(#9) CAS Project 1

Since the beginning of November until December 14, 2013
Initiating, planning and organizing a separate event within the Christmas ball at Jelgava Palace

Early in November I heard about the 28th Annual Christmas ball at Jelgava Palace - a highly attended black-tie event, famous with its grandeur. Although I did not know a lot about it at first, I read a few articles on last year's ball and caught myself wanting not simply to be a part of it, but to help in the process of organizing. Usually, as I was aware, some entertainments were organized within the ball in different corners of the palace so that guests had something fun to do after their feet got tired of dancing. For instance, every year guests were able to decorate gingerbread, talk to a fortune teller and cast tin, but instead of improving these ideas, I wanted to add something of my own to the ball. Therefore - after a brief brainstorming session, during which I came up with quite a few ideas, involving puzzles and various Christmas games, I thought of something that in my mind was rather interesting and original: a game of identifying Christmas flavours using nothing but the sense of smell. Perhaps I was inspired by recent Theory of Knowledge lessons where the general topic of discussion was perception; either way I was more than willing to challenge myself and make my idea come to life.

First, of course, I had to present my idea to the main organizer of the ball, Anita Prūse, LLU Student Union's coordinator. Considering that I had successfully cooperated with her before (at LLU 150 year anniversary concert) and had left a good impression, I thought sharing my idea worth a shot. Reasonably, she was surprised at first, for - as she told me - people rarely came to her with their ideas, not to mention that she had not planned any alterations of the ball's usual program. Still, she did not reject my idea, and we agreed that if I came with an imaginative description, explaining the context of my flavour-guessing game, meaning its relation to the history of Jelgava Palace, I could carry it out.

It was not yet mid-November when we met again and I presented her the back-story I had written as well some additional ideas. Also, over the two weeks I had developed my idea and was able to provide a detailed description of the task I had planned for the guests. As I had learned in Fragonard Perfume Museum that an average person cannot physically distinguish more than eight smells at once, I decided that the guests would have to find two out of seven boxes that smelled exactly the same and identify the particular flavour. Here, translated from Latvian, is the short description I wrote that was accepted and later printed on posters:

"After years of faithful service many live to tell how the Duke is extremely hard to please, especially in matters where the flavour of his meal is concerned. At Christmas, per say, every dish has to have the wondrous and unique flavour, characteristic to Winter Solstice. In fact, the cooks must not use the same fragrance more than once, because that would indicate lack of respect for the Duke.

 Thus, in order to test his guests' loyalty, the Duke wants to know whether or not they can find the one repetitious smell among six various flavours. Will it be cinnamon, anise or cardamon? That, dear guests, is for you to tell!"

The additional ideas I mentioned included linking some of the amusements together, thus creating a larger task for the guests and encouraging the most enthusiastic ones to try out all of the activities we organized. In the end we collaboratively decided on connecting my game, gingerbread decorating and meeting the "Duke" to the annual lottery, meaning that every guest wishing to participate in the lottery had to visit the rooms where these three activities took place and collect three specific stamps.

Hence, in the following weeks I had quite a lot to do, the first thing being ordering an extravagant stamp saying "Jelgavas pils galminieks" [Courtier of Jelgava Palace]. Then I had to make seven tiny boxes, and for this purpose I chose a shining paper of seven different colours. As I found out later, creating dissimilar boxes was one of the wisest things I did, for in the dimness of the room where I organized the activity I would not have been able to distinguish one flavour from another if not for the colours of boxes. Also, I am glad that I made the boxes well in advance, because - just as I feared - they smelled of glue for more than a week.

Further on, even after the unpleasant smell was gone, I encountered yet another obstacle. I had decided on the six flavours that I would use: cinnamon, cardamon, vanilla, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Sadly, considering that their wonderful fragrance reminds me of Christmas the most, clementines and their skins have absolutely no flavour themselves, despite the strong aroma filling the room when peeling. The problem, however, arose after I had also sewn seven white tiny bags - I poured the powders and put the cloves and cinnamon sticks in these bags and boxes, and the smell did not seem strong enough. Again - because I prepared everything in advance - I was able to keep the fragrant bags in the boxes for two whole weeks, making even empty boxes smell like their corresponding flavours, which only verifies the importance of doing everything early.

A week before the ball I scheduled another meeting with Anita, who had so much on her shoulders that she accidentally arranged two meetings at the exact same time. Although we did not have much time to talk, the main concern of the day was to find a duchess's dress that fit me and a wig. I got to see the costume warehouse at Jelgava Palace, which was very exciting, even if I did not try on more than one dress for the reason that all of them seemed way too large for me except for the one that luckily fit me like a glove. I cannot say that I feel comfortable in dresses so pompous that it is difficult to move, and would have preferred cap and bells if only they had such a costume; of course, at the same time I understand that a long, sparkly gown fit better for the particular occasion. In fact, the wig, typical to 18th century, jewelry and makeup made me look perfectly in-character for a duchess, regardless how ironic it felt after having just finished reading G.B.Shaw's Pygmalion. 

On December 14, the day of the ball, I got to see the small (~1m x 3m) room I was supposed to work in for the first time. If the activity I had planned really did not require more space than that, the two doors that lead to offices was a problem for they had to be hidden with the partly transparent pieces of white cloth I was given. To be honest, seeing the room and the limited amount of decorations I could get, I did not consider myself able to make it look good. Although the dark red velvet cloth I used to cover the table made it look quite fancy, this time my key to success turned out to be Christmas lights and a candle in a decorated vase, for them being the only source of light,  besides that coming from the hallway, the atmosphere in the room was romantic and completely appropriate for the fragrant game I had planned.

Even with everything prepared and looking good, possibly I still had a problem remaining - as I myself knew all the flavours and could not objectively try identifying them, I did not know whether or not it was possible at all. Of course, I was sure that some people would be able to find the two boxes with identical flavours (the target flavour X was that of cloves, by the way, commonly recognized and associated with Christmas), but I feared that a lot of people would not find the correct boxes and as a result would not be allowed to participate in the lottery because of me. I even pondered whether I should give the stamp to everyone who even tried, although I was well aware that it take the fun out of the game and discourage people from really smelling the boxes. Fortunately for me, with the room being so small I did not have to worry about seven people storming onto me all at once...

-----

I got to the Palace at 9 pm - an hour after the polonaise and half an hour before the activities were scheduled to start. Apparently some people were already tired of dancing, preferring to walk around the Palace and on their way most likely spotting the poster "Pils Hercoga virtuves Ziemassvētku smaržu laboratorija" [Christmas Flavour Laboratory from the Duke's Kitchen] along with the description I had written on the door of my room. Thus, as soon as I got to my room to turn on the Christmas lights and arrange the boxes neatly on the table people showed interest. Because of that I opened the door and started the game fifteen minutes earlier than I was supposed to, and almost in a minutes time people were already queuing in the hallway.

I was amazed about the guests' eagerness to try out this new activity and undeniably delighted! Incapable of imagining such a success, I had brought a chair for myself so that I could sit while waiting; in reality, however, I did not sit down at all, for the queue seemed not to shorten until the midnight. And even after that I had just a few minutes respite before people were coming again: although I had to work only until 30 minutes past midnight, I finished at 1 am, since of course I could not send people away. Much to my surprise, all my worries about people's inability to find the equally smelling boxes were completely unfounded! I had clearly underestimating their sense of smell, for out of all pairs, individuals and groups of people only two did not get the stamp. Yes, many people made mistakes on their first try, but considering that one of the first guests trying my game did not accept defeat and continued smelling and comparing flavours after that one failure, I establish a rule that symbolically allowed three guesses.

Watching people try to sense the smells, name them and find the pair of the flavour unknown to them was fun, and some of the reactions after inhaling one or another particular smell were truly priceless! Also, slightly different techniques were used to identify the smells, each more interesting than the other, and I as an observant could try and parallel their behaviour with their relationship and personalities. In some pairs either the lady or the gentleman opened every box, smelled the flavour and passed it to their partners, all the time discussing what they sensed and cooperating. Others started each from one end of the line of boxes, did everything individually, came to separate conclusions and sometimes gave answers without as much as consulting the other person. Some did everything rather randomly, creating chaos and in the end not being able to put the lids on the respectively coloured boxes due to the dimness of the room.

Further, while some people where simply trying to find the boxes with identical flavours, others were trying to recognize and name all of them, which - as was evident - helped them to remember smells of particular boxes. One lady really stood out as she named almost all the flavours in a minutes time and found the two containing bags of cloves with an admirable confidence and entirely without the help of her husband. Still, many people named some of the flavours wrongly but did it with such certainty that I did not correct them after they finished the task. Most commonly cardamon and ginger were mistaken for anise (I must have mislead people by naming it on the poster that everyone read while waiting in line) or even for pepper, often causing people to wince. Some named lemons, one lady - tarragon, a man referred to nutmeg as to "the flavour of gingerbread", and many people confused cinnamon with cloves and sometimes with vanilla as well. While many flinched after smelling ginger and some even told their partners not to smell that one, others were so enticed by the smell to considered buying ginger. To talk about unpleasant smells, I so splendidly remember one man making a wry face after inhaling the wonderfully sweet flavour of vanilla! I could hardly hide my astonishment!

In addition to taking photos with my boxes in front of the decorations, people, way too many for it to be a coincidence, asked for coffee beans, apparently wishing to freshen their sense of smell, perhaps by smelling something entirely different, yet familiar. After 11 pm, however, more and more people did not bother to ask for anything, blaming their mistakes on wine. Towards the end some even sang to me while their partners attempted to find the two identical boxes, while one man was tipsy enough to come and smell the boxes for the second time, now without his wife. As funny as it was, he did not even smell the bags containing the aromatic substances, just the lids of the boxes. Still, I was calm, tolerated him and answer his questions. 

Despite of all the fun I had, one lady was so audacious as to skip the line and come asking for the stamp. She argued when I explained that giving her a stamp without succeeding at the task (not to mention that she did not even want to try) would be extremely unfair to those people who tried hard but could not find the two necessary boxes. I am glad I managed to stand my ground and not surrender to her attempts to intimidate me. After midnight when the line was considerably shorter she returned again and earned the stamp fair and square. 

The next day I returned to the Palace to take off the decorations, so that the people who worked there could get into their offices. Much to my delight Anita informed me about positive reviews she had received about me and my "Christmas flavour laboratory".

Here are some of the photos from both - the long preparation process and the ball itself:

sewing the tiny bags

close-up of the first finished bag and a box

five out of seven boxes and bags, ready for stuffing

aromatic Christmas substances' parade
from the left: cinnamon sticks, ground nutmeg, ginger, cardamon, nutmeg, ground cinnamon, vanilla sugar, cloves

a bag stuffed with cloves in front of its green box

me in the costume warehouse trying on my dress

the poster I made, embellishing the door of the room where my activity took place

the decorated room right before the start

selfie, an example of narcissism
or me after four hours of working having nobody to take a decent picture

Christmas ball program with my extravagant stamp

guests queuing in the hallway to smell some Christmas flavours
(this photo is taken from www.llu.lv)

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

My reflections

Early in November, after finding out about Christmas ball at Jelgava Palace, I got an idea that occupied most of my free time for more than a month. Wishing to be a part of this grandiose event and add something of my own, I thought of organizing a separate entertainment, an activity within the ball: Christmas Flavour Laboratory from the Duke's Kitchen, where the guests would be given seven boxes containing six different flavours and they would have to detect the two identical boxes using only their sense of smell. Considering my successful cooperation with the ball's main organizer in August at LLU 150 year anniversary concert, I went to her with my proposal, presented her my idea, either persuaded or intrigued her enough to get the idea accepted. 

Thus, I sketched a plan including most of the things I had to do before the ball on December 14 and began to prepare. Over the month I made seven boxes out of glittering paper, sewed seven tiny bags, chose six flavours that are commonly associated with Christmas, wrote an imaginative description of the activity I had planned and made posters to put on the door. Anita, the organizer of the ball, let me work almost entirely on my own, and the trust she put in me made this independence tough to bear at times, for I feared to let her down. 

During one of the few meetings we had arranged over the month, I presented Anita some of the additional ideas I had got while preparing for the ball, such as encouraging guests to try out all of the organized entertainments by connecting the separate activities. Since she was pleased with the idea, we agreed on ordering stamps that the guests were to collect in order to participate in the annual lottery, held half an hour after midnight. Finishing the process of preparation and dealing with some obstacles, I got an extravagant duchess's dress and wig, and decorated the small antechamber I was to work in, which turned out to be a rather difficult task since I had to cover two doors leading further to offices, being provided extremely limited resources. 

My main worry - that only a very small portion of people would be able to distinguish the smells of six flavours (cloves, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon and cardamon) and find the identical ones - were completely unfounded! Given three guesses, only two people out of the five hundred that visited my chamber did not get to the correct answer and left without receiving the unique stamp on their program. In addition to a lot of fun moments and interesting observations that are described in more detail on my blog (link above), I encountered a few difficulties, the least significant of which was standing up for four consecutive hours, compensated by indescribable joy from the fact that the queue to my activity never shortened. A bigger challenge to me was dealing with a woman who skipped the line only to beg for the stamp without even giving the activity a try. Despite feeling slightly hurt, I tolerantly explained her that it would not be fair to the people that tried hard to earn the stamp but did not succeed. I am glad I managed to stand my ground, and although she went away dissatisfied at first, she returned later and earned the stamp fair and square. 

Overall, I had loads of fun doing this activity and enjoyed communicating with people as much as receiving positive reviews from them and seeing smiles on their faces after they selected the two boxes correctly. This project made me more aware of my ability to manage my time, work according to a plan I made for myself and actually make my idea come to life. Although I had been in the role of a leader and an organizer before, it was never at such a grand event, attended by 700 people in total. Taking the risk and dealing with the enormous responsibility not to destroy other people's trust in me was a great challenge, and I have no regrets. It was a remarkable experience, and I am truly thrilled that Anita would like turn my idea into a tradition.