Are you a member of the SCA Society for creative Anachronism? Have you ever been to Pennsic War?
English: Society for Creative Anachronism participants (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you’ve never heard of the Society for Creative Anachronism, it’s…. well, hard to explain. Lots of people come together for a medieval-fest and turn a building, or a huge area, back in time. Think Renaissance Faire on steroids. But in these events they won’t even let you in without proper garb.
And you don’t just get to watch. With training, you become part of the world.
I went to an event once over twenty years ago, and it was quite a treat. It had a big enough impact on me that I still think about it, and I’ve decided to feature a SCA event, the Pennsic War, in one of my novels.
Kingdom of Northshield court in the Society for Creative Anachronism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Here’s my problem. I’ve never been to Pennsic War. I am trying to imagine what Cooper’s Lake park in PA looks like when 10,000 (yes, that’s ten-thousand) people from around the world converge on that one campground, to watch and take part as the East Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom meet for a week of tournament and good times. Think Olympics, Medieval style.
Heavy combat, fencing, crossbows. Oh! I get tingles just thinking about it!
English: Melee fighting in the Society for Creative Anachronism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Thing is, I can imagine what a campground of people in Medieval garb looks like, but anything I can come up with would just be a really good guess.
So I’m wondering. Have you been to Pennsic War? Or maybe another smaller war-like event?
Here are my questions.
- Does combat start on Friday, or is that just revelry like the opening ceremonies and the good stuff starts on Saturday?
- Do most people stay at the campground?
- Are there ever any non-SCA campers there? Are they freaked out?
- What is it like back at the campground? Do people stay garbed and “in character” for the whole week or two weeks?
- Do combatants get hurt?
- Fencing competition: Do girls fight girls and guys fight guys, or can a championship match be a guy and a girl? (Sorry that was a spoiler)
- From the event I went to, I imagine the rivalry feigned and in good fun. But is that still true? Any side-duels that might not exactly “follow the safety rules”?
- Anything you can give me would be helpful. I want this to be authentic, and do the event justice as the catalyst to send my heroine on her journey.
Oh! Do you have pictures? More pictures will be helpful.
And, as a side note, if any SCA member would like to read the SCA excerpt when I’m done to make sure I “got it” I would be eternally grateful.
Huzzah!
(Yeah, that was probably lame. I’m sure I spelled that wrong.)
Find out more about this cool organization here: http://www.sca.org/
Related articles
You are going to shove me into your hard drive and never look at me again.
No, I’m not!
They are more important than me?
First of all, Congrats to last week’s winner: J.K.Ford
Hi.
He’s a U.S. Marshall with the Fugitive Task Force for the northern district of Illinois. Tess left Chicago because the criminal justice system gave her no choice. Now she’s on the run from ghosts of misdeeds past—both hers and Shelby’s.
First of all,
Well, yes, it is my own hair.
Alyson Moore is still reeling from her recent divorce. Finding your husband in the shower with another man tends to destroy your feminine identity. At her sister’s insistence, she travels to Paris, something she’s always wanted to do. Within two days of her arrival to the City of Light, she is put into the protective custody of a French agent, ten years younger than she. They are both pursued by the terrorists in almost non-stop adrenaline packed action. Things soon heat up between them, but more importantly, Alyson finds out she’s stronger than she ever imagined.
First of all, congrats to last week’s winner Jamie Ayers
Yes! Like Blue hair! Very vogue.
No no no! Not this time. You don’t have a book to give away.
Like Jennifer said, my name is Deborah M. Piccurelli and I am an author who writes about controversial issues. My goal is to help stop heinous acts performed by evil people. I plan to give a portion of the proceeds from every book published from here on out, to a charity that works against them. It is one way for me to contribute to Kingdom work.
Investigative journalist, Amber Blake, is a little person bent on payback for the death of her average-sized twin sister. Enlisted by her former partner and estranged husband, Evan, she poses as a counselor in an abortion clinic to expose the doctor responsible for fetal harvesting. As a Christian, she struggles with concealing her beliefs to maintain her cover, while the doctor’s romantic overtures tumble her stomach. Amber agrees to date him for the sake of the story . . . but nothing prepares her for what’s behind a mysterious door in his office.
Jennifer M Eaton 