Any renaissance people here?

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Frodo

Walk with God, You will never be lost
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right here right now maybe later over there
I have been commissioned to make 10 leather water/wine bags
here are 2 of them, These are not completed yet. i have to dip them in bees wax and coat the inside to water proof

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You do nice work, Frodo. I can attest. I don't know any Renaissance people, but I did have a friend who was a Buck Skinner, and they are probably just as zealous about being authentic.
 
I did ren faire before I met K. Ren faire folk are more like actors making things look good on the stage side and hiding all the tech and modern junk behind the tents.

Sounds like this guy is SCA. They are "historical reenactors". They will sleep on a rope bed with a straw mattress at events where as faire folk will sleep at a hotel or in a camper near the event.

Faire folk will strip out of their garb as soon as the last mundane leaves while SCA people will live in their garb the entire event.

I made garb for SCA people but I was a faire brat working for vendors and running with the guilds. I even camped with the clans when my own guild wasn't at an event.
 
What's SCA?

Its a 50 year old re-enactment world wide re-enactment society, that roughly re-creates the time period between 1000 and 1600 'as it should have been'

Which is kind of hard to explain. Its very open in that some people play it like a ren-faire, and other people take it very seriously and many things inbetween.

I did it for about 10 years, its where I met my wife. It WAS my life for many years.

The most distinctive thing it does is full contact, full force armored combat, using practice weapons (but with the same weight as the real thing) against real, full weight armor, in battles with up to a thousand people. (but usually dozens to hundreds)

It a combination cult, martial art, craft fair and drunken party. The biggest difference between it and a refaire is that not a performance, its not for other people, other people usually aren't even allowed in, its to LIVE in a certain way, by certain standards that are different from the modern world.

In the time I did it, I broke three bones....all of them on other people.

 
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Another way to put it is that in the mid sixties, a bunch of people had just read lord of the rings, watched Conan the barbarian and said.....'How can we make the best aspects of that kind of world REAL, how can we create a world with Lords, Ladies, Kings, Princes, etc, with strict codes of honor, ranks, rules of fealty, etc, where when you fight another man, you do it with all your force, speed and violence, but also by a strict code where its okay to get your arm broken, but not okay to dishonor yourself, a world where you bow to your superiors, knowing they earned their place and you could too.

I the problem I ran into, is that I outgrew it.....what I did at home, become more real than what they did on the weekends and the vast amount of time and money it takes to do the SCA, I turned towards what I was doing:

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Ok, so I looked up SCA, and it sparked a memory from years ago. There was a Ren Fair organization that had territories and one of them was something like, "The Kingdom of Le Grande Tent". The "Grande Tent" was the UNI-Dome, which is the stadium of the University of Northern Iowa, where I went to school for a while. I didn't see that on the SCA website. I suppose it could have been a different organization, or the SCA could have reorganized things since then...
 
Ok, so I looked up SCA, and it sparked a memory from years ago. There was a Ren Fair organization that had territories and one of them was something like, "The Kingdom of Le Grande Tent". The "Grande Tent" was the UNI-Dome, which is the stadium of the University of Northern Iowa, where I went to school for a while. I didn't see that on the SCA website. I suppose it could have been a different organization, or the SCA could have reorganized things since then...


Sounds like a renfaire type thing. Iowa is in Calontir in the SCA, which comprises, Kansas, Missouri, most of Iowa, Nebraska, Northern Arkansas.
 
I'm letting be prejudices show...

I'm just using it as a generic term. There are ALOT of groups that do pseudo medieval stuff that aren't associated with the SCA.

I'm just saying, its not SCA, 'Kingdom' is a very specific 'legal' term in the SCA that would never be used that way.
 
I'm letting be prejudices show...

I'm just using it as a generic term. There are ALOT of groups that do pseudo medieval stuff that aren't associated with the SCA.

I'm just saying, its not SCA, 'Kingdom' is a very specific 'legal' term in the SCA that would never be used that way.
The Princess was in the SCA when I met her. She asked me to teach her how to play since that part of the requirements. She made merchants garb for me and ninja for my son. There is large SCA event about an hour north of us every year.

I told her we should get a winabago and turn it into a castlebago and tow a trailer with a backhoe with fiberglass coverings so it would look a dragon with a saddle.

Oh for the sillier days.

Ben
 
One of the cool things about pennisic, is that its a chance to live in another reality for more than a week. I think we where there for ten days.

It was actually jarring when we left and suddenly where back in the 'real' world. Modern clothes felt strange and wrong
 
This reminds me of "There will be Dragons" By John Ringo.
 
I have no idea what these people do nor do I really care. As long as the money is green. I am cool as a icecream sammich
LOL...
You need to get a booth at a Ren Faire and sell your wares. You would be super busy! I work for a company out of MN that only does Ren Faires and Celtic Shows with jewelry. It is so fun, you forget you are working.
some “live” for the period. Others do it for fun. You have your”rennies” who travel to each faire and thats all they do. Others are just locals. I met a lady who participated in 3 shows a year. She worked in the corporate world, was divorced and probably in her 40s at the time. Her daughter talked her into early retirement, selling everything, buying a camper and hitting the road to do shows. And she did! She retired at 72. she would work Sat and Sun, paperwork Mon and getting prepared on Fri. Most other days she would golf. She then asked if I wanted to replace her. Sure. But couldnt commit to all her other shows, so Isaid I would do my local show, have done it for 6 yrs now. If the company asks me to do some Celtic shows within 4 hrs Iwill.
everyone should experience the Ren Faire at least once in your life and you HAVE to go with fun people,
 
OFF TOPIC!!! Skip if you want.

I have fought and fought the urge, now I surrender to it :). What I think of of when I hear renaissance:

Robert A. Heinlein :
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

Back to my corner, my apologies.
 
OFF TOPIC!!! Skip if you want.

I have fought and fought the urge, now I surrender to it :). What I think of of when I hear renaissance:

Robert A. Heinlein :
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

Back to my corner, my apologies.

This is actually EXTREMELY on topic for the SCA.

To be a Knight in the SCA you must embody a whole set of virtues


Chastity
Courage
Faith
Franchise
Honesty
Humility
Largesse
Loyalty
Noblesse,
Prowess
Prudence
Strength
Reason
Compassion
Courtesy
Fortitude
Honor

I have heard it say that to be a knight you must be able to dance with a Lady, play a good game of chess, forge a blade, write a poem, paint a picture, cook a feast, teach a class..

In addition to the obvious of kicking massive amounts of butt on the field.
 
I was never Knighted myself. I was a Squire but my Knight died suddenly of a heart attack and then I kind of fell out of the SCA as I got involved with EMS and building my house.

I did attend a few Knighting's and well, they where pretty awesome. I did completely forget that none of this was 'real'. Or perhaps it is the only thing that is real. Hard to say really.

But if you ever meet a Knight of the SCA in the wild, know that they are an exceptional person.
 

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