Thrifting Your Own SCA Couture

Creating garb from what you have

Master Katryne MacIntosh the Strange, OP

So, you’re interested in the SCA? Congratulations! You’re now on your way to enjoying a very time-intensive, resource-expensive hobby!

What’s that you say? You have a budget? Or, you have no budget but you’d really like to play anyway? The audacity!

Honestly, though, most people who begin attending SCA events start from a baseline point before jumping full into the land of high-end period couture. It’s OK - we’ve all been there, and there are still individuals who stick with the tried and true everyman version of SCA clothing.

The Society for Creative Anachronism’s Organizational Handbook, including what we call Corpora (our governing documents), requires little to participate at SCA events.

B. Requirements for Participants at Society Events  Anyone may attend Society events provided they wear an attempt at pre-17th century clothing, conform to the rules of Society, and comply with any other requirements (including but not limited to site fees or waivers) which may be imposed. At business meetings and informal classes, the requirement to wear pre-17th century dress may be waived. All participants are expected to behave in an appropriate and respectful manner. 

So what does that entail? Pay the site fee (if any), sign the waiver, and wear things that could plausibly be worn before the year 1600. 

For those who are new to our area, we have loaner gear and garb (garb being the informal word we use for clothing) available for people to borrow. We also have events such as Newbie Collegium, where many of us use the opportunity to pass along garb that doesn’t fit us, whether our current persona or our size, and to divest ourselves of items that could be used by others, that are instrumental in helping some get ready for events.

Away from these resources, I have ideas for you to help get you on your way to a lifetime of SCA events and participation.

The basic T-Tunic. For many of us who started our SCA careers decades ago, this has been and always will be the base for SCA participation. Unlike a T-shirt, which tends to be stretchy and conforms to modern couture, this is a base constructed item that almost anyone with any level of sewing experience can create. You will need at least enough fabric to cover your top portion - something at least 30 inches wide for most people for short sleeves, and at least 45 inches wide for longer sleeves, that is at least twice the length of the distance of the top of your shoulder to below your waistline. For femme-presenting individuals, the T-Tunic can even be a T-gown, with the same width of fabric needed and the length being approximately twice a person’s height.

To make - fold the fabric lengthwise once, and crosswise once. Take a T-shirt that fits you, and fold it in half. Lay it so the neckline of the T-shirt (the rounded bit) lies flat with the top seam of the shoulder along the shorter edge of fabric and the middle seam of the shirt along the longer edge.

Measure out approximately four inches from the armpit of the T-shirt, diagonally from the corner of the fabric. Mark this point. Draw a line, either straight out to the edge, or at an angle of up to 30 degrees, to the edge of the fabric from that mark.  Then draw a line from that armpit mark up to 30 degrees or, if it’s easier, from that mark to the far corner of the fabric. Now cut the triangle you just drew, away. Cut along the line of the neck of your T-shirt (the fabric, not the shirt) to create a neckhole. Remove your T-shirt. Cut a two inch slit down one layer of the folded side of the fabric, right at the fold. Unfold the fabric, put your head through the hole, and try it out. Congratulations, you have the basis for your first T-Tunic.

To finish it out, you can use bias tape to trim the neckline (easier done before you sew the whole thing together) or you can face the neckline in a fancier way. You can even just do a simple stitch to turn the edge of the fabric inwards so the raw edge of the fabric does not show. Turn the T-Tunic so the side you don’t want on the outside is on the outside, sew up the long triangle sides, turn it inside out and sew the bottom edge. Congratulations - this is a basic, finished T-Tunic!

But wait - you don’t have the patience to sew? Head to your local Goodwill or thrift shop. Go looking in the section set aside for scrubs - the clothes folks in the medical field wear. Look for tunic tops. Get a size larger than what you wear. You’re set for your first event!

Pants. Sweatpants are often the first pants many SCA folks wear. They’re usually loose, and most of the pants can be covered by shoes, socks, and the bottom hem of whatever’s on top. Look for neutral tones like black or brown, or solid colors like yellow, blue, or red, without logos or stripes. These can be purchased new for under $10.

For more advanced wear, look for linen pants. Women’s pants from fancier stores often fit this - they tend to be somewhat formless and flowing and they were popular a few years back. Eschew the $80 new versions and look in thrift store racks. Read labels and search for products that are mostly linen based. If linen is the first material listed, you’re probably OK.

Avoid modern patterns and unlikely medieval colors (day-glo green and yellow are modernly obtrusive) and look for clothing a little larger than your body size.

To make your pants look even more medieval, cut out ankle elastic and add bias tape straps. Or cover it all up with long, single-color socks.

Shoes. There has long been a joke around these parts that “anything is period below the knee.” Shoes tend to be more expensive than other items. In a perfect world, we’d all be able to wear period shoes, but we all have different feet.

The easiest way, when you start, is to get cheap but decently soled sandals. Leather or simulated leather in black or brown tones will work well. They will provide protection against rough surfaces like gravel. Ballet shoes or flats work okay, especially if you are indoors, but may lack the soles to protect your feet. And believe me, protecting your feet is essential.

If you need to wear modern shoes for any reason, choose black, brown, or gray in solids. Long dress hems cover well. Don’t sweat it.

The cape. A simple cape or cloak can elevate your appearance drastically - and it’s incredibly easy to create - even if you have no sewing skill whatsoever!

The basic cloak or cape comes from a single piece of fabric. The width of a piece of fabric is your length - the wider, the longer. It needs to be at least twice the length as the width. 

Fold your fabric in half. Now, fold it again, but this time fold it from corner to corner, joining the folded edge corner to the long edge. Now, cut a curve across from one corner to the other through all four layers. Unfold - you have a half-circle of fabric! If you’d like this to be an early period cloak, wrap it around you and secure it with a pin at the neck. Later period? Cut a half-circle where your neck goes. This simple cloak is the easiest!

Except - it’s not! Want an even easier cloak? Get a round tablecloth with a width of at least 45 inches. Fold it into quarters. Make a mark at the center. Now cut a straight line through one of the layers of fabric from that mark to the edge. Unfold. Behold - a cape or cloak, ready to be worn or trimmed!

Draped fabric. Throughout history, fabric draping is a common element in clothing. The Greeks and Romans had togas and chitons as their primary and sometimes only clothes. Hindi folk still drape with saris and dhotis. Shoulder capes, outerwear - showing off extra fabric gives the impression of being rich. 

Wearing a pair of shorts and possibly a sports bra or sleeveless T-shirt as a base layer is a good idea when you’re starting out making one of these.  Find cording, belts, pins, and other items for accessorizing.

To make a chiton - take a piece of fabric that can wrap all the way around you at least twice. That’s your width. It should ideally be as long as you are tall. You will need two pins or brooches and a cord or belt. 

Lay the fabric out with the width from side to side. Fold a portion of the width over along the entire length, equally - a quarter to a third is ideal. Now fold the width in half so the folded-over bit is inside.  Find the center of the lengthwise edge, measure out about four inches from that point either way, and pin it. Turn it inside out and pull over your head between where the pins are. Now you can add brooches to the top side of where the pins are, and belt it. Congrats, that’s a chiton!

A toga is even easier. Take a plain bedsheet. Tie together the two corners on one of the two short ends. Pull over your head and put one of your arms through. Now, grab the two corners on the other short end, pull them up to the waist on the same side the knot is on your shoulder, and tie them together tightly, using the short end as your waistband. Boom - you’ve created a quick toga.

Want to look fancier? Choose fancier fabric. Saris are good for this - they look flashy and can be organized in many different ways. 

Be sure to have pins available to keep bits together so your bits don’t show.

Moving on up to hats. The best way to show you’re serious about your garb is to top it off with a hat. Hats don’t have to be hard - you can wear a simple straw hat or felt hat and you’re going to be good. 

A simple fabric hat can be made by cutting four circles of fabric at least 12 inches in diameter. Take three of those circles, fold them into quarters, and cut out a circle with the radius of the circumference of your head. Don’t math? Take a piece of string, wrap it around your head, then fold it into three. Use that to cut a circle from the center of your fabric rounds. Sew one of the cut circles together to the uncut circle on the outside edge. Sew the other two cut circles together the same way. Now turn both of those circles inside out and sew the inside edges on two sides together. Put your head in on the side that has the opening. Boom - a flat cap!

You can also cover your head with loose fabric by fashioning a turban. While emperors and high-ranking officials were depicted with huge turbans, yours doesn’t need to be. Simply find a large scarf or loose piece of fabric large enough to reach from one fingertip on one hand to the other on the other side, over your head, when you have your arms outstretched. Twist the end of one side of your fabric from where you can gather it on one side of your head, and roll it up. Take this portion and wrap it around the front to the back of your head, slipping the end of the fabric under the twisted bit by your ear. Now roll up the other end of the fabric, repeat, tuck - you’re done! 

Belting. Belts allow you to hold your clothes together, on your body, and carry things. Pockets were, in most cultures, things worn on the outside - pouches and such dangling from your bet. Choose leather-looking belts or long pieces of fabric that looks like sashes to make things that wrap around the waist. Alternately, you can use these over the shoulder to suspend your bags of holding.

Conceal! It is AOK to wear your glasses! But items such as wallets, car keys, beverages in things that don’t look like they belong in the middle ages, and other items should be concealed beneath layers of clothing or within pouches. 

Remember - As you spend time in the SCA, you’ll be able to see what other people are wearing, and be able to adapt your clothing to a couture you want. You can do all sorts of things with the materials provided. Creativity is what puts the C in the SCA!

If you have questions about a type of garb, ask someone. Most SCAdian folk love to talk about what they wear and how it was made or obtained. You may be surprised how much you learn!

Above all, remember, it’s the attempt that’s the important part. We want you to enjoy your time here. Learn as you go along - there are plenty of us who are happy and willing to help you obtain the look you want.

Feasting, Feeding, and Food in the SCA

A quick guide to dining in these current Middle Ages

Master Katryne MacIntosh the Strange, OP

The Society for Creative Anachronism offers so many different paths into learning about the time period before 1600 - so many cultures, so many places to search, so many ideas. There are a lot of differences between these different places and times, but one thing that connects them all - everyone ate.

When we encounter food in the SCA, it usually comes to us in one of three ways - provided by the event (feasts and other meals), provided by ourselves (picnics), and provided by individuals in the SCA (sideboards). How you create and enjoy your feast kit and dining experiences is up to you - but you can make it more enjoyable by being prepared for what’s to come.

Feasts

A feast is, in general, a lunchtime or evening meal where event attendees sit down and enjoy a meal together. While there are sometimes feasts where the serviceware and dinnerware are provided, this is generally rare, and the people who come to dine are expected to bring their own feast kits. 

The hope for these kits is to not only alleviate additional event cost of renting or purchasing dishes upon which to dine, but to also increase the ambiance of an event for all involved. These are some of the items you may wish to carry in your feast kit:

Silverware (fork, knife, spoon, etc)

Plate or platter

Bowl

Cup or chalice

Spices of choice (salt and pepper, etc.)

Candles and candleholders

Serviceware (large spoons, tongs, etc.)

Napkins 

Tablecloth

At the bare minimum, a plate or platter is a starting point for those who wish to dine, as you must have something to eat from.  Some people in persona may choose to forgo some items - for instance, a person with a southern Indian persona may choose to bring a banana leaf, and to eat with the fingers of their right hand from piles of food placed on the leaf. What you choose to include will depend on how much you want to emulate a person in your chosen timeframe and culture, and how comfortable you want to be while dining.

The items you choose reflect these ideals, if you wish them to. The standard set I suggest for people is to select a bowl and a platter of wood, bamboo, pewter or brass, or materials that look to be of this nature, along with mundane metal fork-knife-spoon sets or chopsticks and ceramic spoons. I also suggest a simple drinking vessel. Tankards are popular, as are metal or wooden chalices, but glass was also a period material, and sometimes just having an unmarked coffee cup will do. A scrap of fabric or a folded decorative paper towel or napkin will do just fine for a start. The other items can be filled in by the folks you are dining with, usually.

Think about what you would use at the table. Soups and pottages are common, so having a bowl is essential. Some folks bring an extra bowl to place out their bones or the food they don’t eat from a course so it can be discarded later. Do you know how to use chopsticks? They may make it easier to pick up items that are saucy or messy. Make sure you have what you need to feel comfortable eating in a family setting.

Most feasts in Gleann Abhann are served family-style, where either the person nearest the platter delivered to the table takes plates from others and puts the portion on, or the platter is passed from person to person. Some peer households choose to serve individuals at their table by order of precedence, though this has become less common here. In my household, we make sure guests and those who have less precedence are fed before our peers eat.

You’ll want a vessel to keep your dining gear in. Some choose wooden boxes, which can be heavy but which tend to be sturdier over time. Baskets are possible - but when choosing a basket, consider how much weight will be held in that basket. Many commercial picnic baskets are made just to hold the original lightweight contents and aren’t prepared to carry ceramic or metal dishes, and Easter baskets tend to have very flimsy handles. I’ve also seen fabric bags constructed for the purpose, and as long as you’re making allowances to protect anything ceramic or glass within, they tend to be pretty handy.

Other items you might want to consider bringing with you to feast:

Extra napkins or paper towels for cleanup

Ziptop bags or aluminum foil to take leftovers home (leftover food from platters must be discarded and not reused for future meals once they have been taken to a table, per health code)

Plastic bags to take your feast gear home in, especially if there is no place to clean them

Any sauces or spices that will make your personal feast experience better

Picnicking in the SCA

Sometimes, you may attend an event that doesn’t have a scheduled meal. Fighter practices, arts and science days and other daytrip events may be times when you need to have food on hand for yourself and your household. While yes, you can just bring a cooler and your canned beverages and plastic wrappers, upping your game with medieval-inspired foods helps encourage the keeping of atmosphere.

When planning these picnics, it’s important to consider a few key things.

Safe temperatures. If you are bringing dishes that cannot be kept out for long, you should consider some sort of cooler or accommodation. I like to keep the atmosphere by utilizing frozen cooler-intended blocks around any items in my basket that might need refrigeration - particularly anything involving eggs, cream, or meat. These can be concealed under a tablecloth over the top if you are concerned about appearances.

Dining themes. Bringing your cheeseburgers and candy bars isn’t quite what most medieval folks would have considered to be normal, though, as has been said many times, “you do you.” But there are plenty of ways to dine that evoke the atmosphere of the past without breaking the atmosphere.

The Ploughman’s Share. Popular in pubs in Western Europe and the U.K., this is just a hunk of some sort of bread, a chunk of meat of some sort, and a portion of cheese. You can achieve this for the kids with a slim sausage, a cheese stick, and a bread stick in a pouch and they will usually relish this idea. For adults, having a cutting board with a selected cheese, a sausage or chunk of roast beef, and a French loaf does quite nicely. Remember any condiments, such as mustard or butter, to make this more pleasant, and consider adding some more cheese.

The Italian. While tomatoes are an extremely late-period item, there are plenty of ways you can enjoy cold dining in the Italian fashion. Today, you can even pick up pre-made charcuterie boards that will get you a good portion of the way there. A selection of Italian cheese such as provolone or mozzarella, slices of prosciutto and pastrami, a handful of olives and pickled peppers, some focaccia or Italian bread, and a bottle of grape juice or wine, and you’re definitely a grade above peasant class. Grapes and lemons make an excellent addition in this theme.

The Northern European. Germanic culture has changed over time, but has long featured sausages! Select a couple of your favorite German sausages and some hard cheeses for slicing, brown breads and crackers to go with them, mustards and ale (or root beer for dry sites) and you have the beginnings of a great German-inspired meal. 

These are just a few examples. You might consider going French and offering French loaves with butter, sliced radishes, mushroom handpies, and a roasted chicken from the local deli alongside apples and soft cheeses. Or dive into a platter of Ottoman-inspired fare with olives, dates, apricots, flatbreads, hummus, and nuts. With a little preplanning, you can even make the cheapest of dishes into a personal feast - for instance, a thermos of boiling hot water in the morning will still be enough to use for ramen at lunchtime, which can be served alongside onigiri (Japanese-style sushi predecessor where bonito flakes or another filling are wrapped inside sushi vinegar-soaked rice and seaweed), a couple of boiled eggs soaked in soy sauce, and cold wonton-wrapped spring rolls. 

You’ll want to make sure you have anything you’ll need to serve on or with - plates, a cutting board and knife for cheeses or meats, vessels to drink from - but you can truly make yourself a great meal to enjoy without breaking the ambiance of an event.

Sideboarding

From time to time, you might attend an event where it’ll look like everyone is snacking, and that truly is the case. Particularly at Crown Lists and sometimes just at any event, there will be people who will create a sideboard of dishes that will be available over the course of a morning, afternoon, or even all day. These can also be sighted at vigils for soon-to-be-peers, a small, light buffet of hospitality for those who have come to speak with the vigilante. There are some protocols to this, but whether you’re the one setting one up or one enjoying the setout, sideboards are just a cool thing.

A sideboard by necessity is generally a selection of dishes that can be grazed upon. Shelf-stable items such as breads, fruit, cuts of easy to eat vegetables, and easy to use condiments are standard. These items should be safe to eat at the temperature of the day - if indoors, room temperature is fine, but for days when the temperatures exceed 80F outside, attention should be paid attention to how long these items are out.

Simple finger fare is not all that can be considered here. For instance, roasts of beef or entire roasted chickens can be showstoppers on the sideboard, showing the extravagance of the household that has set one up. Cheese plates, liquid refreshments, and even desserts are common.  For these occasions, disposable gear is usually available, but you should always bring your own cup.

I recently worked with my partner to set up a sideboard at a small local event, to share with the populace a taste of what our household was offering that day. In addition to the individually sliced cheeses, sliced breads, cream cheese, grapes, crackers, and small cakes, we featured items he smoked on our grill, particularly two large capon and two acorn squash. We found that people were not as accustomed to the protocol of coming to ask about the spread, and individually invited people to come taste what he had smoked and what we were glad to provide in a spread for all to sample throughout the afternoon.

A good rule of thumb with any sideboard is to ask first. In most cases, you’ll find the generous nature of the SCA in full evidence and be invited to dine. But in a few cases, there may be reasons this particular buffet is limited. Asking first ensures no faux pas has happened.

If you choose to create a sideboard yourself, be sure to ask before you set up. Sometimes halls can be crowded or tables limited. Working with the event staff can ensure you manage to create something that enhances your experience and the experience of others in the SCA.

***

If you have any questions about feasting, being fed or feeding others in the SCA, please feel free to reach out to me at tiedyetravels@gmail.com.

How to Feed a Prince on a Pauper's Pittance.

 (This is a class handout for a lesson I have taught in the past. I believe this is the 2010 version. Note the prices are a bit different now for what to expect for feasts. ~ K)

How To Feed A Prince on a Pauper’s Pittance 

Feast Research, Planning and Preparation in the SCA

An SCA feast can be many things.  It can be a chance to sit down and talk with friend. It can be a spectacle. It can be just dinner. It can be a buffet or table service or even individual service. It can feature food of any of dozens of time periods, cultures and regions.

But above all, it must be edible, ample, and served on time.

If you’ve thought about putting your name in the hat for an SCA feast or want to up your game, there are a lot of things you should consider.  After all, what we do when we feed people here might look like a simple catering gig or barbecue from the outside, but oftentimes it is far more complex.  Why?

The dreaded budget.

While you may pay $20 for a feast in another kingdom, or $15-20 a head for a meal in a restaurant, the average Gleann Abhannite pays $5-9 each for the chance to sit down to what might be a sumptuous course of dishes.  I wish I were kidding about that. 

How can you recreate a splendid feast, or even attempt one, on a small budget?  Thankfully, a lot of what we pay for when we sit down to a restaurant meal is labor. In the SCA, labor is usually free (there’s a catch to that) and with careful and smart planning, you can indeed create a memorable meal that captures that magic moment.

Step 1: Research

There are many that would argue that feast cooking is a service. I fall into that camp. The planning and execution of a feast can take dozens, even hundreds, of hours over several months. 

Many feast cooks are asked to provide a menu when an event is bid; unless that bid has been considered a very long time, this is a pretty high expectation.  Most feast cooks can at least give an idea of what they want to cook or tackle (ie, 14th Century French, or a broad Mediterranean feast covering many cultures), but you shouldn’t be expected to know just how much paprika you’re going to use.

Yes, you can just throw some food out there (this is common for fighting events where barbecuing might come into play). But there’s something incongruous about sitting around in finely researched and hand-sewn garb, chewing on a taco or a plate of ribs.

This is where research comes in.  Before you know what you’re going to cook, it pays to research what you want to cook.  The SCA has come a long way since Take A Thousand Eggs or More, but it is a good start if you are interested in cooking a basic SCA-style feast.  These days, there are so many other options.  You don’t have to redact (that’s taking a medieval recipe and figuring out its modern equivalency) but you can find recipes that have already been redacted.  Hooray, Internet!

It’s important to keep in mind the theme for an event.  It’s one thing to have a non-themed fighter’s collegium or Kingdom Arts & Science event where there’s no specific time period stated – in these cases, your canvas is broad, and you can do anything within reason (and budget).  But if you happen to have an autocrat who’s decided they want a specific time period (say, the reign of Henry VIII, or a Venetian salon, or a late period Japanese gathering), it’d do well for you to figure out what people ate at those times.

So do your reading and research before you get into planning your menu. 

Step 2:  Plan your attack

When deciding what you’re going to cook, you also need to think about how much to cook.  The average person can consume 20 ounces in a big meal.  However, those 20 ounces will be different from person to person.  Some will want more meat and some will want more starch. 

Variety is important in most feasts. With our ever-changing list of people who are allergic to different items, have dietary concerns such as diabetes, or who practice vegan or gluten-free lifestyles, it can be difficult to please everyone.  Most are satisfied with knowing what’s going to be served so they can plan accordingly, so be sure to publicize your finalized menu at least two weeks before the event.

Research doesn’t just mean cracking the books. Research also means getting out into the stores. Not just your Kroger store, my friends, but to each of your local stores. Check out discount goods. Search out ethnic groceries. Scan circulars. Compare online prices. Become familiar with the resources available to you.

See if you can find an ethnic equivalent to help you out.  Anything Mediterranean or Asian will have a correlating store in a bigger city.  Not only will these options afford you a greater selection of items that might not be in your regular store, some items may be cheaper (such as noodles at an Asian store, or spices at an Indian store).

Keep an eye on sale circulars, especially if you live in a city where there are competing stores.  Some grocery stores will honor prices in other grocery store circulars. If all these locations are nearby, it may serve you better to just hit each one.

For certain items you may need in large quantities, prepare to shop early and often.  For example – for my last feast and the other meals to be served that weekend, I needed 40 pounds of chicken thighs.  The local discount grocery store was offering said chicken for 77 cents a pound – a great deal less than the $3.29 a pound at Kroger. However, the store was only putting out 15 pounds at a time in its limited meat case – which required multiple visits.

There are other ways to save money and get things for free (or close to it), especially if you have plenty of advance notice of your feast.  Consider these options:

• Hunt or fish? Know someone who does? Arrange in advance to receive part of the bounty.
• Grow your own herbs, spices and vegetables.
• Ask for donations.  I have a working relationship with Petit Jean Meats, and sometimes receive items through the company.  A single whole ham will provide enough breakfast meat for 100 people, so that’s what I usually ask for.  Riceland Rice will sometimes offer donation of its products, if you’re willing to drive to Stuttgart.

If you don’t have a lot of room for food storage, make a plan to pick up refrigerables immediately before the event.  Dry goods such as rice, beans, noodles, etc. can be stored anywhere in your home that’s dry.

Step 3:  Service

We’ve fallen into a pattern with a goodly number of feasts these days – where the first course is bread, cheese and fruit; the second and third courses are meats, starches and vegetables; and the final course is dessert.  It can be pretty repetitive and expected.

But the way we serve feast was not the typical service for most cultures.  For instance, passed dishes and eating on banana leaves on the ground was common for central and southern India; a sideboard loaded with food where individuals picked up what they wanted was common in parts of norther Europe.  When you research a culture, pay attention not only to what was served, but how it was served.  Were there dishes that were made only from seasonal ingredients? Were those ingredients available at the same time of year for your feast? 

Taking the effort to provide service in the style of the culture that begat the cuisine of your chosen theme can change a typical feast into an extraordinary feast.

One of the biggest hassle I see for new feast cooks is forgetting how a dish will be served.  I do end up in kitchens a lot, managing plating – because while there may be enough food planned to feed everyone, dividing and plating said dishes (especially when there’s limited space) can be challenging.  

How food will be served at table is another important thing to consider.  A whole chicken for a table of eight sounds about right on the surface, but what if no one brought a knife to cut that chicken?  How will you account for preventing cross-contamination?  And can you manage for food allergies?

The preparation for serving your feast should be just as important as preparing the food itself. Create your game plan before you tackle your feast. Create lists of what you need to bring to site. Create a timetable to cook all items.  And then make sure you send out every dish.

Step 4:  Labor and Creation

There’s nothing sadder than watching a feast cook attempt to put together a big feast by themselves when they expected help.  Calling for volunteers from the populace can work, but it’s not something you should expect.  Things happen. There will be individuals who want to fight in that tourney or take that class or participate in that activity.  

Just like if you were in a mundane kitchen, “hire” your staff.  Find competent individuals to surround you.  When I prepare for a feast, I contact different individuals to come help.  I have a baker, a butcher (or cutter), and a dishwasher at the ready – and I make sure they’re in the know about my plans.  

Heaven forbid something happen to me, but between my feast recipes, my lists and the individuals on my team, I know the feast would go on even if I wasn’t there.

Having a team also makes other things simpler – such as making sure you have enough knives, bowls, and other kitchen equipment.  Sadly, few of our site kitchens come complete with all the things we need for our feasts (it’s always good to take a site tour if you’re using a new site, and to compare notes with people who have cooked in site kitchens we often use).  Team members also mean there’s someone available to make a last minute store run if you need it.

If you have the opportunity, choose your own hall steward and make sure that person is well informed of how you want to serve the feast as well as every dish.  This person is your direct communication between the populace and your kitchen (and yes, I have hall stewarded three of my feasts!).

The most important thing concerning your staff – they’re volunteers, they’re not being paid in money, so please pay them in appreciation.  BE KIND.  Be alert, have a game plan and be prepared to make adjustments if you need to.

HERE’S AN IMPORTANT NOTE!
So, you hate getting a cold cheeseburger at a drive-thru, right? Or if your ice cream is starting to melt. Or… let’s face it, while breads and crackers and hard cheeses aren’t hurt by a few minutes of sitting, most foods need to be served in a specific amount of time.  

The SCA is well known for its very flexible schedules.  Add in a court or a ceremony and the sliding scale of time, and a feast might get started very, very late.  That’s not good eats.

Talk with your sovereign or baronage before an event and express your food concerns.  Many will work with you to ensure that proceedings have concluded before the scheduled point of your feast.  I’ve been very fortunate to have crowns (Her Majesty Ilissa the Nightwatcher way back in 2001 told a crowd court would end on time whether people liked it or not because she wanted some of my stuffed oysters!) and baronages work with me to make sure we weren’t eating at oh-dark-thirty.

On that same note, be prepared on time.  If this means you need to swap a course or dish out, that’s fine too. Just keep your hall steward in the know so they can share that information.

Step 5:  PROFIT!

Er, no, not monetary profit.  That’s not why we do SCA feasts.

In this case, I mean profit in the completion of a great feast.  There’s nothing quite like the feeling of having a whole room of satisfied diners after a feast, or hearing about your feast (in a good way) from someone who wasn’t there who heard about it from others.

If something goes wrong, keep going. If a dish doesn’t turn out, don’t be afraid to scrap it (NEVER served burned food, unless it’s crème Brule, because crème Brule is burned to start with).  Keep your cool.  

And remember – you volunteered for this!

A Class on Mughal Women's Dress.

I finally got to go to Pennsic for the first time this year, and was able to teach a class twice on what I'd learned in my Mughal women's clothing research. I'm continuing to develop the class and plan to evolve it over time, as research will hopefully reveal more.

But this is the culmination of about six years worth of research. I've scoured museums and the internet for any images of women during the time of the first three Mughal emperors - and have come up with about 50 examples. The ones I utilized in my class were all obtained with permissions or were in the public domain - others aren't as accessible, sadly. 

I'm sharing this link with you here, so you can check out the book. And when I say book, I mean 70+ pages that include these images and my look into each of them to determine what it was Mughal women wore.

Please feel free to download.

24 Women in a Page of the Timur Nama.

 

The piece is "Maka Agha Khanam wife of Prince Rukh granting an interview to Tuku Khanam complete" - folio 72a, c of the Timur Nama - Akbar's commissioned work done by his studio of illuminators, chronicalling the life of his great-great-grandfather, Timur. It appears in the book "Imaging sound : an ethnomusicological study of music, art, and culture in Mughal India" by Bonnie C. Wade in 1998, and is apparently in the provenance of the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in India. There's a copy at the Internet Archive, where you can borrow the book electronically. This image is on page 304 of the webdoc. 

I have isolated 24 women in the miniature, to peer closer at their hats. There are several different types of hats here, along with other head coverings and a variety of clothes. While this does represent Babur's court, these images were painted a half century later, and I suspect the fashion of 1580 is of influence in the clothing worn.

Here are the images.

I may comment more on this later (I'm on deadline) but I was just so blown away by the variations in this single miniature, I had to post.

On the Holding Together of the SCA in Troublesome Times.

 I haven't posted here in some time, and I do apologize. After the announcement of my elevation, the duties I took on in various SCA roles ate much of my time, as did the mundane responsibilities I have to uphold.

And then there was the pandemic, and the bigger concerns were surviving when assignments, appearances and everything about my mundane job disappeared. Surviving has been the utmost priority for myself and my family.

What's kept me gong is the friendships that have been forged through nearly three decades in the SCA - just simple check-ins, mailings, recipe shares, questions answered back and forth, all bits of life to show proof of living, even if it's not SCA related. The boxes and bins packed for Gulf Wars have been relocated out of the way, projects put up for the time being. The hobby we enjoy took a backseat to the day-to-day work of adjusting to this new and (hopefully) temporary normal. 

The sudden shock of our involuntary lifestyle changes has worn off. Six months have passed, and outside of some martial practices just approved by our Crown today, there will be no official events until February or later, as deemed by the Board of Directors after much careful consideration and input from the populace. There's still too much at stake without a vaccine, particularly for an organization with a heady number of older participants who may be more endangered by the COVID-19 virus.

Our membership has not all remained dormant, From the numerous in-garb dance performances each kingdom rallied around, to video how-tos, online lessons and even a virtual Pennsic, the SCA manages to keep in motion as a whole.

This isn't an easy time by any means. Politics in the mundane world have stirred up tensions by people who now imagine themselves on sides, even though we are all citizens of our countries (for those who come to this without SCA knowledge, we are members of a worldwide club with nearly 30,000 paid members and perhaps at least that many who participate without those member credentials) and fellow human beings. The pandemic's wrath has infected tens of millions and killed hundreds of thousands around the globe, damaging economies, causing job losses and financial difficulties, and leaving many scrambling to cover the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter. Natural disasters such as fires across western America and successive hurricanes striking the states along the Gulf Coast. The death of George Floyd while in police custody ignited protests around the globe calling for an end to police brutality, and those protests were countered by others for a variety of reasons. It's a time of great stress, to say the least.

The SCA itself has gone through some navel-gazing and recognition of faults these past few years as well. A succession of moments, errors or intended, have been amplified across our Society in ways heretofore unimagined, thanks to the prevalence and saturation of social media in our recreated medieval world. Many of these actions, which I will not enumerate here, would have at one point in time been mere rumors, shared months or even years after the fact. The effect of mass communication spread is an almost instant availability of knowledge, regardless of distance. 

A short time ago, the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. addressed many of these issues brought to its Board of Directors with the creation of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. I will not parse its mission; rather, I'll share it here thusly, as included on this page of the SCA.org site:

 The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Office is committed to promoting the values of inclusion throughout the SCA. The focus is equity, which is just and fair inclusion into an organization in which all can participate, prosper, benefit, and reach their full potential., 

The DEI office develops activities and training to cultivate a climate in which all members are treated fairly and able to thrive in a welcoming atmosphere. This work is compliant with nondiscrimination laws, ADA laws, the SCA mission statement, and our governing documents, especially our policies on harassment, bullying, and hate speech.

There are now DEI officers in every kingdom. My opinion on the office is one of support; it is one born of our times, where bullying, racism, sexism and ableism has come to the forefront of our mundane worlds as being in need of addressing. We are, as a Society, a microcosm of the world we live in. 

On June 2nd, 2020, the SCA Officer of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Baroness Zahra Tesfaye, posted a letter to the corporate website, concerning Our Core Values. You may read it here.

I share all of that information to set the scene for the current kerfluffle. A person by the Facebook name of Ogier L'Armurier took it upon himself to join kingdom Facebook lists across the Known World. On the morning of Wednesday, September 16, 2020, this individual posted a letter attributed to Countess Brithwynn Artur of Trimaris on his personal Facebook page, then shared it to, as far as I can tell, every kingdom. Within two hours, he had locked comments on the shared posts. Here in Gleann Abhann, the post and a counterpost were both deleted from the kingdom list.

The response, SCA-wide, has been considerable.

It has also been heartbreaking. 

I have watched responses pop onto my Facebook wall, comments added to posts, and blog posts shared with all sorts of outpouring opinion on the matter. It has been wrenching to see friends state they're done with the SCA, the very organization where our friendships blossomed, because of emotions that are being churned by these times. I have lost the connections of friends on my social media platforms as they suddenly and with deliberation cull those associated from the SCA from their friends lists. 

Yesterday, I had decided to turn my back on the drama of the moment because my current situation demands rest and recuperation. But one of my newer friends posted today his anguish at the drama. And I found myself typing a response. This is that response.

I think it bears pointing out - one individual who is not a member of our kingdom, took it upon himself to join the Facebook group of every Kingdom in the Known World, then posted a letter from another individual on his wall and shared it to all of those lists. Within two hours, he cut off responses on said posts. While the letter came from a countess who lives in Trimaris, it was one individual out of Calontir -Cape Girardeau, Missouri - who completed this action, presumably to rile up members of the SCA. One. Person.

Is our union, our Society, our family so fragile that it might be rendered asunder by a single troll? Friendships of months or friendships of decades, dissolved by such an obvious ploy to damage us?

We are at a point of unique stress and hardship across our lands. A pandemic, lost jobs, financial hardships, natural disasters and the very fact of not being able to visit with each other, face to face at a scheduled event - all have upped the level of our stress and may have reduced our abilities to give each other the grace our patience normally allows us.

We are better than this. Things are qoing to eventually improve. I advise us each to step back, recall what it is that has brought us together and kept us returning, and hold on to it. If you need to step back from the churned rumblings right now, it is ok. Better to take that breath than demolish the good found in an organization that has held on these 54 years.

Maybe I was hasty to post that. But frankly, I;m tired. Tired of putting off checking the kingdom list to see how folks are holding on because I don't want to feel that uncomfortable ache in my gut of online fighting over such things. Tired of feeling like I can't really post anything at all without judgement. Tired of seeing mundane political conflicts yanked into the one hobby that provides an escape from the same political conflicts in the real world. Tired of... well... 

You see, I've been at a point of SCA burnout for some time now. My desire to see deeds taken up and done well has overridden my own need for rest. This Gulf Wars in particular was going to be a challenge of scheduling, responsibilities, childcare and transportation. When it was abruptly cancelled, and all the mundane responsibilities I had quickly discharged, I collapsed. I already knew I was about to take a break from event attendance and office holding so I could concentrate on keeping us financially afloat. 

It would, if times were as they were in the past, be a good point to reconsider SCA life as a whole and perhaps take a hiatus. I would have likely spent a couple of months with the occasional check-in on what was happening to see what was going on, and perhaps even finished up my A&S project to show at Kingdom A&S. A breath, and then a return, because the SCA is my social club.

Instead... 2020 happened. 

And believe me, I understand and support the need to address these issues. I do, and of wrongs done in the past. I have watched fellow members of the LGBTQ community find themselves uncomfortable with fighting in the SCA and with cutting remarks made that seemed innocuous to the person saying such remarks. I have in the past brought Black friends to events who, when approached to come to the next event, graciously shared "it's not my thing" and only years later, when these conversations came up, admitted they didn't feel like they had a place here. I've had my own #metoo moments, faced up to the individuals who instigated them, received counseling to address the way I countered my self-blame with reframing the past situation as something acceptable to others. And I've continued to push back against moments of sexism that one who's an outspoken, audacious woman encounters when dealing with an evolving group.

My response has always been to stick with things, because I believe change in the organization can only come from within. I still believe that, though I've had my own heartaches over the years, some of no one's fault, some at the hands and mouths of others. I've persisted, because the cost of leaving has meant deserting the one community that has welcomed me for 29 years with all my flaws and oddness.

I still believe in The Dream. And watching the comments fly between different individuals close to me, individuals who greet each other with hugs, who shake hands after each good fight, who stand side by side washing dishes after feast and who teach and are taught the many skills and arts fostered in the Society, shakes me. I doubt that many of these words would be hurled back and forth were we all able to sit down and break bread together again.

It makes me angry that there are people in our Society more interested in foaming derision into divisions, loudly, at a distance, than in attempting to fix things from the inside. It would be so easy for our corporation to be dissolved, should care be forsaken in its maintenance. And regardless the problems that are being addressed today, without our membership, the SCA would not exist.

These are my opinions. They matter not a wee bit in the order of things outside of my house and household, no matter my rank. My actions, however, will; be to continue to do the things I can to help hold the Society together as best I can, and to perform good works, speak and act on kindness as I can.