If any of these ideas excites you or your kids – wielding an axe, sword or spear that Tolkien's characters might have held, making an orc-inspired mask or Gondorian shield (or one from Mordor), or trying to recite all 13 of the dwarves from The Hobbit – then you'll want to check out Middle-Earth Day this Saturday at the Higgins Armory Museum.
Only catch – you kinda gotta live within a dwarf's-throw of Boston.
On Saturday, September 29 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at this unique Worcester, Massachusetts, museum (about an hour southwest of Boston), guests will see their favorite Tolkien characters roaming amongst the collection of arms and armor. The full day of activities includes sing-alongs to Tolkien's songs, stories, contests, games, crafts and demonstrations.
But the highlights will surely be the chance to design your own shield or pendant, or watch Arwen teach a thing or two to Aragorn about orc-slaying, or take part in an "Arms of Middle-earth workshop."
Visitors are urged to come celebrate and learn, while dressed up as their favorite characters.
According to the museum's website, the Higgins is the only dedicated museum of armor in the Western hemisphere, housing one of the few significant collections of knightly armor outside of Europe.
The art-deco building was one of the first all steel and glass curtain-wall structures built in America. Inside the museum's Great Hall, high ceilings and gothic arches are reminiscent of a medieval castle. The collection contains some 4,000 pieces of arms and armor from medieval and Renaissance Europe, Ancient Greece and Rome, Africa, the Middle East, India, and Japan. The crown jewels are two dozen full suits of armor for battle, jousting, and courtly ceremony, in addition to swords, staff weapons, firearms, and artwork from the age of knightly armor.
Activities on Middle-Earth Day include: playing games from the Shire; hearing stories of Bilbo from The Hobbit; trying to outgrin a dwarf singing songs right out of the works of Tolkien; playing a riddle game (if not THE riddle game); joining Arwen and Strider in an "Academy of the Sword" training session; understanding the arms and armor of Middle-earth and how they compare with the real weapons that inspired Tolkien's work; learning about "The Uglier Side of Prosthetics: Making an Orc Mask"; and taking part in an arms workshop where participants can wield an axe like a dwarf or swing a wizard's staff once its zapping power runs out.
For more information, visit www.higgins.org.
