Sportsmanship and Laughter: Palio di Stonemarche 2015

This year's War Speech!!!!

The 2015 Drappone, or Palio Banner that is awarded to the winning team.
By Lady Fortune St Keyne (me)

Based on the inauguration speech by JFK. 

My Baron,  My Baroness, Games Master, Lady Angela, Lord Frostolf, reverend guests, fellow SCAdians:

Let every Contrada know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, roll any barrell, meet any hobbyhorse, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the success of this Palio.

This much we pledge- and more.

Let all sides explore what victories unite us instead of belaboring those defeats which divide us.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of these games instead of its terrors (barrel roll). Together let us explore the archery and thrown weapons fields, conquer the cheese roll, eradicate the dayboard, tap the bardic depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

All this will not be finished in the first one hundred minutes. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand minutes; nor in the life of this Palio; nor even perhaps in our lifetime in this Knowne World. But let us begin.

In your hands, my fellow Ferrari, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this Contrada was founded, each generation of Ferrari has been summoned to give testimony to its loyalty. The brave deeds of young SCAdians who answered the call to service surround the fairgrounds.

Now the trumpet summons us again - not as a call to bear arms, though strong arms we need,  not as a call to battle, though embattled we are - but a call to bear the burden of a long daylight struggle, "rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation,"² a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, dehydration, Hippocampo, sunburn, and Sole itself.

Can we forge against these enemies a grand and glorious Contrada, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all SCA kind? Will you join in that historic effort?

In the long history of the Knowne world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other Contrada or any other Palio. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our Contrada and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the Knowne World.

And so, my fellow SCAdians, ask not what your Contrada can do for you; ask what you can do for your Contrada.