other girls in armour

I have been getting so enthusiastic about starting up our national women's buhurt team that I sometimes forget that fighting women doesn't feature in many people's world view. And let's face it, the media portrayal of warriors tends to leave out the girls.

Disney doesn't make movies about fearless female knights, riding up on their white steeds, armour glinting in the sunlight, to save the helpless and vulnerable young man from certain destruction. I've recently discovered a site that turned the Disney princesses into warrior women. Sort of. They still don't give them armour, just slinky outfits based on the original. I must admit it gave me a giggle, though.



Joan of Arc seems to be the only popular woman fighter, and she is largely dealt with by filmmakers as a prophet or crazy person, depending on how generous the filmmaker is feeling. This seems highly unfair, all things considered. I have recently read the trial transcripts, which give an insight into what kind of girl she was - and she was still a girl - which show her to be intelligent, confident and independent, even at her tender age. These were traits that the patriarchy of the time did not encourage in women. And certainly, the fact that she insisted on wearing men's clothing really galled her captors.

Going back into antiquity, we see famous Celtic leaders such as Boudicea, who allegedly fought bare-breasted, and Cartimandua, who led her tribes against the Romans.



But even as late as the 1890s, there were women who fought in their own units. The Dahomey Amazons were fearsome warrior women, the last of which died in 1979; not that long ago.

 

In almost every culture, there are heroines who led armies and fought battles. Here is a list and timeline. Their bones and weapons have been dug up by archaeologists next to the bones and weapons of their brothers-in-arms. So, why is it so unusual for women to be accepted as fighters in modern society?

I don't know. I know that somewhere out there are a thousand sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists and other '-ologists' who will give a really well-researched and well-formulated explanation. It still makes no sense to me. And so I've given up thinking about it.

Instead, I'm thinking about getting my women fighters armoured up and trained to fight at the next IMCF. That's a good place to start.

mid-winter lazies

I have been battling with this conflict between my need to train and my desire to curl up and dream. The man-cat, Arthur, and the kitten, Jack Jack, have been no help whatsoever in this regard.

Even if you do not follow a Pagan or Heathen belief system, you will be familiar with the very common tendency to want to become introspective and inactive during the mid-winter period. It is how we follow the teachings of the seasons, winter representing  not so much a barrenness, but more a period of lying fallow, in preparation for the birth of new ideas and inspirations.

Especially for those of us who live in more temperate climes, where hot and sunny outweighs cold and snowy, it is a difficult time. We feed our horses with the sun, and so in winter, we tend to get up later in any case, because the horses aren't even near the stables for feeding before dawn.

The point that I'm trying to make in this oddly convoluted post of mine is that it is natural to have the mid-winter lazies. It's not actually laziness, but your body's way of listening to what the world around it is doing. So don't beat yourself up about it. I'm not going to. In my area, winter doesn't last all that long in any case, so I'm going to try to train in the afternoons, instead of first thing in the morning, and give myself plenty of time to warm up and focus.

Here is an article which also gives some tips on staying motivated if you have no option but to train in the morning during winter.

Whatever you do, though, try not to rely on more coffee to get you moving, since this affects your heart rate and can also dehydrate you more quickly. Go for the hot chocolate instead, and think of me!