[Ansteorra] Authenticity in the SCA

Sat Apr 20 12:05:45 PDT 2002

I just caught up on reading all of the posts about authenticity, and such
and I have a few comments to add to the mix. These thoughts are in a rather
random order, because I thought of different things as I read different
posts.

I wrote down a persona story many years ago as a way to explain to myself
the relationships I had with the people I am closest to in the SCA. It
helped in determining how my persona would act around these people. My story
has changed somewhat over the years. A baroness must have a slightly
different background than a young girl with no title. I needed to explain to
my own satisfaction my facination with herbs, my interest in travel, my
level of learning, etc. These are my personal reasons for doing this
exercise, but they might be helpful to others as well.

In addition, on the way to an event, I try to think about the event as a
medieval person would. Why am I going there? How am I getting  there?
(horse, wagon, etc.)What have I been doing for the last week that could be
described medievally? It gets me in the mood for the event and gives me
something to talk about.

Sometimes, when I try to express the above to someone, I get blank looks.
For example, I had been ill. When a person asked me how I was feeling, I
replied, "The physician bled me last week, and I am feeling much better." I
got a strange look. Oh, well.

On the other hand, the people in the SCA are our "real" friends. When we see
them it is natural to want to share our weekday lives with them. The
relationships would be playacting if we never drifted into the 20th century.
These conversations are necessary. I try not to let these conversations
intrude on other people's experiences. (I do forget at times, but I try not
to.) Conversations can be held quietly, or away from the list field or other
activities where the ambience is otherwise medieval.

Many, many people have described moments when they had a truly "medieval
moment." For that moment, the time between then and now was erased, and the
person felt that they existed in a different time and place. For many
people, these moments have almost a sacred quality to them, they are
discussed in awe, or in poetry. I don't know when someone else may have one
of these moments. Therefore, I don't want to be the person holding a coke
can with an uncovered ice chest, with my minivan parked right behind my
pavillion that makes those moments less likely to happen. One reason so many
of these moments happen at night is that many obvious mundanities are
covered by the darkness.

Sometimes the very structure of our organization leads to authentic(ish)
medieval experiences. I have heard people complaining that the border groups
don't do things the way that people do in other parts of the kingdom. (Seems
that I have heard reference to similar complaints about the Marcher Lords of
the Welsh border.) Sometimes people complain that being good at swinging a
stick does not make a person a good monarch. Neither does being born the
eldest son of the right family. Our solutions are of necessity the same as
those of feudal societies. Grin and bear it and/or work around it until the
next reign. At least we don't have to wait a lifetime, but then, that gives
us less reason to seriously consider assassination.

We can never hope to be truly authentic as an organization. We cover too
long a period and too large a territory. By our nature, my Norman English
persona is going to run into my ancestors and my enemies and people I never
even heard, of at every event. Yet these people may be my king, my baron, my
teacher, my pupil, my best friend, etc. I also live simultaniously in
England and Ansteorra. These two places have different kings, different
laws, different lots of things.

This does not mean that I personally can't study and do research and play as
authentically as I want to. It does mean that I will have to ignore jarring
inconsistencies even if everyone was playing at the same level of
authenticity (or lack of it. as the case may be). Since this need to be able
to overlook differences in period and country is inherent, surely we can
overlook inconsistencies in the way we play the game. The game is enriched
in some way by most of the people who play, and I have found that I can
learn things from most of them as well. Be tolerant my friends, there is
room in this world for all of us.

In service to Ansteorra,
Philippa Rookhaven
Baroness of the Court of Ansteorra
Lion of Ansteorra

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Flickinger" <brotherkris at hotmail.com>
To: <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 9:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Authenticity in the SCA

> [ Converted text/html to text/plain ]
>
> Whether we are sitting at the camp's fire light telling the no stuff tales
or
> reading the Laurel candidates' documentation;  discovering propane tank
helms
> or rediscovering mead recipes from a 1092 A.D.  monks' diary; debating
fund
> raising ideas to increase coffer tallies or holding Marshals' Courts to
ratify
> new weapon standards or playing with Tuchoks and loving authenticy police.
We
> are an educational organization.  Literally and figurativelly.
>
> We come back  for the Dream.
>
> Brother Kris
> >From: Susan
> >Reply-To: ansteorra at ansteorra.org
> >To: ansteorra at ansteorra.org
> >Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Authenticity in the SCA
> >Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 17:39:53 -0500
> >
> >At 01:52 PM 4/19/2002 -0700, you wrote:
> >>the real reason why so many people are drawn to the
> >>SCA is the diveristy of personalities. the Reason why
> >>they say is the SCA has long practiced an acceptance
> >>level Far above that of the main stream. lets not muck
> >>with that and become small groups of 10.
> >>
> >>Sir Samuel
> >
> >I have been reading this thread and this hits so well why this group
> >has
> >lasted for as long as it has and has the range and diversity that it
> >does. I love that we can embrace the desire to be involved and the
> >finding
> >of each person's niche in the whole, giving support for all the
> >different
> >aspects of who and what the SCA is.
> >
> >
> >Susan the Curious
> >Susan-the-Curious at swbell.net
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Ansteorra mailing list
> >Ansteorra at ansteorra.org
> >http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/ansteorra
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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