My beginnings in the SCA
2006-07-25 04:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liadethorneggeCurious, isn't it, how I, living in Sweden, managed to find the SCA in the Kingdom of An Tir (being the Pacific North West of the USA and some of Canada).
My very first event and contact with the SCA was a 12th Night Coronation in An Tir. Not exactly known for being the most newbie friendly and easily understood occasion. An SCA coronation consists of court, court and more court - and also people in court garb. I think it was lucky that this holds, because it was all the wonderful clothes that enchanted me from that first daytrip.
But how did I end up there? Well, sometime in 1996 I had found an online RPG which I spent much time on. In '99 they were organizing a meet in Detroit for August that year. I thought it would be absolutely fabulous to go over there and meet some of the people I'd been spending hours and hours with online. The game was, and still is, a historically based one and the areas and quests are all original and plucked from human history; the world as it was, or as humans thought it was, so I have roamed the Pelagian sea, the forests of Sherwood and a Viking village in virtual space :)
As it happens I had gotten a little bit closer to one of the people there, and arranged to visit him in connection with the meet. This wasn't the only stop I made before the meet though, I talked to other players and my grand tour of the US in 1999 started in Atlanta, GA, continued to Tuscon, AZ, then Portland, OR and finally Detroit, MI. It was a wonderful two weeks - with perhaps a little too much time on flights and in airports. One of the days of the meet we all piled into cars and visited the Michigan Renaissance Festival. My pictures from this trip can be found here. See, my fascination with taking photos and publishing them on the 'net predates my SCA involvement :)
The second installment of the story started in October or November the same fall. Two of the people I met in Detroit had started seeing each other and decided to spend New Year's Eve in New York for the Millenium. They asked me, jokingly, if I wanted to join them - I thought about it for about five seconds then said 'Hell Yes!' and ordered tickets. I was fairly lucky that any were available at all. At the same time I talked to the guy in Portland and arranged for me to go on to him after New Year's Eve (photos) and spend a week. I ended up spending two, and since he had already registered to go to 12th Night I got to tag along.
I didn't know much about it, and I'm not sure I can remember what I thought about it all. I do remember seeing a large sign spelling out "Society for Creative Anachronism" in the Hotell Lobby that was the site and thought to myself that it sounded like a very strange thing to call an organization that seemed to be all about dressing up in costumes.
I was instantly charmed by the chivalrous behaviour of all the lords I met - bowing and handkissing and such. I was also a little intimidated by having my guides point out all sorts of tin-hatted people that we had to bow and curtsey to. I'm sure there weren't that many, but I saw coronets everywhere and was a little afraid of them. I remember liking the merchant area very much - they had so many cool things! I nearly got a circlet for myself there from someone who had them for sale. I thought they were very pretty. I've no idea now if they were or not. I also touched the fabric bolts and oohed and aahed - because at this point I had of course realized that everyone were wearing fantastic outfits and I was in a tunic and pants that were much too short, in colours that didn't suit me, in a style I didn't particularily like. The ony redeeming feature, I thought, was that I had a cloak in which I could hide - but it ended just below the knees as I was much taller than the person I had lent it from.
I think we may have wandered outside to watch some fighting that was going on, but it was drizzling and I understood nothing of what I saw, so I have forgotten most of that. I'm sure my host told me about fighting, as he is a heavy fighter himself, but it was all mystifying to me.
I also got to meet a bunch of people in the same fighting unit as my host (Raven's Levy), and I translated their motto into Swedish, giving them pronounciation guides as well. They were marvellously welcoming and for a while I could relax in the hotel room they had rented as a base. Then we ventured out for court.
I felt wildly out of place again, especially seeing the renaissance ladies float by in enormous jewel-encrusted gowns of magnificense. I again wrapped up as much as I could in my too-small stretch velvet hooded cloak. I had my camera with me, I think I carried it in my hand hidden inside the sleeve of my tunic because I was too intimidated to take it out. I remember thinking, on the way back, that it was stupid of me to bring the camera, and have it so close by - in my hand the entire time - and yet not take a single photo. I've no idea what went on at court, because I understood nothing. I did join in the Huzzahs - they are at least something you can pick up quickly what with a herald leading the populace :)
Two years later I came back over the summer and we went to camping events with his household, friends and even family. And when I went home the fall of 2002 I thought to ask if this fantastic organization existed in Sweden as well, as by now I had realized these kinds of events happened all over the US, and lo!, it did. I started going to Aros meetings at the end of 2002 or beginning of 2003.
My second summer, 2003, in An Tir was as enjoyable, SCA-wise, and I am still sceptical of anyone who tells me that An Tir is a rainy kingdom - I saw nary a drop while I was there!
The only events we have here that starts to approximate the bulk of my SCA experience in An Tir is Double Wars, and to a lesser extent Visby Medieval week - and I still miss the drumming going all through the night.
My very first event and contact with the SCA was a 12th Night Coronation in An Tir. Not exactly known for being the most newbie friendly and easily understood occasion. An SCA coronation consists of court, court and more court - and also people in court garb. I think it was lucky that this holds, because it was all the wonderful clothes that enchanted me from that first daytrip.
But how did I end up there? Well, sometime in 1996 I had found an online RPG which I spent much time on. In '99 they were organizing a meet in Detroit for August that year. I thought it would be absolutely fabulous to go over there and meet some of the people I'd been spending hours and hours with online. The game was, and still is, a historically based one and the areas and quests are all original and plucked from human history; the world as it was, or as humans thought it was, so I have roamed the Pelagian sea, the forests of Sherwood and a Viking village in virtual space :)
As it happens I had gotten a little bit closer to one of the people there, and arranged to visit him in connection with the meet. This wasn't the only stop I made before the meet though, I talked to other players and my grand tour of the US in 1999 started in Atlanta, GA, continued to Tuscon, AZ, then Portland, OR and finally Detroit, MI. It was a wonderful two weeks - with perhaps a little too much time on flights and in airports. One of the days of the meet we all piled into cars and visited the Michigan Renaissance Festival. My pictures from this trip can be found here. See, my fascination with taking photos and publishing them on the 'net predates my SCA involvement :)
The second installment of the story started in October or November the same fall. Two of the people I met in Detroit had started seeing each other and decided to spend New Year's Eve in New York for the Millenium. They asked me, jokingly, if I wanted to join them - I thought about it for about five seconds then said 'Hell Yes!' and ordered tickets. I was fairly lucky that any were available at all. At the same time I talked to the guy in Portland and arranged for me to go on to him after New Year's Eve (photos) and spend a week. I ended up spending two, and since he had already registered to go to 12th Night I got to tag along.
I didn't know much about it, and I'm not sure I can remember what I thought about it all. I do remember seeing a large sign spelling out "Society for Creative Anachronism" in the Hotell Lobby that was the site and thought to myself that it sounded like a very strange thing to call an organization that seemed to be all about dressing up in costumes.
I was instantly charmed by the chivalrous behaviour of all the lords I met - bowing and handkissing and such. I was also a little intimidated by having my guides point out all sorts of tin-hatted people that we had to bow and curtsey to. I'm sure there weren't that many, but I saw coronets everywhere and was a little afraid of them. I remember liking the merchant area very much - they had so many cool things! I nearly got a circlet for myself there from someone who had them for sale. I thought they were very pretty. I've no idea now if they were or not. I also touched the fabric bolts and oohed and aahed - because at this point I had of course realized that everyone were wearing fantastic outfits and I was in a tunic and pants that were much too short, in colours that didn't suit me, in a style I didn't particularily like. The ony redeeming feature, I thought, was that I had a cloak in which I could hide - but it ended just below the knees as I was much taller than the person I had lent it from.
I think we may have wandered outside to watch some fighting that was going on, but it was drizzling and I understood nothing of what I saw, so I have forgotten most of that. I'm sure my host told me about fighting, as he is a heavy fighter himself, but it was all mystifying to me.
I also got to meet a bunch of people in the same fighting unit as my host (Raven's Levy), and I translated their motto into Swedish, giving them pronounciation guides as well. They were marvellously welcoming and for a while I could relax in the hotel room they had rented as a base. Then we ventured out for court.
I felt wildly out of place again, especially seeing the renaissance ladies float by in enormous jewel-encrusted gowns of magnificense. I again wrapped up as much as I could in my too-small stretch velvet hooded cloak. I had my camera with me, I think I carried it in my hand hidden inside the sleeve of my tunic because I was too intimidated to take it out. I remember thinking, on the way back, that it was stupid of me to bring the camera, and have it so close by - in my hand the entire time - and yet not take a single photo. I've no idea what went on at court, because I understood nothing. I did join in the Huzzahs - they are at least something you can pick up quickly what with a herald leading the populace :)
Two years later I came back over the summer and we went to camping events with his household, friends and even family. And when I went home the fall of 2002 I thought to ask if this fantastic organization existed in Sweden as well, as by now I had realized these kinds of events happened all over the US, and lo!, it did. I started going to Aros meetings at the end of 2002 or beginning of 2003.
My second summer, 2003, in An Tir was as enjoyable, SCA-wise, and I am still sceptical of anyone who tells me that An Tir is a rainy kingdom - I saw nary a drop while I was there!
The only events we have here that starts to approximate the bulk of my SCA experience in An Tir is Double Wars, and to a lesser extent Visby Medieval week - and I still miss the drumming going all through the night.
