Camp Walls (was Re: ANST - Canton a "Beautiful" Site?)

[Nathan W. Jones]

Lady Mary Elizabeth made some good comments about doing our best to hide 
mundanities in camp and such, but I had to comment on one portion of her 
letter:

>Or if that is not an option get enough fabric and paint a
> castle wall to enclose your camp with.  Most people camp in groups, make 
it
> a group effort.

Personally, I hate walled encampments.  Strong words I know, but I feel 
strongly about this.

Having gone to large wars out of the kingdom such as Gulf War and Pennsic, 
I have seen many camps that build fabric walls around their encampment, or 
even more elaborate setups.  And while it can look neat and perhaps build a 
sense of community for the people of that camp, I do not wish to see such a 
trend establish itself in our kingdom.

One of the most disturbing bits of SCA culture shock that I suffer from 
every year at Pennsic is the fact that the camps are walled.  One of the 
things that I love about Ansteorra is our sense of hospitality, and I think 
that is built by and reinforced by our having open camps.  No one is a 
stranger in Ansteorra.  Rarely is anyone refused a welcome at any camp they 
may come upon.  I had to travel outside of our kingdom before I realized 
that this is not a Society wide phenomenom.  There are groups that are 
downright hostile and more territorial than I would have believed.

I realize that there are many factors that play into those differences in 
the level of hospitality from Kingdom to Kingdom. Perhaps it is the 
psychology of being a physical barrier between "us" and "them".  Perhaps it 
stems from some primitive something in the human brain that comes to the 
fore when we mark our territory.  Perhaps it is just the fact that 
households tend to play a much large part in other kingdoms than they do 
here in Ansteorra.  But I will argue that it the development of walled 
encampments lead to part of it.

I know we have many Ansteorrans who camp with walled groups when away from 
the kingdom, and I mean no insult by my comments.  I have learned well the 
mantra of "eh...it's Pennsic" and can shrug away things with the best of 
men.  However, I think it's something we do well without here at home. 
 Although I would welcome the opinion of someone who has exprience with 
walled camps and what they think of my poor theories.

Gio,
Bardic Avenger.
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