The world's biggest strolling medieval festival - place of relaxation, wonder and party

Hi Steemians,

I want to tell you about one of the most beautiful festivals there is in Germany. Some friends and I are going there 5-7 times a year and enjoying the stunning atmosphere every time. We are talking about the "Mittelalter Phantasie Spectaculum" (roughly translated: medieval fantasy spectacle) or "MPS" for short. From April to October it moves from one city to another so that there are around 30 weekends of MPS-festivals spread throughout the hole country.

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Medieval market? Show? Music festival? - Everything!

When the organizers put up their tents thousands of guests follow the invitation to forget the outside world and see all the travelling artists, juggler, carnies, medieval booths, exceptional good clad visitors and of course the many different music bands.

Needless to say, there will be taken care for everyone's physical well-being concerning food and drinks. You can imaging that drinking alcohol on a German festival is very important. So there is a wide variety of beers and mead of course.

Although you will spot a lot of drunk people you won't see any signs of aggressiveness or violence, everybody is relaxed! This festival is remarkably clean, ecosensitive, family- and animal-friendly.

Apart from drinking and eating you can spot something interesting almost any few meters. Many guests are wearing medieval or fantasy themed costumes and there are camps of people who are living like 1000 years ago (at least for one weekend):

And here are some pictures of really nice costumes:

Death himself is watching and will take care of everybody who drinks oneself to death.

When darkness falls everything is illuminated by hundreds of fire. A stunning, mysterious and cosy atmosphere!

Europe's largest field forge is very impressive as well. You can watch them producing awesome metal works live!

Whats else to do?

If you like you can watch the Knight's Tournament by Filmpferde (http://www.filmpferde.com/) - famous horse trainers which are normally getting booked for movies and stuff.

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There are more shows like the "Bruchenball tournament" (a rugby-like ball game, only in shorts), the dance workshop, the fencing fight or the election of the best dressed up guest.

Let's rock! (or let's folk?)

Like you can imaging you can experience a lot on a day on this festival. But for us the most interesting part is listening to the many music bands which play on up to three stages for the hole day! The MPS is more a very special folk/rock/medieval music festival than a market. Most of the guests are here because of the many famous bands from the medieval music scene. Listing all the different artists would be too much but I give you some of our favorites:

Versengold (folk)

Corvus Corax (medieval music)

A very famous German medieval band with extraordinary instruments. Here they are dancing with the audience.

Btw, it's normal to meet "your stars" on the festival and dance, drink or talk with them. No bodyguards are needed here!

Cultus Ferox (medieval music)

Not every band does play on a big stage. There is also an unplugged area:

Ye banished Privateers (pirate folk)

A band formation from Sweden with 10-12 musicians on stage which are performing good music and an entertaining show. The hole band consists of about 20 members!

Saltatio Mortis

One of the most famous rock and medieval bands in Germany. Their show is one of the highlights on every MPS. On this older photo you get an impression from their fire show.

There are more international artists as well, like Omnia or Rapalje from the Netherlands, Soar Patrol from Scotland or Cuélebre from Spain. I can recommend checking out some of the bands on YouTube.

Camping

It wouldn't be a real festival if you don't put up your tent there for the weekend. The campsites are very clean and full of nice and relaxed folks. There are people of all ages which are enjoying their campfire or barbecue. At night it's relatively calm so you can even get some sleep - this is by no means a matter of course at festivals!

We never had a place where it is so easy to party and to relax at the same time. We really love this event and hope that it will continue for many more years. If you are in Germany some time you should check out if there is a MPS nearby: http://www.spectaculum.de/termine/

Other festivals?

Hope you enjoyed this post and maybe you visit us sometime there. Do you know other exceptional festivals? Please tell me about them in the comments, we are looking for more festivals to visit :)