work places, sites of environmental injustice, military courts, embassies, places of worship, homes, or simply public gathering places where women deserve to feel safe but too often do not."

The event in Second Life took place across four OBR sims. Among the greeters was SL Newser's Gemma Cleanslate, who look a number of pictures.

 There were poetry and open mike events.

 There were also music and dance events with inspirational songs.

 Earlier, Gemma had taken some pictures of art exhibits (link). During the event, Bixyl Shuftan showed up and took a few more.

 One art exhibit from the outside looked like a box with the symbol for women.

The inside was a bit spooky, dark and forboding with the dark outlines of dozens of figures around a lone female, illuminated in a glass cage.

For more information, check the following links:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Billion-Rising/493344827375934
Second Life Group: One Billion Rising
Twitter Stream: https://twitter.com/OBRinSL
Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/2169739@N23/

One Billion Rising for Justice page: http://www.onebillionrising.org/

Pictures from Gemma Cleanslate and Bixyl Shuftan

The Wulfenbach 2014 Winter Games

By Bixyl Shuftan

In real life, the Winter Games don't start until February 7th in Sochi Russia. In Second Life last weekend, residents from several Steampunk communities (and friends of) got together for their own winter activities, the Wulfenback 2014 Winter games. The events took place over a the weekend of Saturday January 25 and Sunday January 26, and across several sims across the Steamlands over multiple communities. The events got their name from prominent Steelhead resident KlausWulfenbach Outlander.

The Consulate of Europa Wulfenbach 2014 Winter Games as the events were officially called started off at 11AM SL time at the Dragon Amphitheater in Caledon On Sea (161/35/3076). At over 3000 in altitude, the location was all iced and wintered up, with the only dragons around being stone statues. Indeed there were more penguins at the place, which were skittering around on the ice, with other decorative items such as snowglobes. For those wishing to skate on the ice, all they had to do was click on the stage and get a pair of Wulfenbach skates (and disable any AOs active). Cups of hot coco were also available.

The stage itself had a white Christmas tree in the center back.On the brick floor was a large blue disk for a dance area, with decorative patterns. With music provided by Nyree Rain, people were soon, taking off their skates, and coming over to dance. The event lasted for about ninety minutes, though some people stuck around to chat for a little while before heading to the next event.


At 1PM SL time was the fencing match, the "United En Garde Tournament" at MariKesh Mondrago (75/199/47) (for those who want to know more about the game, Click Here). After paying an entrance fee, thirty-two contestants participated in the event, taking place over three rounds plus the rounds to determine the winner and third place. Some fast and furious swordplay was done, with no shortage of short matches.

The match for first place was Stormy Lionheart and Joesf Fitzpatrick for the championship. It was a bit of a contrast, Stormy being a girl in blue jeans and Joesf a dapper-dressed fur in a good suit. But feminine wiles won out over fashion, and Stormy won. The third place round between Zac Icthan and Vance Nirvana was an even greater contrast with Zac being a two foot tall hippo tiny. But in En Garde, size does not matter. The tiny hippo scored, and won third place.

 at 4PM SLtime, was an intermission event, "Queen Anne's Chess." This wasn't a tournament event, so no prizes were given, but there was still some competition. Queen Anne's Chess Club, at Winterfell Laudanum (127/210/517), has a number of games, including a billiards table, a Japanese dice game called Chou-Han, a Risk-like game called "Conquer," and of course chess. The location is open 24/7 for anyone to drop by and play.

At 5:30 PM was the "Steamcarpet Steeplechase," hosted by Lucien Brentano at MariKesh Mondrago (63/206/48). Actually, there was only one steamcarpet in the event. Most others chose some other vehicle from a flying giant BLT sandwich, to Baron Wulfenbach's helicopter pack, to Avariel Falcon's flying unicorn avatar, to a giant housefly. The flying sandwich got a few jokes in the crowd about "bringing home the bacon" and "airline food," and the giant housefly sparked some humoring about "that would take one heck of a swatter" and "you want flies with that?" The race took part across a course in the air made up of rings. Satu Moreau proved the fastest, and got first place. Second was Avariel Falcon. Third place went to Baron Wulfenbach himself.

The Steeplechase was the last of the Saturday events. Sunday January 26 would see a few more. At 11AM SL time was a fishing event in Caledon Kittiwickshire (71/236/24), "Hats may be involved." There was also a "Scupper of Coffee Race" at the Babbage Square sim, "The Experimental High-Test Coffee Race, newly added this season, will test your mettle in a foot race designed to demonstrate the energy-producing effects of a good, hot, steaming and perfectly safe cup of uber-coffee! Unlimited amounts of coffee will be provided along with additional equipment absolutely without charge!" Sadly, the Newser was not available to cover these events when they took place.

The final game event was the Monster Hunt, taking place at Steelhead St Helens from 5PM SL time to 7PM. The event was described as, "The North Pole has come under attack! We have received word from surviving members of Santa's elven ranger squad that otherworldly forces have invaded and taken over Santa's workshop, seeding the surrounding area with hideous monsters and vile mutations to keep away prying eyes. These villains are now using Santa's factory and manufacturing capabilities to create death machines to leave under trees and in stockings for children all over the world come Christmas next year. ... Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join us on the WEA Gummi-Ente where you shall receive equipment and basic training, and then be air-dropped as close to Santa's workshop as we are able, fight your way past the savage beasts that patrol, find the entrance to the main factory, find the ones responsible for this invasion, and in the spirit of Christmas, destroy them utterly and without mercy!"

The event was done using HUDs for the Grim Combat System, which I've seen in a few zombie games. Free crossbows and guns were available for the event, along with red berrets provided with "the blessing of the Queen Victoria of England." More than a dozen gathered to take part in the hunt, including Baron Wulfenback. Yours truly also took a gun for the fight. At the event's start, we jumped down, and mean-looking "tainted snowmen" began appearing, along with alien "three-legged freaks" and floating aliens, and closed in. We fired back, and began taking down these nasties. There were a few "clanks," steampunk robots, near the drop zone to fire at any monsters that came too close, so there was a safe zone.

After clearing out the space between the ship and Santa's workshop, some of us went in, went down a hole, and entered some kind of subterranian base with robot drones, aliens, and even the nemisis of Doctor Who, the Daleks, around every corner. It was a hard fight, and many of us ran out of hitpoints and had to be ported back to the ship, or if the port didn't work, wait for the HUD to recover before we could shoot again. Zanya Resident provided some commentary during the shootout, "Tha Baron is cornered but fights his way through a wall of Daleks and drones!" "Bix is making slush out of the snowmen!"

Finally, there was a big boom, and with a clatter, metal saucer-shapped objects could be seeing crashing to the ground. Zanya shouted, "OH MY GOD! The Dalek ship has been destroyed!!!"

Finally, the time for the shootout was over, "Everyone back to the ship."  "Shoot. I was hoping to reach 1000." Scores were tallied, "In first place, we have Luke Skywookam (Luke Skywalker aka maxim.krutschek ), with an unbelievable 914 kills! In second place, we have Tal'Kesh (aka Way) with an amazing 665 kills! And in third we have Baron Klaus Wulfenbach with a hefty 440 kills!" Zanya commented, "special recognition should to to Tal, though I don't have an exact number, I would bet solid money he thinned the Dalek population down more than everyone else! ... it seems the Daleks took massive casualties, we kept intercepting them screaming about a doctor. Then the ship exploded."

Zanya Resident reactivated the place after the games were over for anyone else wanting to play. The location is at Steelhead St Helens (109/218/886).

The final event was the closing ball. This would be at  St John Parish. Unfortunetly, yours truly was not able to attend due to real life matters.

It was an eventful Winter Games, the seventh organized event of it's kind in the Steamlands. No doubt next year there will be an eighth.

Bixyl Shuftan

Madpeas Ends "Holiday Havoc" With a Blowout

Over December, Madpea, famous for their games, held their "Holiday Havoc." There were two sims for the event, one Halloween-themed, one Christmas themed. There was a game in which players tried to stop a "war between the holidays," and a hunt in which residents could gather up some cool items. After New Years, it was time for the event to go. But the Madpeas didn't just take it down. They held a "Blow-Up" party from Friday January 10 to Sunday January 12. And on the final hour starting at 1PM SL time, the place began to come apart. Kess Kessel was the DJ for the event.

 With the end of the show and Holiday Havoc approaching, the partiers reveled in anticipation.

 Rudolph and the Easter Bunny play cards, occasionally glancing at the mayhem. Say, wasn't the reindeer supposed to have been killed at the start of this mess?

 Just after dropping by, the dance floor had a sudden eruption of flames. Nobody got singed, though. It just egged on the "Peas," as Madpea fans are sometimes called.

 To add to the mayhem, some brought out wacky weapons, like this potato launcher.

 Wasn't this one of the Seven Plagues of the Pharaohs? The frogs did the wrong kind of croaking.

 Next to the event, Christmastown, already shaken up a little as the end is near.

 And there was Halloweentown, which doesn't look quite as bleak in the daytime. Only at night does it's true gloom show.

 Someone with a "TAB" gun, the predecessor to Diet Coke in the days before aspartame, launched a number of sodas around.

 Part of a wall collapses, resulting in more cheers.

 Smoke from another explosion.

 The pillars around the dance area start to collapse.

 More of the dance area, and other things in the Havoc, crumble and fall.

As the hour is upon the "Peas," the destruction intensifies, entire sections of wall fly up into the air.

As sections fly in all directions, even the floor comes loose and flies up into the air.

 It's a scene of near complete and utter destruction, what's left of the dance area littered with sections of wall, in addition to eggs and peas, and other debris. To add to the comically apocalyptic nature of the event, there were "zombie peas" that would bite people if they got close.

 From further away from the dance floor, buildings were welling up and flying through the air.

This was the last picture I took of the destroyed Holiday Havoc before everyone found themselves ejected from the region. The destruction was complete, and so the event was over, and the sims were closed so the staff could clean up.

And so the Blow Up party was over. The Madpeas had ended their monthlong build and event truly with a bang, or rather a series of explosions and quakes.

Bixyl Shuftan