[Sca-cooks] Re: Royal whims

[Michael Gunter]

>I'm going to scream, but not at anyone present, unless said crown
>happens to be on the list;

Well, I'm not that Crown. But in my whims I did declare
coffee as not only period but necessary if anyone wanted
to talk to me before 9:00 am. (And let's not get into
the whole "but coffee can be period" argument again.)

>WTF does anyone do things like declare
>chocolate or pepsi period?

I believe it's usually done in a harmless bit of fun.
And the fact that some Crowns don't care that much
for total authenticity. Sometimes they know that
people enjoy giving them gifts (especially chocolate)
and make it easier on others. As long a a presentation
isn't done too big or the Crown discretely drinks their
Pepsi in period containers I don't think it's too much
of a problem.

>It is the same as if, the king being a Linux
>fanatic, he declaired that computers running Linux were period. Or
>Teva sandals, sunglasses or Goth music. It's not period, and
>can not be make period by any means short of time-travel and
>messing with history.
></rant>

You are correct here. And too often people use the "Creative"
aspect a bit too far. I'm sure you have noticed that the
SCA is not the most authentic group out there. ;-)
But you should take heart in the fact that for the most part
the SCA is slowly working on that aspect. Pennsic is
not period by any means. But I noticed that there are almost
as many period pavillions as nylon tents. A lot of the
armor on the field was gorgeous. (Remember freon cans and
carpet padding?) People were walking around looking like
they stepped out of woodcuts. There were many merchants selling
very nice reproduction crafts and I see a definate trend to
go that way. Look at the number of tournament companies that
kingdoms are creating.

It's still a long way from September 4, 1401 (which is my personna)
but it's getting better and we still have that "feel" that
brought us in this group in the first place.

>Or redefining "period" to "what we do in the SCA", which
>makes the SCA pretty much null and void, IMNSHO.

Not at all. The SCA was never meant to be an excuse for a
historical recreation group. If we went by the original
theme there would be hobbits, wizards, Riders of Rohan,
and pretty much any fantasy being running around. And by
extending the scope to include any type of personna that
a medieval person could POSSIBLY have met, it will never
be as properly historical as many of us would want. Along
with the aspect of the huge time differences allowed.

So, I don't cringe too badly at "South Downs Ale" (as long
as the cans aren't displayed, or coffee or chocolate. They
are part of our SCA culture as well as our mundane culture.
I balked at the "Chocolate Revel and A&S" that my lady told
me about. But I would probably enter it because I have a
great chocolate recipe I'd like to show off to my SCA friends.

Side note: When I was Crown, Valentine's Day approached. I
jokingly told my Queen I would get her Flowers and Chocolate
for it. She blanced and exclaimed, "For the love of God, please
no!" We had so much bloody chocolate and so many flowers
in our house by that time that we could be a dating shop.

One step at a time, dear friends, one step at at time.

>/UlfR

Yers,

Gunthar

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp