When I was in college, many years ago, one of the hobbies sweeping through the youth (and older) was the Society for Creative Anachronism — putting on padding, taking a sword made of rattan wrapped in foam, and pounding on each other in fake medieval battles. I thought it was fun to watch, but was never going to join in. When I imagined medieval warfare, I would always be the peasant with a stick getting trampled into the mud.
Nowadays the big thing is Buhurt. People dress up in real steel armor and use real steel (but blunted) swords to hack at each other until someone falls down. No thank you very much. But my son, the one in the army, has joined a team out there in Washington state. We also have a team in Minneapolis. I am not at all tempted.
He’s the one with the shaved head on the right. He’s using borrowed armor because that stuff is expensive.
I guess military testosterone levels are just fine.
“Buhurt” ?
I get the impression a couple of ‘t’ s went missing.
It’s that Viking blood. X-D
Obligatory
Many years ago I would don a Zippy the Pinhead costume complete with head piece, green and orange paneled highboy collar, and bright yellow with red polka dots muumuu, then stand on the sidewalk in front off book stores greeting people coming to see Bill Griffith (the artist) with Zippy lines like, “All the world’s a blur of Republicans and meat.” Does that count? Am I in the club?
Is that a laundry basket?
Those kinds of organizations can be quite a lot of fun. SCA takes a more roleplay game and historical reenactment angle, with personas, arts & crafts, events, etc. Whereas, Buhurt & Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) focuses on specifically, combat and the martial arts.
It’s fencing but with full sized swords, axes, and maces instead of a tiny piece of wire pretending to be a sword. Or, in my case, rapier and sabre.
Well I can see the shaved head, but it looks to be in the normal position to me!
The photo rather reminds me of this illustrations by John Tenniel from Alice in Wonderland. They should keep an eye skinned for monstrous crows!
Obligatory “that’s not period!”
#7: maybe you can’t tell because that’s actually his 3/4 portrait face.
My late wife missed being at the founding event of the SCA by one event. She was at the second one.
The rattan swords used in the SCA are wrapped in tape, not foam. The rattan fibers tend to separate over time so the tape keeps it all together.
Re: YOB – Ye Olde Blacksmith @ #6…
The use of personnas varies widely across the Society. They are far less common in the West that in the eastern parts of the SCA. And indeed, one joke by Duke Frederick of Holland (usually known as Flieg, but that’s another story) is that there is only one personna in the West and that is King of the West. When that big chunk of silver hits your head, you get that personna, whether you wanted it or not.
My brother got really drunk one night. Some weeks later a tailored suit of plate mail showed up at his door.
He has a series of photos of himself in full armor going about his daily routine, Knight Goes Shopping, Knight Does The Laundry, and so on.
To put it in historical context, that is not really medieval armor.
It is “early modern”, although this style is sometimes called “transitional”.
The brigandine your son is wearing is roughly 15th century.
It’s cheaper to make than a full brestplate. And you don’t need help to put it on.
About Robro @ 4
” All the world is a blur of Reublicans and meat”. Let’s grab a club and join the Republicans spanking Mike Johnson.
“Mike Johnson is getting bullied by his OWN Republicans”
.https://youtube.com/shorts/Xwh4Ncfh00E
The Swedish former pop artist E-type has invested a lot of money in recreating an authentic viking village but he can not get sponsors… everyone want a Disniyfied replica a la Hollywood instead !
Adding to rsmith’s #13, medieval knights generally wore chain mail with a jerkin over the top. I see one replica Sutton Hoo helmet, but the headgear in medieval days was highly creative and varied judging by the illuminated manuscripts.
It’s nice to see that they’ve opted for historically accurate medieval bright colors. I’m sure battle dress was more subdued, but the kit for a typical joust is bright and flashy.
The Codex Manasse is late medieval, and depicts some historically typical knights and ladies dress.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Manesse
rsmith’s #13
Those are actually medieval-ish armours, not early modern. Buhurt practitioners almost universally wear armour vaguely inspired from late XIVth century/very early XVth styles. Also, it actually depends on the specific model of brigandine or breast-and-backplate whether one needs help to put it on or not.
I don’t really like Buhurt, but my own harness is a reproduction of Italian armour from the 1460-1480 produced for the export market, and I can put it on on my own except for the pauldrons, rerebrace and couters.
The SCA group here in Tasmania, the Barony of Ynys Fawr, attended a medieval festival recently, and we got to compare ourselves with both the Diemonsland Brawlers buhurt club and the Southern Isles LARP group. From the perspective of the LARPers, buhurt and SCA “heavy” (swordfighting) are indistinguishable; from the Brawlers’ perspective, LARP and heavy are the same. For us in the middle, we just say: never mind the thumping, come to our feast!
My friend Daina was right into SCA, but she did those feasts and was a heraldry and costuming specialist.
We knew each other from school days.
RIP
and, in that other reality: https://canon.lochac.sca.org/person.php?id=192
John @19: Just being nosy: Your friend (obviously of Lithuanian heritage) had the same first name as my older sister (Latvian). It’s pronounced the same as ‘Dinah’, but in school she was always called Dana or Diana. Did your friend have the same problem?
Not that I can recall, Rob. And yes, Lithuanian ancestry, but Aussie-born.