SCA
in Eastern Canada
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This is a HTML version of a hand-out pamphlet that we used in the former Canton of Mycghalh. It should tell you a bit about our society.
The SCA is a not-for-profit educational group that selectively re-creates the arts, sciences, culture and martial arts of the European Middle Ages. Worldwide membership is in excess of 50,000. In Nova Scotia, there are about 150 active members.
SCA stands for "Society for Creative Anachronism." An anachronism is something that is out of its proper time. For example, if there were hitching posts in front of the post office, that would be an anachronism. We get tired of that long name, so we call ourselves the SCA (around here we just say the letters: "ess see ay", but in Ontario, for example, they say it like a word: "skah")
On May 1, 1965, a group of friends in California got together for a theme party. The theme was the age of chivalry and everybody dressed up and there was a tournament and the winner of the tournament was crowned king. Everybody had so much fun that they decided to do it again. And again. At one point they wanted to use a local park, which needed to know what to call the group. One of them gazed into space for a moment or two and then wrote down, "Society for Creative Anachronism," and the name stuck.
That was more than thirty years ago. Since then the society has grown to include groups in every American State, every Canadian Province, Australia, England, Scandinavia, Japan, etc. with new groups starting up every month.
We do not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, religion, race, disability or anything else. We are very accepting of different points of view, but we do have a few traditions that we hold dear.
For example, our by-laws obligate us to be non-religious. This means that if you, as an individual, wish to give a prayer of thanks before your meal, you may, but we ask that you do so privately. We are not anti-religion... we are non-religious so that we may abide by the articles of our charter. This makes our re-creation of the Middle Ages a bit odd, since religion was the center of life for the Medieval person.
We meet regularly to attend to the simple business of running a group that's made up of volunteers, but what we really look forward to are the events we put on. These can take the form of feasts, revels or tournaments. Here's what we do at our events:
What seems to get the most attention are the fighters who get into period-style armor and whale away at each other with sticks made of rattan. It is a martial art that requires a great deal of training and our safety record is better than football or, even, baseball.
We love to eat! A Middle Ages feast may consist of several "removes", each of which can have around a half-dozen courses. At a really big feast we might start eating at two in the afternoon and not stop until midnight.
We also love to dance! Medieval court dancing is very much like English country dancing, Scottish country dancing or, even, square-dancing (without the caller). We often have live music, since many of our members are musical and play instruments that were popular in the Middle Ages.
As individuals, we study and practice such arts as metalworking, leatherworking, spinning, weaving, dyeing, embroidery, sewing, calligraphy and illumination, brewing, cooking, singing, playing musical instruments, poetry, architecture, engineering, mathematics, herbology, soapmaking, book binding... in fact, anything that was done during the Middle Ages!
Fairly often we hold events (called "scholas") made up entirely of workshops and lectures where we exchange what we've learned with other members.
Finally, we hold demos that expose the public to the arts, sciences and culture of the Middle Ages as well as make them aware of the SCA. Some of our demos are spcifically made for schools or church groups and are entirely educational.
Mostly because it's fun! It gives us a chance to step outside our everyday lives and visit a strange and wonderful time and place. You don't have to be a Ph.D. in history, either. Some of us have come from that direction, but others have come from science fiction/fantasy literature, wargaming, theatre, or just because they found they had an interest in the Middle Ages. They stay because we have a real sense of community, of liking to do something slightly different together.
Often we meet in members' homes, but in large centres like Halifax we meet in community centres. Our events are usually held in rented halls. We are non-profit, so the fee we collect goes to pay for the hall and the food. Because of this, it is common for a feast of two removes (10-12 courses), a tournament and dance to run to about $12-$15 per person. A good value for your money!
Our events are not spectator sports. It's not like a "Medieval Feast" business where you pay big bucks to wear a paper crown, eat with your fingers and watch the actors fight in the arena, below.
If you want to join us, all you have to do is make an effort to dress in a Medieval style, behave as one high-born, and come out to one of our events! Since the person in charge of putting on the feast needs to know how much food to buy, it is considered very desirable to call them at least a week before the feast to say that you'll be there and how many people are coming with you.
We do not require you to buy a membership to join in our activities. We encourage you to get one, though, so that you'll receive the monthly newsletters for the local area and the region, as well as the quarterly magazine that the Society puts out.For more information or to reserve a place at the dining table at our next feast, please give us a call.
Contact the seneschal or chatelaine of the group closest to you. If you live in Eastern Canada, you can find that infomation in the Eastern Canada SCA Services or Northern Shores Region homepage. If you don't live in Eastern Canada, you should be able to find links to your local branch in the official Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) homepage.
thescholarsgerret.com),
known in the SCA as Master Henry MacQueen of Longhouse.