Personal Log: Independence Day Celebrations, 2010

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Personal Log: Independence Day Celebrations, 2010

Apology: In fairness to the rest of the IKV Melota, this was a rather sudden event for our household without time to plan/alert the rest of the Ship. I was planning to pull the rear-end of the Karmann to discover that we had forgotten about this event.

I and my lovely parmachi attended the 174th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the nation of Texas at Washington-on-the-Brazos.



Giving a rightful nod to Hawaii*, Texas is one of the only two states of the union that were independent (internationally recognized) countries. It is the only state that had a national Declaration of Independence. The Independence Day celebrations took place a few hundred feet from where the Declaration of Independence was signed. At this location, there are effectively three museums working in collaboration with each other. Two modern museums and a "living museum". The "living museum" is the (actual) house of the last President of Texas and surrounding (replica) buildings.



We wandered the grounds examining various historical items such as the rebuilt Independence Hall and the La Bahia road. We talked to members of the "Texas Army" (period re-enactors) as well as members of the Texas Army (yes, Texas has one). Discussions ranged from the care and feeding of black powder weapons, blacksmithing, to service in times of modern disasters. The "Texas Army", led by "General" Sam Houston IV (great grandson of THE Sam Houston) had a working camp to demonstrate camp life, weapons and blacksmithing. There were firing drills with muskets as well as two 4 pounder cannon. The "living museum" had live demonstrations of running a kitchen, making rope and blacksmithing. The smiths were men from the Houston Area Blacksmiths Association. For any budding weaponsmith, this was fascinating to see iron become tools. There were "nappers" present making edged tools and weapons out of flint, obsidian and other flaking stones. For the klingon in you, there were plenty of edged, muzzle loading, and some cartridge firing weapons on display or being used.



Met a lass from the local Stargate community who often comes to the DFW area to assist our local SG unit. Perhaps this contact can pan out into more cross universe events.



Now that I am aware of this annual event, and the fact that next year is the 175th Anniversary of our Declaration of Independence and Nationhood, I am hoping to organize more Texas klindom to participate in next year's celebrations. This was a well planned event with a lot of educational value.


Strength and Honor

Cdr. Salek Sutai
Ship's Senior Brewer
An Approved Brewmaster of the Empire




2011 Addendum:

We returned for the 175th Anniversary bash. On this trip, our honor was definitely our own so I won't be writing an Personal Log for the 2011 trip. Suffice it to say that we learned even more. I am hoping to finally build the forge that I had been inspired to build by last year's trip.

*Disclaimer: I am not a Hawaiian historian so my summary is just a summary based upon my scant knowledge.
The Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown by American plantion owners (in effect, American pirates) and by 1959 was a recognized territory as opposed to a legal nation at the time of statehood. Hawaii was, however, a nation in its own right prior to the piratical overthrow of the crown. Thus, the Hawaiian flag is also a national flag.


                 


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