In this article by Kira Schiavone, gives us a first hand look at The Society for Creative Anachronism and how she spends her weekends in The Middle Ages.

June 21st, 2007

That small cut in the palm of my hand is from repairing a throwing axe over the weekend. Yes, I do realize that’s an unusual answer. I might spend my weekdays at an upscale high school or on my laptop during the summer, but my preferred occupation for weekends (or at least, Saturdays) is to enter the Middle Ages, where I become a merchant-class girl of no recognizable century or country. The cut of my dress could almost be Italian, but the gold trim and geometric designs at the waist and hemline are certainly not from any of the centuries that the Society for Creative Anachronism covers.

Most of those you find on the Fedora Chronicles are only a few decades out of their time. I’m a few centuries out of my chosen time. The Society for Creative Anachronism, or SCA, is a medieval reenactment group that goes far beyond traditional reenactment. There is no reenactment of specific battles or occasions, and no one is permitted to take on the name of anyone in that era who was famous in literature. Instead, the goal is to create someone who might have been. One picks a time, pre-17th century, and a country, and literally creates a persona from that era. Some personas are as simple as a name, while others can go on about the various battles they fought in during the Crusades or the sort of hawks they prefer to use while hawking. The entire time period covered is referred to simply as “period.” I don’t have a persona yet. I only have one period outfit, known as “garb,” the above-mentioned dress. Fortunately, I have yet to run into any of the authenticity lunatics who will lecture you about things as trivial as having a belt from one culture and a tunic from another. I’d probably get a scathing lecture if I did run into one of them, considering that most of the trim on my dress isn’t even in Middle Ages style! (Just for the record, most of the members of the SCA consider the authenticity lunatics to be just that- lunatics.)

Events are held all over the country. What one does at these events varies- I amused myself at the most recent one via throwing sharp pointy things at targets, which is how I came to cut my hand. A throwing axe is made so that the axe head will part company with the handle under stress rather than break, especially since I was using the lightest axes available. (Axes are easier to stick than knives, which are in turn easier than spears, which are easier than spikes. Throwing stars and the other special toys don’t come into play until you can stick everything else reliably.) When this happens, one slides the axe head back on to the handle and, holding it by the axe head, bangs it against the side of the target. Those are live axes, though, so if you’re not careful with how you hold the blade… you get a minor cut hand. I have also taken part in watching the fencing and heavy fighting, both interesting things. The dancing in the evenings is my favorite part of any event: you get to dance with as many people as there are dances, as it would be rude not to switch partners at the end of every dance. This dancing is very different from modern dancing in that it’s set-steps to music. The dances can be with partners or involve giant circles holding hands and circling the perimeter of the dance floor.

Most of these events are camping events, although I typically go just for the day, as my parents won’t camp. They begin on Friday night and end on Sunday morning. People use modern tents to start with, but many of the longtime members use period pavilions. Middling members tend towards a modern tent with a period covering. (I will tell you, it looks very odd sometimes to be wandering through all this medievalism and then abruptly come across a big modern tent in a campsite.) Torchlight tournaments on Friday evening for the camping people are popular.

So that’s my overview. I promise I’ll write more about the more specific aspects I get involved in, but for the moment… I’ve now been an FC columnist more than two years
 

Kira Schiavone is a high school student who's working on becoming a professional writer, and enjoys reading and writing rants for the Fedora Chronicles.

Read Kira's Previous Articles... Your thoughts? Visit us on our Forum...