In the spirit of the recent writeup of Whyt Whey’s registrations, here is the registration of Northpass. My thanks again to the office of the Laurel Archivist for sharing these files.
Canton of Northpass
The canton’s name was submitted in January 1985, and registered without comment in May.
The supporting documentation reads:
Name refers to the fact that the early Dutch settlers in New York used to call this area the northern pass.
Vair, two bendlets and in bend sinister a laurel wreath between two tygers passant to sinister Or.
The canton’s arms were registered in January 1987.
The original submission emblazon shows a style of vair known as “vair in pale,” with successive rows of vair bells lining up vertically beneath one another, rather than being offset as is more common; however, the SCA considers the two styles to be heraldically equivalent, so this is merely an artistic vair-iation. (The canton typically uses a more traditional style of vair in its current heraldic displays.)
A few other details of Northpass’s history are provided by Lord Richard the Poor’s “A Geographic History of the East Kingdom”: the branch was first organized as “Viking’s Hall” and changed its name in December 1984, before achieving official status in August 1985.