ANST - Sumptuary Laws Elsewhere

[MofLGM at aol.com]

In a message dated 20/10/98 7:05:43 PM, Gunthar wrote:

<<The only real flak I could see someone running into would be by a squire or
apprentice
who had worked very hard to gain the belt and to feel a bit insulted by
someone wearing
a symbol they had worked hard to achieve. 

As for someone wearing a proscribed item as part of a costume, they could be
warned that
some would have trouble with them wearing such a symbol but as long as they
were not
making an attempt to fool people there shouldn't be a problem. 
>>

Thanks Gunthar for being a voice of calm and reason.  However, let me relate a
true story regarding the consequenses that can happen when this counsel is not
followed.

Several years ago there was a young lady who had been a paid member of the SCA
for a couple of years.  She was a hard worker and had received her AoA as a
result of her efforts.  Her local group was sponsoring a large event and she
had spent all day Saturday in the kitchen helping cook the feast for that
evening.  At one point late in the afternoon she needed to get something from
her camp so she left the hall, gathered what she needed and returned.  

While on this trip she was observed by someone who took offense at the belt
she was wearing.  The belt, as worn, was dyed black with a red stripe down the
middle.  It was a work in progress and would eventually have gold lighning
bolts on it.   As such it would be a symbol of the household to which she had
recently been invited to join.

The person who took offense at this belt approached a Knight and expressed
their displeasure at what they concluded was a farce, since this little slip
of a woman couldn't possibly posess the skills required to be a squire.  The
Knight apparently agreed with this argument and thence proceded to call the
young lady out of the kitchen and severely berate her for her transgression.
No amount of explanation by her or her friends, who came to see what was going
on, would convince the Knight that no offense was intended, that she was not
trying to portray herself as a squire and that the only reason the belt was
being worn in its unfinished state was that it was the only one she had on
site as her plain brown belt had been accidentally been left at home.  None of
this mattered to the Knight who continued his forceful reprimand for several
minutes.

After the Knight had finished his lecture he turned and left the hall.   The
young lady left the event, went home, packed her garb away in a box and quit
the SCA.  

There are those that will say that she had too thin a skin and that she should
blow the incident off.  That may work for them, but it didn't for her.  

The moral of this story is that we all need to realize that honest mistakes
happen, that in most cases the perceived slight was unintentional and that how
we deal with them can have a tremendous impact on the game that we play.

A warning to us all.

Don Malcolm of Loch Greymist
Northkeep
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