Badges and Terms

[William E. Cole]

Joel Schumacher wrote:
> Maybe some of the newcomer's guides that have been put together have
> this.  I wouldn't know.  At my first event, I was introduced to the
> hospitaler and told she would have a "newcomer" handout.  She didn't
> and after several attempts, I gave up.

Yep...me too. I DID borrow some grab though! <grin> And later, I ran
into another group of hositalers who DID have a handout they gave
me...which I still look at now and then. Later still I ran into a third
group. They forgot their loaner grab (I had my own by then anyway) and
never had a handout, but they DID have mead and shared it freely while
answering all my questions. I for one am very thankful for all of the
society's hospitalers... even the forgetful ones! <laugh>

> But back to the symbols and labels the SCA dubs on officers.  Let's say
> I'm at an event, I'm kind of new, and need medical attention.  Before
>>snip-whack-snip<<
> they've got their "badge" on!  Great!  Must be the universally known
> symbol of a red cross, right?  Well, it does have some read, but it's
> a circle.  Inside of this circle, there's a white, teardrop looking thing,
> and inside of that there's what looks like an upside-down number 2.  Yeah,
> after the red cross, that was my second guess.

Hmmm... I agree that maybe for the sake of safety the red cross SHOULD
have been used, even if it's not period. As far as the other part of
what you said... To be honest, I never knew myself what this symbol
meant although I've seen it several times. True, I wouldn't have guessed
it on my own BUT if I had asked for first-aid and wanted to know who was
a chiurgeon and someone said "look for the red tear drop symbol that has
something like an upside down 2 on it" I would know exactly what they
meant. I think the red cross would have been a better idea, but at least
there is SOMETHING to point them out. (Hmmm...wasn't the red cross
historically the sign for the military-religious order of the Templars?)

>>snip-snip<< 
 
> And, (to further illustrate), I don't know what a "hospitaler" badge looks

Hmmm...true. I haven't any idea either. I always found them by having
their camp pointed out to me. Maybe the best answer is to make a
universal "Welcome to the SCA" handout that EVERYONE can get ahold of
and give out (after all, most of the time SOMEONE brought us the first
time we came to an SCA event). Include not just a description of what
each group does (heralds, scribes, hospitaler, etc) but also a picture
of their badge. Hmmmm...for all I know, there may already BE such a
handout, but I have never seen one during the time I've been in the
society. I've seen a couple handouts but they talked about how to dress,
how to address people, etc. Good stuff, but often times lacking vital
information...at least from a newbie stand point.

(A small voice whispers something about getting involved and not just
saying "Someone should do this...") If nothing else, and if others will
help with the project, I would be glad to try to make something like
this up... something that could be downloaded from the web and printed
out, or maybe even a small website to visit and look around.

Ideas? Comment? Suggestions?

-William FitzBane