What the Society for Creative Anachronism is for me

In the SCA we basically have fun with the middle ages and pursue a wide array of more or less medieval activities. Most people are involved with some sort of organized activity such as fencing, dance, archery, calligraphy, riding, music, research, and so on. However in my eyes it's more of a social venue. We have events, which basically involve people getting together, and dressing in medieval like garb. Actually playing a medieval role is optional and quite underdone in my humble opinion. We have feasts, tournaments, camping events, battles, shows, classes on many subjects, hold royal courts and balls among other things.

One of the activities which is the most visible and which I do participate in is called armoured combat, rattan combat, or heavy fighting. This involves recreating tournaments and battles. I find this to be among the most exciting activities in the society. Basically we wear functional armour and fight using weapons made out of rattan (which is a lot like bamboo but thicker and heavier). You wouldn't want to be hit over the head with a rattan weapon without a helmet, but with the armour we do wear it's fairly safe. Rattan is considerably more flexible than most types of wood, which helps. It's full contact though so we hit pretty hard. We also wear a lot of protection. Helms of steel or stainless steel around 14 or 16 gauge with foam padding on the inside for our heads. The rest of the body is not quite protected to the same level but most people wear enough armour that anywhere they get hit has at least something rigid between the blow and the body part.

When someone hits one of us with what we feel is a telling blow, we consider ourselves defeated and tell out opponent normally with a quick shout "good" or "dead" or "good head" for a good head shot. It's the person receiving the blow's decision as to whether he's dead. This allows the individual fighter to have some control over how hard people hit him. If you call them fairly light people will tend to hit you lighter. If you want them to hit you harder you just shout "light" when they land their blow instead of "good" and they'll generally hit you harder next time they get a chance.

There are guidelines to the blow calibration however. Each region has its standards and it's best when individual fighters in that region hover around the same standard. The official line, as far as I know, as to how hard you should be taking blows is: "If the weapon was real and you were wearing 12th century armour (riveted mail over a padded gambeson with hardened leather arms and legs, and a steel open faced helm) would the blow have injured you enough that you wouldn't be able to keep fighting?" in short it's really pretty fuzzy and up to the participants... we've never tested HOW HARD one has to hit to kill a person in a given armour so we'll never know :)

Something I do when I'm not on the battlefield is story telling. Some people sing songs and play musical instruments, be they medieval ones or acoustic guitars. It's best to do this around camp fires in the summer with a tankard of ale or jug of mead on hand in my thinking. These bardic arts are things that I feel contribute a great deal to promoting a more medieval feel at events.

Another activity I have been very involved with in the past and am taking up again is fencing. Fencing in the SCA aims to recreate duelling of the 16th century which is the end of the period covered by the SCA (the SCA covers the 6th century to the 16th century). SCA while it is a form of combat is very different from heavy combat but is not unlike classical fencing. Some of the equipment we use is similar, we often use standard fencing masks (but sometimes cover them to look more fitting for what we do). We also use epee and foil blades which are two of the types of blades used in classical fencing. Many of our members however use more ornate hilts and we all wear medieval clothing when we fence at events (sometimes at practice too). The rules are much less restrictive than classical fencing, and geared more towards realism. Unlike classical fencing you can move anywhere you want in SCA fencing, you can attack whenever you want, and however you want as long as it is not deemed unsafe (hitting with the pommel would be out). Many of our fencers who have done classical fencing before find SCA fencing a lot more fun, in fact every last one who I have talked to has agreed on this point! Fencing in the SCA appeals to those who don't like the full contact nature of heavy fighting (fencing is touch contact) and it appeals to those that don't like wearing and fighting in heavy armour.

One key activity in SCA which is central in promoting a medieval feel at events is costuming. Everyone needs 'garb' (medieval clothing) for the events that they wish to go to. This means that most people learn at least a little about how to sew and about costuming. Many however take a special interest in this and make garb for other people when they aren't making garb for themselves, so it is possible to commission a costumer to make your costume. This tends to be a lot cheaper than buying a costume at a medieval store like Excalibur, and normally gives a much better result, but it also sometimes involves patience (since they actually have to make the garb).

One of the most popular activities in our group, especially among new comers, is archery. Archery is easy to pick up. It doesn't require much training at all before you can participate fully, and thus generally takes less of a time investment to get started in.

The SCA is a lot of things for a lot of different people. Some people are into the role-playing aspects, developing their personas, and acting the part at events. Others are more interested in the martial activities like the fighting, fencing, or archery. Still others are more interested in the sense of community, and helping things to happen in that community. Some like doing research and presenting medieval arts & sciences exhibits. Some are more into the partying, the food, the drink, the song, the dance. Others are into being someone greater than they are in real life and enjoy rubbing shoulders with the royalty and in playing the part of a noble, trying to grow in power and status. The SCA is really a heterogeneous mixture of people of many ages, many walks of life, and many perspectives. It is unlikely that anyone else will have the exact same perspectives on the SCA as I do, or want the same things out of it, the amazing thing is that while we all play at our different games we form a cohesive group that works well together.