Full names
- Magistra Birgitta Lulli
- Friherrinna Birittha Wf
- Hüüpiäinen Unnikki
- Idiot-Gudinna i Aarnimetsä
The first two names are variants referring to the same person, as is usual when someone is mentioned in different records: Lulli is a farm listed in early 16th century land records in the parish of Pälkäne, Finland (so, no relation to the Italian–French Baroque composer Giovanni Battista Lulli); Wf is a canting surname referring to the eagle owl (uv in modern Swedish spelling) on my arms. The third one, possible for Proto-Finnic and Early Finnish c. 1–1300, also has a byname that associates me with the owl (hyypiä in some modern Finnish dialects), and was registered in part as a test case of a reconstructed prehistoric name. The fourth one was primarily registered to clarify our name registration rules, as Gudinna is not just modern Swedish for ‘Goddess’ but also an attested Latin form of viking age / early medieval Scandinavian Guðni: I wasn’t allowed to be Gudinna av Aarnimetsä , and am happy the rules were changed to actually say so.
About
Around the start of the autumn term of 1988, I saw an announcement on my department notice board at the University of Helsinki about an SCA branch getting started. I had seen occasional references to the SCA in science fiction over the years (even a novel dedicated to Sir Bela of Eastmarch instead of his mundane persona – and looking back, it amuses me to hold office in the Society as his wife’s 20th successor), so of course I had to go see what this was about. By that time Aarnimetsä was a couple of months old and not yet an incipient shire. I’m still having fun here.
I started out in mid-15th century, as the time period felt interesting. However, over the course of my years in the Society I’ve mostly drifted towards, on the one hand, the 16th century and, on the other hand, 7th century or so. This is mainly because I can write reasonably fluent Old Finnish appropriate for the later period and just about still figure out the North Finnic of the earlier one. The fencing I do is also mostly in 16th century styles.
About a quarter century ago, I along with Johan Magnusson Kivisuo and Dubhghall mac Ébhearáird, both of whom later became Masters of the Pelican, founded a mendicant order: we figured that since heralds belong to a hierarchy that encompasses the whole Known World, are in charge of liturgy, and have their own canonical laws and sacred language that lay people don’t understand, they are pretty much analogous to the church. And so I’ve ended up as not just a nun but the Sister General of Societas Silvestris, dedicated to “the pursuit for and use of knowledge in the Heraldic arts”. I also happen to be Lady High Chancellor of Its Stubbornness the Monkey of Monkey Isle who has made appearances at the Cudgel War and hosted fencing tourneys since 2012.
Service you have done
As far as service goes, I’m mainly a bureaucrat. I was the Aarnimetsä seneschal at the time we transitioned from a shire to a barony, and all in all I’ve been the Aarnimetsä seneschal, herald, scribe, chirurgeon, and fencing marshal, and at some point in the early days, the deputy officer. A few years after stepping down as seneschal I helped negotiate the affiliation agreement between Suomen keskiaikaseura ry and the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
I started my career as Deputy to the Acting Pursuivant Extraordinary for the Incipient Shire of Aarnimetsä in 1989, and have worked my way up to Laurel Queen of Arms – the chief herald of the Society – in 2024. I’m still not sure which of these titles I like better, and the pay is about the same.
Interested in
I’ve been interested in heraldry since way before I found the SCA, to the extent that I designed my first coat of arms around age six. Similarly, onomastics and the history of Finnish are rather deep and long-standing interests. I’ve done all of these outside the Society as well, and been paid for it. Fencing is yet another one, and one where the Society rescued me after I’d given up the art because of a severely incompatible coach – something for which I was already grateful long before working my way to a second peerage.
Likes
Mostly the people: I came here because of interests that matched what the SCA has to offer but stayed because of the friendships I’ve built.
Doesn’t like
The award structure we have. While there are lots of odd things that stem from the fact that our Society started as a hippie-era garden party themed on chivalric romance, for the most part that history has still led to something I can live with. But how is Mistress a much higher title than Lady ?
Was elevated
Twelfth Night 1998
Proteges
- Johann vom Hasengraben (jointly with Dubhghall mac Ébhearáird)
- Mærith aff Weselax
- Seijka Waldemarsdotter (jointly with Memorantia van de Linde)
- A number of grandkids through Dubhghall and Memorantia
Anything else you want to say
“Do not bully people, nor oppose gods”
– Ptahhotep, c. 2400 BCE
