48: Historical Re-enactment

The best things you will do in life is when you actively seek discomfort.

In order to document the memories fresh, I started this blog post on the ten-hour drive back from Roweny Festival, the annual medieval camping event hosted each year by the SCA (Society for Creative Anarchism).

When creating the 50 Challenges I wanted to do something outside my comfort zone and logistically ambiguous, as a test to see how far I can push myself. What I had in mind for this Challenge was something akin to Role Models, where there are kings and queens and sword fighting and everything in between. But I didn’t know where to start. None of my friends are interested in history or LARPing, but like all good adventures I started with a simple search on Google. I typed in “historical re-enactments Australia” and found this landing page that looked like an old relic from the dot com bubble. It had 100s of different links to different societies and clubs but most of the links were not working and most of the societies were inactive. However, there were a few active societies with Facebook pages. So that is where I began.

The first society I contacted one was the Werribee Half Battery and the top post in their group read:

“Welcome to 2019. Werribee Half Battery are currently recruiting new members preferably between the ages of 17-30. No experience necessary as full training will be given.”

Perfect! I got in touch with the admin of the group, Capt. Allan Sterling Officer Commanding to find out more. Turns out the Werribee Half Battery was a Victorian era artillery living history group based on the original Werribee detachment of the Victorian Horse Artillery which paraded at Soldiers Reserve and Werribee Park in the late 1800’s. Not exactly the Role Models medieval adventure I was looking for, but I was game. After more investigation it was apparent that investment required a uniform (cost $250) plus monthly meetings in Werribee in anticipation for the ANZAC day parade. I told Capt. Sterling that I would get back to him. So I kept this in my back pocket in case nothing else emerged.

After messaging a few more Facebook groups I stumbled upon the SCA. The Society for Creative Anarchism is a pre-1600 medieval society that ran weekly events in Melbourne. Even better, they had an affiliated club at Monash University that I could join for free. Jackpot! I emailed the president of the society and asked her about their events schedule. There were a number of events, but the big-ticket item, Rowney Festival, was a massive 5-day medieval festival over the Easter break. My eyes lit up as I read the message and my mind immediately turned to Role Models. This was my adventure.

Within the kingdom of Lockhart (Australia), Monash University is called St Monica, in the Krae Glass Barony. In anticipation of the festival I joined the weekly club meetings to make friends and engage with the society. My first meeting I learnt about foreign concepts such as heraldry, calligraphy and garb.

· Heraldry: the system by which a coat of arms are devised, described and regulated

· Calligraphy: a special medieval writing technique

· Garb: the costumes and attire worn by people in medieval times

After colouring in some heraldry and practicing my calligraphy I went down to the Monash green to practice sword fighting. I learnt about the different types of hits (cut, thrust and slice) and the step techniques to defeat your opponent in battle. There is nothing better than hitting someone wearing a metal helmet with a big stick.

The next week I set myself a side quest: to create at least one piece of Garb for the festival. I started by measuring myself out and cutting the fabric made from an old green curtain. Over then next 5 weeks I worked on my T-tunic, using the sowing machine to complete the masterpiece. Massive thank you to Katelyn who helped me throughout this process. Looks good right?

We arrived at the festival after sunset, which meant that we had to set up our tents in the dark. That said, I could make out the period/medieval tents and flags set up by everyone and was excited for the weekend ahead. Someone called me in our camp area to come down to the martyr auction, whatever that was. So after setting up the tent I walked down to the tavern to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. I stood up on a podium by myself looking out at 100 people dressed like Lord of the Rings extras drinking out of animal horns whilst they bid for my services. It was surreal. I was eventually sold for 40 gold to Buckwheat who was in charge of the communal kitchen and was told to come in on Monday to help out. Not the worst thing that could happen, my friend was sold to Yockin who made him write a song about the glory of his past battles to be sung before war in front of the king and queen.

Day two rolled around quickly and I was excited because it was market day. I was spoiled for choice, Usually when I go to a market I quickly walk past old trinkets and bracelets thinking “when will I ever where or use this??” but here, those trinkets significantly added to your garb persona. I eventually purchased a drinking horn along with holder for my belt. Best purchase ever. My favourite moment from the marketplace was seeing people line up for an ATM which was hidden behind the great hall whilst in full medieval attire.

Got to refill that gold!

Later that night I went to the tavern with some friends to test out the new horn. The tavern had two delicious local craft beers one stout and one pale ale. But what was more impressive was the home brewed mead made by Master Yanto. Master Yanto had been playing in the SCA for about 30 years, and some of his brewed mead was similarly as old. I remember in particular a 23 year old spiced mead that had a taste which transported me back to Jerusalem where I lived for a six months. I have had this sensation with food, but not with beverages, it was amazing. After tasting Yanto’s mead we went to the Combined Colleges campsite where they were hosting a cocktail night. We sung songs about sailors, battles and mooses till 2:00 in the morning. I met some incredible people and this night truly opened my perspective on comradeship.

There was an interesting excitement in the air when I woke up on day 3. Today was war. Unfortunately I was not registered to fight but I was able to watch it. Of course before war my friend Marcus followed Yockin, bellowing his song whilst holding his flag. The best way to describe the war was a clusterfuck. I was standing about 20 meters from the action but it was difficult to see what was going on when 50 people in proper metal Armour go in to fight. It’s not like a beautifully choreographed episode of Game of Thrones, it was more brutal than that. On the way back from war I walked passed the Queen who said to me “good morning’ I replied “good morning” and it took a funny look from her for me to reply, “sorry, I mean my Queen, I mean your Majesty”. Massive facepalm!

Before dinner I tried my luck on the archery field. The first shot I hit from 40 yards out hit the dead centre of the target, but I think it was a fluke because the next 5 arrows didn’t even hit the board. Archery was fun, and a hobby that I will look at continuing to pursue. Before the break of dawn was the court, where the King and Queen make announcements for the day. Mostly it was giving thanks and praise to people within the society with lots of “Hazzahs” being thrown around. My favourite thing about court is when someone breaks character. For example the Queen made an announcement: “There will be a court tomorrow between the fighting tournaments for Thorgen of Krae Glass, who will be knighted for his amazing service to the community… also it’s Thorgen’s birthday… so wish him happy birthday.”

That night was the fighter auction. After a few horns of beer I was ready to take my hard earned gold and spend up on some good fighters. My strategy was to let the first few fighters get bought and suss out the market value of each fighter. The going rate is about $70 but I could get a bargain for $50. The first fighter I bought was Gisla from New Zealand, she was a heavy fighter (sword and shield) but I could see that she was nervous. I think it was her first fight. Although she was nervous I could see that she had the fire in her eyes, she wanted to perform well on the battlefield for me. I also bought my friend Liam for $60, I definitely overpaid but whatever, it was fun calling Liam “My Champion” for a day.

Day 4: fighting day. In the morning I made sure that my fighters were well fed and hydrated, ready to take on the day. After Thorgan’s knighting ceremony (and birthday song) the fights were ready to begin. Liam had a difficult pool, pitted against 2 knights and the Queen. Out of 7 fights he won 0. Gisla on the other hand fought admirably, winning 3 fights. It was not enough for her to advance to the next round, but enough to make it worthwhile.

After the fights I had my martyr duty with Buckwheat in the kitchen and another collegian called Wong. Every night Buckwheat served about 20 people dinner, she had created quite a close knit family there in the great hall and she asked all of her customers for some “challenges” for her martyrs to do. So while I helped her clean the dishes and wipe down the benches I was nervously awaiting my fate. Buckwheat said I could choose one of two challenges. Either A.) Speak like a herald, announcing the dangers of custard to people in their campsites and at the tavern. Or B.) Create a knight costume out of aluminium foil and cardboard and fight Wong for Buckwheat’s glory.

I chose B.

Personally, I don’t know if participating in the SCA will be necessarily my thing but for the time that I was there I grew an appreciation for people’s passion and commitment to the society. There were some really amazing and different people that I met and spent time with and I am grateful to them for making my experience special. Finally, this society functions on the hard work and dedication of volunteers. Without them Rowney Festival would not exist. This post is dedicated to you, the real heroes of the SCA.