[Ansteorra] History

[Rose & Chad]

I've been in the SCA since I was very little, and I've seen alot of what other people have talked about seeing... And I still see most of it.
   
  My hubby just a spent a very large amount of money to buy a new helmet because his new one was what his person would have worn and his old one was just a standard helmet. He loves to entertain with fighting, as do all of the fighters I know. They're usually the first ones that jump at a demo and their fighting seems to be one of the biggest new people draw, even if they end up at the A&S tent afterwards. (What are those guys doing down there at that end of the park? Are they... fighting? Huh? Let's go see the crazy people...)
   
  Art or sport? I'd say that's both a personal opinion and a persona opinion. Some times and places would have seen fighting as a way of life, with no fuss or muss. Some times and places would have seen fighters that were also expected to be gentlemen and nobility. It's no surprise that people with different personas view our fighting with different lights.
   
  Lords and ladies are still polite to one another. My friend Amanda attended her first event this last weekend. One of the things she commented on was that everyone was so polite and willing to answer questions. We got a very informative lecture from a woman who spent a good part of the day making thread on her spinning wheel, spoke to a merchant about wooden dishes, talked to someone else about the history and meaning of Beltane. (All I could remember was it had something to do with running frogs, lol.) These people took time from thier day and activities to share information and time with us, and were happy to do so. She said that people opened doors for her and directed her where she needed to go, even though she'd never met them before in her life. This was something I took for granted, that she found refreshing and wonderful.
   
  Every event I've been to lately has had evening activities. Beltane had a wonderful bardic circle that kept my friend Amanda (her first event) entranced for quite a time. She couldn't believe that people had really written all of this awesome music and that people that talented were here, instead of on a record label somewhere. Baronial had a hafla that was strung with lights, laid with carpets, circled by drummer, and filled with dancers, who all very much believe that what they do it art. Even the yearly Medieval Fair demo in Namron has an evening SCA revel. At Beltane, at five p.m. the arts and sciences were still being judged, and we were practicing spang hewing before that competition began. At other events, five to six is when people are changing or showering and getting ready for feast, tavern, or court or some combination thereof.
   
  And I haven't been to an event yet that didn't have some type of bardic-drumming-having-fun-as-a-group after the official activities were over. Once again, Amanda, my newbie, loved this part of the event. She thought we would be one big LARP group and instead she found a group of very laidback people who were having fun AS thier personas instead of a) being LARPy all the time or b) changing out of our personas to hang out.
   
  This does require some persona relaxation. My sixteenth century persona would not have hung out with a Norman from the five hundred years before- it would have been impossible. But neither could we have enjoyed the drumming and middle eastern dancing because they weren't in either of our times and places. So the persona play is not perfect, but it is there in the amounts that we enjoy it. The times that it's unenjoyable, we don't do it, like during the long drives and while I'm unpacking.
   
  Beltane was, I think, kind of an eye opening event for me because I had a new person with me. I kind of got to see the SCA from an entirely different point of view, and it was a beautiful thing. Instead of seeing some of the things that irk the hell out of me, like SCA time versus real time, she saw all of the awesome fun things that we attend for. She saw a group of people enjoying the medieval times together, not small groups of people that are separated by different views of what the SCA 'should be'.
   
  I think you get out of the SCA what you put into it. If you want things to happen, you should find like-minded people and work, as a group, to make things happen. That's how the SCA came about and how it stays about. So if people are interested enough in a Culture Camp, then they'll take the time and effort to create one. If they're not interested, it won't happen. If people are interested in Sunday activities, then they will push to book sites that allow them to stay very late on Sunday and have those activites. If they're not, it won't happen. Either was you'll find people who are excited about it and people who are still going home to a hot shower on Sunday morning, like me.
   
  If people spent as much time and effort making things happen as they do talking about the things that they would like to happen, then we'd probably quit seeing this recurring thread of what we used to do versus what we do now. If you miss something, bring it back. Talk to the autocrat of your next local event and offer to host whatever activity it is that you want to see or put in an autocrat bid yourself. Make it happen! And if you can't make it happen, then maybe it wasn't meant to be.
   
  This is, as usual, one point of view in a veritable ocean of them. :) It's not aimed at anyone or meant to offend.
   
  In service,
  Rose the Obnoxious