My involvement in the SCA
It soon became apparent that SCA re-enactment was completely unlike re-enactment as I imagined it. It doesn't involve everyone dressing up in the uniform of one particular regiment and pretending to fight the battle of Waterloo, or whatever it may be. Nor does it involved dressing up as one of the servants in such and such a stately home five hundred years ago and telling visitors how you used to make bread. Truth be told, "re-enactment" isn't a very good word for what the SCA does. We just use the word because nobody has yet come up with a better one.
I usually describe it to the uninitiated as "a cross between the Masons and the Brownies". The Masons, because we have a complicated system of ranks, offices, terminology and rituals which, whilst not actually secret, are certainly baffling to those who first experience them! The Brownies, because the Society gives the opportunity to learn and develop various skills relevant to the historical period we cover, and be recognised for those skills by awards, as badges are awarded to Brownies for their achievements. The two are related... the rather arcane systems of rank, terminology and ritual grow primarily out of the need to formally recognise the acquisition of new skills.
From this it will be seen that the focus is in some senses very individualistic. You make of the SCA what you want to make of it. You dress in whatever period clothes you want to (provided they are prior to about 1600... anything prior to this is allowed, but in practice most focus on the mediaeval and renaissance periods). You do this to the standard that you yourself have the skills or money or inclination to manage... you won't be thrown out of the society for not looking exactly right, as you might be in other re-enactment groups. On the other hand, the ethos of the Society is towards improving mediaeval skills, and this means that many achieve very high standards in producing or wearing garb. The activities you choose to engage in depend on your own tastes and preferences. If you like fighting, there are opportunities to fight using dummy weapons such as were used to train mediaeval knights. Unlike traditional re-enactment, where convincing-looking weapons are used and therefore for safety's sake combat has to be carefully choreographed, SCA fighting is real fighting. The softer weapons and the insistence on specific standards of armour mean that it is possible to fight to win. Most SCA fighting is tourney-fighting... one to one, for a prize (usually an elevation to royal rank).
If you like cooking, there are plenty of opportunities to prepare a feast using period recipes... most of our larger events include a feast. Dressmaking, embroidery, brewing, archery, leatherworking and so on all have their aficionados. In theory, any skill that was found in period can be developed and receive recognition. Many of these have practical outlets in the life of the society.
My particular interest and skill has always been painting, with an interest also in calligraphy, and I had a phase in my late teens when I particularly engaged in work inspired by mediaeval manuscripts. It became apparent that this was a skill which could be used within the SCA.
In practice, the main outlet for painting and calligraphy within the SCA is the award scroll, for the simple reason that so many are needed. The custom is that every formal recognition of acquiring a new skill is made in court and, whilst it may also involve other presentations, will always include the presentation of an award scroll. This has its roots in the mediaeval custom of presenting an "Award of Arms" to those being formally welcomed into the nobility.
Despite the free use of the term "Scroll" within the SCA, most such award scrolls are not actually rolled pieces of paper. There is a common, though not absolute, practice of basing them on mediaeval manuscript illustrations, adapted to the needs of the presentation in question.
The production of such "scrolls" has therefore become my main contribution to the life of the SCA, mostly serving the Principality of Insulae Draconis (primarily Great Britain, Ireland and Iceland) and the Kingdom of Drachenwald (primarily, Europe), though through Facebook Pages my work has also become widely known throughout "the Known World", as we refer to the international SCA community. The works to be featured in this blog are in the main such award scrolls. They will also include vigil books (used at presentation of some higher awards for members to write encouraging words in for those being elevated) and some works produced for my own amusement or as personal gifts.
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