Preachain Procession
(Formerly Women in White)

Banner Photo by Ursus, 2011

Disclaimer 

In 1996 I asked Arianrhod (Aes), the headwoman of Clanne Preachain, to broadcast a call in her newsletter for Clan Preachain to do a Women in White procession to the battlefield at Pennsic. While it was my brainchild, this activity rapidly grew far beyond my initial vision, and I am absolutely not responsible for its growth and longevity. I do still march in the procession every year, but the true and heavy lifting of organizing the activity happens inside the camp, and I don't camp with Clan Preachain at Pennsic any more. This page is about the genesis of Women in White, not necessarily the latest developments.

What is Women in White?

Women in White refers to a set of activities conducted by Clanne Preachain and their allies before the Field Battle at Pennsic. You may have seen a group of mostly women and a few children, wearing white, followed by a group of fighters, as we marched through camping and merchant areas of Pennsic while singing or chanting. You may have seen us dancing on the battlefield around the fighters. We do this to foster community, raise energy for the battle, acknowledge the relationship between fighters and noncombatants at this war, and engage in our own form of Celtic spirituality. Women in White is loosely based on an account of Gallic pre-battle ritual activities which is of dubious accuracy (see below), but it has become a strong and vital living ritual for those who participate.

This passage caught my imagination, and I pushed for our group to re-enact the scene before a Pennsic battle.  Research was more challenging then, and it was a while before additional substantiation for this description surfaced.

Over the next twenty years, the internet happened. In 2016 it coughed up a bloodthirsty passage with familiar figures, in a classical source.  The Greek philosopher, geographer, and historian Strabo, writing in the first century BCE, had this to say about the Cimbri, which probably refers to people living in far north Germany/Southern Denmark :

"Writers report a custom of the Cimbri to this effect: Their wives, who would accompany them on their expeditions, were attended by priestesses who were seers; these were grey-haired, clad in white, with flaxen cloaks fastened on with clasps, girt with girdles of bronze, and bare-footed; now sword in hand these priestesses would meet with the prisoners of war throughout the camp, and having first crowned them with wreaths would lead them to a brazen vessel of about twenty amphorae; and they had a raised platform which the priestess would mount, and then, bending over the kettle, would cut the throat of each prisoner after he had been lifted up; and from the blood that poured forth into the vessel some of the priestesses would draw a prophecy, while still others would split open the body and from an inspection of the entrails would utter a prophecy of victory for their own people; and during the battles they would beat on the hides that were stretched over the wicker-bodies of the wagons and in this way produce an unearthly noise. " (The Geography of Strabo published in Vol. III of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1924)

Strabo's description is very gory and, had I encountered it first, I probably would have been less excited about staging a re-enactment. By Strabo's own admission, this is not a first-hand account but rather a story he learned from other "writers." It is important to bear in mind that Mediterranean authors tended to paint the non-Roman world as barbaric and uncivilized, in part to justify conquering and colonizing other populations. Strabo may have exaggerated for the sake of propaganda, so the accuracy of his account should be taken with a grain of salt. The white clothing, bare feet, copper-alloy girdles, mature-colored hair, and swords are all consistent with Goodrich's account, so Goodrich may have partially based her passage on Strabo. Whether or not any of it actually took place historically is difficult to say because the Gauls were pre-literate and did not write down descriptions of themselves for posterity. For reenactment purposes, the Goodrich version, in which women precede warriors onto the field of battle, certainly remains the more practical guide. Unreasonable though it may be to place ancient practices into a modern ethical context, for the record I am very much opposed to what would now be considered war crimes. 

In addition to the historical sources, I had personal reasons for wanting to begin Women in White. When I began doing reenactment in the late 1980s, our group did not participate in heavy weapons fighting. Clan Preachain was not a part of the SCA. I went to the West coast for college and while I was gone, the group started attending Pennsic and other SCA events. Some members of the group began fighting. Fighting was clearly a strong component of SCA culture, with kingmaking happening through combat. I wasn't thrilled with glorifying violence, even violence as a sport, even violence tempered by a chivalric code (chivalry was a late-period invention and I wasn't very familiar with it). Asserting the continued importance of noncombatants seemed important. The same year that Women in White started, Preachain also began hosting an Early Period Arts and Sciences competition in our camp. Although it might not have been presented as such at the time, Women in White was part of a larger campaign (for me anyway) within the group, to balance fighting with non-fighting activities and blur potential divisions between the two sides. 

Finally, although the very first fighter to authorize in Preachain was female, most of the fighters were male.  As a blossoming feminist I was keenly aware what the consequences for power would be if a male-dominated interest took top priority.  At the same time, many of us in Preachain were drawn to earth-based spirituality and female deities, in reaction to the male-dominated Judeo-Christian religions in which we had been raised. So an activity that celebrated women in a ceremonial way was appealing as well. 

In recent years, with gender fluidity rising in importance, the insistence that participants be "Women" (whatever that means) is no longer in effect. It should be possible to continue to encourage the celebration of women through this activity, not at the expense of other genders, but in part because women have historically been oppressed, along with other genders that aren't cis-male.  Now we call it simply "the procession, " modified to Preachain's Procession in White if people aren't immediately familiar with it. The initial impulse for Women in White was rooted in inclusivity: including women, including noncombatants in the business of the group—and it is my hope that it never excludes friends who want to support Preachain and their allies, however participants identify. 

Other elements of dress and appearance 

We encourage participants to wear copper or copper-alloy belts. One of the sources cited above calls the belts copper, the other uses the term bronze.  Proportions of different metals in artifacts vary so much that archaeologists in recent years have taken to using the term "copper alloy" instead of calling things bronze vs. copper.  

Although Goodrich and Strabo both refer to bare feet, we do not recommend going barefoot for safety reasons.  We also replaced references to grey or white hair, changing it to “unbound hair” in early years because we started Women in White when we were much younger; none of us had grey hair (that situation has changed!).  But it’s hot at Pennsic and sometimes wearing your hair up off the neck is necessary to avoid overheating. 

It is possible that references to grey or white hair referred to hair bleached with lime, as described by Diodorus Siculus: "For they are always washing their hair in lime-water, and they pull it back from the forehead to the top of the head and back to the nape of the neck, with the result that their appearance is like that of Satyrs and Pans, since the treatment of their hair makes it so heavy and coarse that it differs in no respect from the mane of horses."

We also paint each other with woad. The following section on Woad was written by Simone Parrish/Etaine of Preachain, who has researched woad more than I:

Preachain uses woad. It means something to us. It means blessing, and belonging, and fierceness. All of us being painted with woad creates a connection to each other, and a connection to the past we are trying to honor—our own past as a tribe, and the ancient people we admire and feel connected to. It also marks us out, literally, as being opposed to Rome: body painting and tattooing was frowned upon by polite Roman society, as tattoos were seen as barbaric. We are proud to be barbarians. We wear woad with that pride. - Etaíne na Preachain

Sharp is the Spear Chant

As we process to the battlefield, we sing and chant. It is humbling to hear words you have written shouted by many voices, which happens for me with this chant. It refers to wheat because Pennsic happens in early August, near the Celtic holiday of Lugnasadh, which is a festival of first wheat harvest.

Sharp is the spear

Broad is the blade

Bright is the sun

On the heads of Preachain

Long is the day

Fey is the night

Noble the fight

Of the folk of Preachain

Heat in the heart

Hearth in the heat

Golden the wheat

Of the bread to eat

Nimble the feet

Clever the tongue

Strong is the song

Of the gathered Preachain

videos people have made of us

2007 Synnovea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIYLUknhZ84

2008 Synnovea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LIHUcI11rE

2009 jayedeye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfKJcFSF0Dk

2009 jayedeye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBAX2eZHM-A

2010 Frank Cerillo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhK6oPNzFzY