[Ansteorra] Why aren't we doing this?

Wed Nov 3 19:10:13 PDT 2010

Then let us have computers at events and call them magic boxes.
If we do not strive to re-enact/re-create then what are we doing?

Devin
(who thinks his point was lost)

________________________________
From: HerrDetlef <herrdetlef at gmail.com>
To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wed, November 3, 2010 8:26:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Why aren't we doing this?

Years ago, someone asked me what we do in the SCA. I wish I had had a mike
and camera on me when I answered, "We create a pre-modern European society
in our own time and our own backyards."

The key word here is CREATE. We do not re-create something that's already
happened in the past; we research the past and make it our present. The fact
that we call our game the Society for CREATIVE Anachronism and not the
Society for RECREATIVE Anachronism says a lot to me.

So my half-timbered thatched cottage is actually a nylon tent. So I get to
events driving a pick-up truck and not pulling my stuff behind me on a
two-wheeled cart. I also keep up with my twenty-first-century medications
that make breathing and eating easier. While I'm doing that, I'm living in
the Current Middle Ages, awestruck by the heraldic displays and
painstakingly crafted costumes while I bow my head to passing kings and
queens, barons and baronesses. We cannot do EVERYTHING "as it was done back
then," but we can create an environment in which the Middle Ages are still
going on in the twenty-first century.

It's fun to make every effort at authenticity when we want to; it would be
torture to make every effort at authenticity when we have to. We don't live
in the actual Middle Ages (and whose Middle Ages would those be, anyway? It
would be historically impossible for me to know someone like Master Robin of
Gilwell, for example, whom I would have to live to be at least 400 to
know!). The best we can do is the CURRENT Middle Ages, where people whose
personae hail from different centuries and different countries walk around
on the same site. Perfection is an elusive goal: fun to strive for at will,
but misery to live up to under compunction.

Maybe instead of saying we create a pre-modern European society in our own
time and our own place, I could just as easily say we dress up in medieval
costumes and hit each other over the head with sticks.

Gettin' drowsy here. I think it's time for me to read myself to sleep and
call it a night.

Detlef v M

On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 7:41 PM, David Brown <lddevin03 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I have always thought that the SCA was part of the Living History thing. In
> that
> case we are doing more than creating the history of the Society, we are
> re-creating a period in time. While not everyone can be as period as they
> want
> (money, time, resources) we can strive to hide a coke can or a cooler.
>
> Devin
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Traci <traci at crimsonvision.net>
> To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Sent: Tue, November 2, 2010 8:23:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Why aren't we doing this?
>
>  Hrm... I'm pretty sure that most weddings today have photos taken during
> the
> entire ceremony.  I know that we had *two* photographers (only counting the
> ones we hired & not the friends who brought cameras) taking pics the whole
> time to be sure to get different angles of the very important moments of
> the
> service.  Our wedding anniversary is actually next week & I have greatly
> been enjoying looking back at those moments.
>
> I do agree though that it should be up to the Peer if they want photos but
> ultimately Their Majesties of course.
>
> One more thing as it has been noted several times during this
> conversaition;
> the SCA is not triyng to recreate history perfectly.  We are *creating our
> own history.*  Not reenactments.
> Elizabeta
>
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 8:07 PM, HerrDetlef <herrdetlef at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > My two widow's mites:
> >
> > Taking pictures during a court ceremony is roughly akin to taking
> pictures
> > during a wedding or other church service. Neither should be considered
> > acceptable, considering the solemnity of the moment. Wedding pictures are
> > normally taken before or after the service, and peerage pictures could
> also
> > be taken before or after the peerage ceremony (or investiture, or what
> have
> > you).
> >
> > I would like to note that, when Her Majesty the Queen of Great
> > Britain's coronation was televised in 1953 (the first and, so far, only
> > coronation ceremony to be televised), the cameras did not capture the
> > moment
> > of the monarch's anointing, which is the most sacred moment of the
> > coronation service. I don't know if I'm a dinosaur for thinking a little
> > respect for the most profound moments in our lives is appropriate, but
> > there
> > you go. Cameras, even in the twenty-first century, can be pretty
> invasive,
> > and I think they're best left to an off-site (not off the event site, but
> > off the court site) photo-op. I'm keeping in mind the wedding portraits
> > that
> > were taken of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their wedding party in
> > 1981, and of the coronation portraits that have been made of Kings and
> > Queens at least as far back as Queen Elizabeth I. Such portraits do not
> > show
> > the actual MOMENT of crowning, or of the marriage ceremony, but they do
> > provide a treasured memento of the occasion at hand.
> >
> > I'm currently reading James Pope-Hennessy's biography of Queen Mary, and
> > her
> > coronation portrait on the frontispeace is most spectacular. She stands
> in
> > her coronation robes and Garter regalia, wearing the thistles-and-roses
> > diamond tiara while her actual crown sits on a drape-covered table at her
> > side. Her Brittanic Majesty's coronation portrait in front of a backdrop
> of
> > King Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey is also quite
> > impressive--again, not showing the exact MOMENT, but definitely recalling
> > the event.
> >
> > ON THE OTHER HAND, if the peer/investee in question wishes the ceremony
> to
> > be photographed, who am I to say it can't be done?
> >
> > Detlef von Marburg
> >
> > On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 7:19 PM, Bill Toscano <liamstliam at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Is Hell well-lit?
> > >
> > > And will it be when it's frozen over?
> > >
> > > On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 7:12 PM, Cynthia Whitford
> > > <simonevalery at comcast.net>wrote:
> > >
> > > > But if people are using flash photography to get pictures of me
> getting
> > > my
> > > >> Laurel (suuuuuuuure, Liam), it's damaging the moment for a lot of
> > other
> > > >> people.
> > > >>
> > > >
> > > > so - when getting your Laurel, be sure it happens in a daytime court
> so
> > > we
> > > > can all take good pictures!
> > > >
> > > > regards,
> > > > Simone :-)
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
> > and what does the LORD require of you
> > but to do justice, and to love kindness,
> > and to walk humbly with your God?
> > --Micah 6:8
> >  _______________________________________________
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-- 
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
--Micah 6:8
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