Why “Bobe Mayses”?

Our festival has a slightly unusual name. “Knights of Jerusalem” is easy enough to understand. Knights, armor, tournaments, archery, old crafts — everything is right where it should be.

But what does “Bobe Mayses” have to do with it?

In Yiddish, “bobe mayses” means grandmother’s tales: stories, legends and old yarns. Some are true, some less so. The kind of stories that get told again and again, with a little something added each time.

But the most interesting part is that the expression has a small secret of its own.

Long ago, there was a very popular Yiddish chivalric romance called “Bove-Bukh”. It had adventure, battles, love and danger — everything a good knightly tale is supposed to have. Later it was known as “Bove-Mayse,” meaning “the tale of Bove.” Over time, the familiar-sounding “Bove” turned into “bobe” — grandmother. And so a knightly romance unexpectedly became a “grandmother’s tale.”

Which means something rather funny: there is already a knight hiding inside “Bobe Mayses.”

Maybe that is one of the reasons we like the name so much.

Our festival is not trying to be a strict history textbook either. Real medieval weapons stand next to music and theater, historical crafts next to children’s games, and knightly combat next to stories, imagination and very modern adventures.

We do not promise to transport you for one day into one exact year of the 12th or 14th century.

We offer something else — for one day, to believe in a good story.

A story in which knights walk through Jerusalem again, old music is playing, children learn to shoot a bow, craftspeople light their fires, and another little legend may be waiting just around the next corner.

Is all of it true?

Well...

Bobe mayses.