A two-day gathering in the Kingdom of Atlantia, inspired by the winter festivals of fifteenth-century Bern and the Alemannic Rhine valley. Pageantry and ceremony by day; feasting, dancing, and masked revelry by night.

Overview

Detail	Information
Dates	Friday, January 8 to Saturday, January 9, 2027 (Sunday is pack-out for campers; no event activities)
Location	Maola at Riverside, 1400 N Craven Street, New Bern, NC 28560
Kingdom	Atlantia
Theme	Dreikönigstag & Fasnacht (winter festivals of late-medieval Switzerland and southern Germany)
Event Steward	Baroness Annabella of the Bay
Site Type	Indoor, with flat grass list field; on-site tent camping and RV boondocking available
Wet/Dry	Wet site, cash bar available

The Theme

Why New Bern?

New Bern, North Carolina, takes its name directly from Bern, Switzerland: the capital of the canton whose winter festivals inspired this event’s theme. Founded in 1710 by Swiss and German settlers led by Baron Christoph von Graffenried of Bern, there is perhaps no better site in the Kingdom of Atlantia to host a celebration rooted in the Alemannic tradition.

Those traditions centered on two winter observances: Dreikönigstag and Fasnacht.

Dreikönigstag: The Twelfth Day

In the fifteenth century, the twelve days at the turn of the year were the central winter festival of the German-speaking world. The season culminated on January 6 with Dreikönigstag, the twelfth day: a day of processions, Dreikönigsspiel (traditional plays), elaborate feasts, and in many cities the first authorized masking of the Fasnacht season.

The three figures of the Dreikönigsspiel (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar) were identified in medieval tradition with the three known continents, making the day as much a cosmopolitan civic statement as anything else. In Bern and throughout the Alemannic Rhine valley, it marked the turn of the season: the solemn midwinter giving way to the licensed exuberance of Fasnacht.

The days around Twelfth Night marked the end of the winter holiday season and the gradual shift toward spring, as much about community and tradition as they were about marking time itself.

Fasnacht: The Winter Carnival

Fasnacht referred to the entire festive season extending from the twelfth day through the weeks before spring. This was a period of licensed festivity: masks were permitted, hierarchies were playfully inverted, food and drink were consumed in deliberate excess, and elaborate public performances (processions, mock combats, pageants, and plays) filled city streets and market squares.

Basel’s Fasnacht processions are documented from at least the mid-fourteenth century. Across Switzerland and southern Germany, guilds staged banquets, schoolboys performed seasonal plays, and mummers moved through the streets in elaborate costume. Masks allowed for mischief and satire that would have been unthinkable at any other time of year.

Schedule

Below is the high-level framework for the weekend. Specific times, competition slots, and ceremony details will be confirmed closer to the event. For the most current schedule, check this page or the event app, which will update in real time.

Friday, January 8

Time	Activity
5:00 PM	Site opens and Gate begins
Late Afternoon	Check-in, early arrivals, informal social gathering
Evening	Procession and display of helms (pas d’armes fighters)
10:00 PM	Site closes

Saturday, January 9

Time	Activity
8:00 AM	Gate opens
Morning	Classes and A&S competitions
Midday	Pas d’armes: heavy and rapier tournaments (simultaneous)
Afternoon	Classes, fashion show, open A&S display, dance practice
2:00 PM	Gate closes
Late Afternoon	Court
Early Evening	Feast (capped at 300)
Late Evening	Dancing and masked revelry
10:00 PM	Site closes

Sunday, January 10

Pack-out for on-site campers. No event activities.