Today I’m excited to share a guest post from an old friend, who graciously agreed to write about one of his long-time interests, the Society for Creative Anachronism. Owen Flewelling lives with his wife and family in rural New Brunswick, Canada.  He enjoys many hobbies, including homesteading, blacksmithing, permaculture design, and flying airplanes.  He has been involved with the SCA since 2001, returning recently after about a 4 year break. You can find his blog here.

The Society for Creative Anachronism

A dense fog lays over the landscape. In the quiet of the morning there is the sound of a few birds in the nearby wood and the quiet rustling of the camp helpers beginning the early morning chores of fire building and food preparation. A hint of human sweat and damp horse hangs about the camp on the fog. These are some of the sights and sounds of a camp in King Edward III’s army. We are camped on a small hill in France after several days marching. We know the French are near, but are not sure how close……we wait for news from our scouts. I, Llywelyn Ap Olwyn, rise early to prepare for my knights rising and know that despite the dampness in the air now, the day will be hot. I hear the clop of hooves approaching the camp and the cry from the sentry….. Our scouts have returned. I know that our place of battle has been chosen and the fight will be coming soon. To arms my brothers, to arms.

Life in medieval Europe wasn’t an easy one, but its historical significance is one that continues to be felt throughout the world. Tales of knights in armour, raiding vikings, chivalry and grand tournaments, great battles that turned the tide of nations all come together in modern life in a group called the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). The SCA is a practical history society, where we recreate the ideals, skills and arts of pre-17th century Europe. Starting in 1966 in Berkeley California as a costume party, it has grown to be around the world with tens of thousands of paying members and more than that in participation. We recreate all aspects of medieval society. As I often tell people, if they did it in the Middle Ages, you can find someone recreating it today.

We also like to jokingly say that we recreate the Middle Ages as they should have been. Things like real battles where nobody dies and no bubonic plague. Thousands of events take place across the world which is divided up in to 20 kingdoms. While the SCA has its own culture, awards and social structure, it isbased around the ideals of chivalry and courtesy that are iconic (though some would argue romanticized beyond reality in Victorian literature) found in the Middle Ages. It is based on these ideals, but run on service. It is a non profit organization that relies on volunteers to fill the various roles required to handle such a large organization. Not to mention all the classes, teaching, running of events that needs to happen for everyone to enjoy their time at an event.

Participants are required to wear some sort of historical clothing at events and people pick a a time period that they are interested in and build a persona from that time period. This is not role playing; we don’t stay in persona all the time, but our persona represents the period of time in history that we are interested in and most like to recreate. Some people have multiple personas and will pick different ones for different events. My persona as you saw in the first paragraph is a Welsh man at arms, Llywelyn Ap Olwyn, fighting in King Edward III’s army in France during the Hundred Years War, roughly around the year 1350. I base my camp, my armour, and my style of dress around this date and culture.

Getting involved in the SCA is as easy as showing up. www.sca.org is a great place to start with their newcomers portal. They talk about many activities that take place from calligraphy to armoured combat as well as also having links to find your local group. Generally local groups love to have new people and are very welcoming and helpful in getting people started in whatever aspect they are interested in.

It’s important to remember that this is for fun and as serious as some people take it, it’s a game that we play. But it’s one that can change your life. It can teach leadership , self confidence and discipline over mind and body, it can teach practical skills, arts and sciences that most people have never heard of, it can give you an outlook on humanity and how we treat each other that is so quickly being lost in our modern society today. Through research it can teach us about our past and where we have come from. There are not many hobbies that can do all of that for you.

Thank you, Owen!

All photo credits: Kate Waller. (If you missed it, head over to her guest post.)