Fectio
Index
|
|
click here
|
Open Monuments
Weekend - Fort Vechten
Saturday 9 and
Sunday 10 September 2006 |
| Every
year, Fort Vechten takes part in the national
Open Monuments weekend by hosting a multi-period
event. Fectio and other Roman groups also take
part in that big event. The event
is growing! For our third Open Monuments weekend
we not only teamed up with Legio X Gemina
again, but also with two Late Roman groups; the Teuxandrii
and the Minervii from Germany!
|
Fort Vechten, southeast of Utrecht. |
Detailed image of the area. |
A large
Roman camp has sprung up around the tower and lies
basking in the sunshine.
More tents: Legio X Gemina sets up their
camp. |
The vexillum of the Minervii. |
..who had a sick soldier: Publius/Patrick. |
Romans on early morning guard duty. |
Chariovalda/ Andreas. |
The
predictions for the weekend had been good, and they
turned out to be correct - we had extremely good weather
on both days.
Camp
life. Kids playing, women mending, men discussing.
| Day 1 - Saturday
|
The campsite takes shape. |
Looking like a nice vicus. |
The 'lounge' - the big tent of the Minervi. |
And all the stuff stashed there: swords, belts,
helmets - a real armoury! |
Late Roman joke. |
Jeroen had a real good time, playing hide &
seek here. |
Finally - we were relieved from front gate guard
duty by a WWII squad. |
Flavian joke. |
The vicus is ready. The best spot of the area - a
nice meadow, sun and shade aplenty. |
The Minervian part of the vicus. |
Chariovalda. |
A very tiny shield wall! |
Valerius. |
Fectio posing in full armour and with
the new helmets. |
The table of X Gemina, full of the
finest |
Small boy, big tower. |
Jeroen jumping about.. |
..Andreas tasting the
local cuisine..
 |
The
first day packed with things to do, people to see, places
to go - it was past before we knew it. After the front
gate watch duty we had to go on roll call with all the
other groups. Which was quite a strange sight, Romans
mixing with modern soldiers (see below). We had barely
made it back or it was lunchtime again. We did manage
some drill practise, but soon it was roll call again and
the afternoon was over.
Another
fine day! We were greated by yet another azure blue sky
and very nice temperatures. Not only were there more
people from Legio X Gemina, but we also received
Late Roman reinforcements in the form of our friends the Teuxandrii,
and even a lone Celt (Folkert)!
The Teuxandrii have arrived. Mark.. |
.. Garrelt .. |
.. and Manuel. |
Legio X Gemina,
holding the Limes against modern attack. |
Valerius and Hieronimus. |
Late Roman meets Iron Age Celt. |
Gemina cooks lunch! |
Time for a Roman lunch in the vicus. |
The vicus in the sun, and the bicycles of the
visitors that have begun to arrive. |
Roman Jeroen has been playing with the Frankish
kids - talk about integration.. |
Drinks at Gemina.. |
..until the knives are drawn! How's been cheating
at dice? |
The result of a friendly drill! |
    
Roll call,
time to form up again to march all the way to the fort. Legio
X Gemina goes in front of course. The Minervii
are dressed as palatial guards (Scholae),
accompanying the noble women while the Late Romans and
the Germanic federates guard the rear.
    
Inside the
19th-century fort, we march past surprised visitors, and
then have to wait some time for the 'moderns' to show up!
Those newbies are always later than us 2000-year old
veterans..
   
Romans meet
the early 20th century. On the parade ground, we are all
lined up to be inspected by Queen Wilhelmina (1898-1948)!
A somewhat strange experience, but that's a multi-period
event like! I think we were a quite impressive colourful
group next to all that dull green.
|
