Welcome to the Rialto.  This conference is about the S.C.A. (Society for
Creative Anacronism) and all this Medieval (or from 600 AD to 1600 AD).

Rialto is Italian for market/meeting place and is also used by the folks
on Use-Net to refer to the group rec.org.sca.  I will occasionally pull
things from Use-Net and post them here if I think that they will be of
general interest.

96 responses total.

Ever been to the Rialto Cafe in Ferndale?

No, I didn't know there was one.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks.

Yeah, its on Woodward.

 and... you can get a lot of food for a little money.

like about .005 oz. of hacksilver?

Hmm, this seems to be a very active place...

that's why I'm encouraging bhelliom and eeyore to jump in here and liven it up.
I haven't seen anything from glenda in a long time.

YEah, we really should start some new items or something; get it going lively 
again.  



Anyone have any ideas?

actually, I have a question.  I had heard that the SCA had various 
splinter groups who are interested in various  periods of  history
(e.g.) ante-bellum South, Revolutionary war era, Victorian England,
and even Sci-fi future stuff.  If this is so, how come the Rennaisance people
seem to be so much more visible?  Because these "faires" are 
money-makers, or the participants exhibitionists, or just better at
keeping their activities from getting boring after awhile?  I'm interested
in hearing anyone's ideas.  

I'm not certain these other groups can be called splinters of the SCA. We
may have been first (I don't know), but the others have independent 
existence.  Now, there are actual SCA splinters, but most of them are doing
more-or-less Medieval periods: the Norselanders, the Kingdom of Acre, Markland,
to name a few.  The other groups are smaller, that may be a factor.  The
Renn Faires are more visible because they have to be- they depend on the
"tourist trade" to make the money that is their real reason for being. Hm,
most rennies that I know (as opposed to the managers who are, well, managers)
do seem to be pretty extroverted and flamboyant.

Thanks for filling me in.  Just thought I'd mention something you all might
find interesting.  I live in Jerusalem, Israel, and there are a  number
of people here that are devoted to researching and "reliving" 
Temple-era customs, dress, religious rituals, etc.  They call themselves
3rd Temple (even though there were only two temples during the biblical era
) because they  believe that there will be a 3rd temple built when the 
messiah comes at some point in the future, and they want to be ready.  
I realize they sound like religious fanatics, but some of these people are 
actually very smart and interesting.   

The other thing I thought I'd ask is are all the different type of people
represented among the SCA? (my husband and I were joking that during
the middle ages our anscestors were getting burned at the stake for 
being the wrong religioun

No, not all the fifferent types are equally represented (and this a im my 
opinion a good thing, for the reason you stated).  All scadians are by default
gentry, not common folk, although some take common personae.  Additionally, 
many SCAdians take personae  which have nothing to do with their their 
heritage, and tend to locate their personae in certain times and cultures 
which promote diversety.   Most Jewish personae, for instance, are either 
Khazar or of some other culture which would allow them personal fredom.

I'm still a little confused.  Are you saying that Jews involved with SCA
don't take on Jewish personae because it wouldn't be fun to relive the reality
of the life Jews actually led during those times? I'm not familiar with the
term "khazar"--what is that?  What about other religious groups that were
hanging around in that period of history?  Anchorites, etc.?  Do SCAdians try
to take on "clerical" roles, or maily the fun ones where they get to joust and
fence and so forth?  Just interested.  Thanks

No, jews often don't take Jewish personae because they are more interested 
in taking on  persona distinctly different from what they are.  There is 
also at least one person who has a Jewish persona, but is not Jewish in
real life.  Additionally, while many SCAdians preform activities that
are not appropriate to thier personae, many also attempt to  chose
personae that are appropoate to what they wish to do.  Because of
this, the majority of personae chosen (or at lesat well reaserched
personae) tend to be of or from periods that are in one way or another
less restrictive.  For instance, three notable Jewish personae I
remember are a woman from 13 centurey [spain?  I don't remember]
(where the law was that Jews could dwear anything except waht the
normal populace wore, so she had excuse to mix clothing from different
periods that her persona would know about), a Kazar (the Kazars were a
nation of barbarian warriors who converted to Jewdaism about the 9th
century, and were finally wiped out by the Rus in the 13th.   This
allows hm liscence to play a Jewish warrior and a ruler.), and a
Jewish merchant, born in China (obvious).  
        While "unusual" personae, like clergymen and monks, are rare,
they certainly exist.  Additionally, occasionally members will make
recourse to multiple personae in order to have an "in persona" excuse
to do everything they wish.

Thanks for all the information, I'm going to go look up the kazars in
the encyclopedia Judaica.  Good luck!

If people are looking for splinter groups from the SCA, perhaps you should
post to the living history newsgroups? If you have a CIS account, there's a
forum just for talking about living history. <grin>

        Pattie

what's CIS?

CIS = CompuServe Information Service.

        Pattie

  Hello all. I really have only one reason for joining tis that I'm looking for
  refrences to warrior sociatys and other modern groups (like the SCA) that
  pratice ac warrior skills. I know that the SCA does do fighter training and
  if any one could g"."
line on on when and where they meet I would greatly appreicate it. also any
ideas on what a modern warrior sociaty should consist of would help.  I'm a
little wary of the local SCA (no offense ment) just a couple of bad experiences
in the  past. Thank"."" help"" :help"" :!"


qute
";?"
"."

Well hello Peter; I don't recognize the name, so hopefully I was not one of
those bad experiences. :-)  We have weekly meetings on North Campus in the 
EECS building. (First floor off the atrium, I believe rm 1301) There are 
workshops at 7 and the meeting starts at 8.  We are not currently holding 
fighting practice due to a lack of a site; but we can help you get ready for
when we start.

Please do not be too hesitant.  A couple of bad experiences does not a bad
organization make.  I am sure you have had good and bad experiences with just
about any group you have encountered.  Heck, by now most of those people may 
gone anyway.:-)  You may call me at 677-7817 if you want more info. Or just
post more here...

Oscad

Hey Robert!  Didn't know you were still reading Grex, you haven't posted
in a while (where I read, anyway).  I miss you guys!  (nor do I expect to
get my life back anytime soon...) Ah, Strider, with what time do you
figure on doing SCA/ fight practice? <chuckle>
say hi! for me, please, at a meeting sometime.

Peter,

By all means come and sit in on a meeting. The meeting Monday has a 
video of Coronation, and other things, and the following Monday has a
workshop on sewing skirts and cloaks.  These workshops end at 8pm roughly,
and there are announcements and such afterward. Then it's just social. :)

WHat was the bad experience, if you want to share it?

        Pattie Rayl, chronicler

More than a year!  this is a quiet conference.

At Grex Night Out somebody had some kind of medieval suplly catalog, with
weapons but also jewelry, clothes, etc.  

Any idea where I might get one?  I'm going to send mail to who I can remember,
too.

To reach Museum Replicas the number is 1-800-883-8838.

I heard that they are kinda expensive as these things go.
The guy with the catalogue suggested "look in here and find
things you like, and then search them out from other sources 
where they are less expensive."

I'm just a "cool catalog" freak, so I don't mind if the prices are high since
I'm unlikely to buy much, if anything.

Yeah, I just like to look at the stuff.  Partly I am getting ideas for
what and how to make my own stuff...  :)

Check out the web, theres a variety of places having weeb sites that 
cater to that kinda stuff, and you can browse their catalogs
online.

Cool.  But the print has pictures, the web doesn't for me right now.  :(

So why all this emphasis on English medieval style?  Where can I learn about
being a German or Norwegian medieval dude?  I guess I'd like to play Merlin,
as seen in the 1970's film Excalibur, except of course that it isn't at all
accurate.  Maybe some kind of whacked out dangerous cleric?

Not to meantion that the SCA supports neither fictional chars
nor historical ones. And it isn't a roleplay8ing organization;
though we do have personae.  NO real empasis on English -- we have folks in 
garb from romaan to italian ren to Saxon to Jewish Kazar, and do dance from
Italian Ren as well as English country (dance is limited by what is actually
available for reasearch, so we don't do dance pre-ren, just 'casue we can't
find any).
        Accuracy is encouraged, though not required, but deliberate fantasy
stuff is suually frowned apon (no elf ears, no vampire fangs, etc).
        Still lots of fun, since we are more defined by what we DO do than
what we don't.

Hello!  I'm here finally.  I was looking at the cflist and came across this.
I think I'll hang out for a while.  =)

BTW, I just got a catalog from "Atlanta Cutlery", and it looks like the same
exact outfit that does "Museum Replicas", only things are significantly
cheaper.  Hard to tell if some of the things are the same or not, and there
is a lot of more recent stuff (Civil War, etc), but it is supposedly also
really high quality.  Lots of hunting knives, but a few nice swords.

I would be intrested in seeing that.  :)

Theres a lotta nice places.  Try Smokey Mountain Knifeworks for the really
good bargains though.  They also have grab bags stuffed full of little
blades/shurikens etc that are neat.

Scott:  Atlanta Cutlery is the parent corporation of Museum Replicas; their
swords are usually closeouts that had their more expensive heyday in the MR
catalog.

Wow. 1997 on the post before this one. Does anyone still read/post anything
in rialto ?

People still -read-; nobody seems to post, though.  We've had some active 
threads more recently than 1997, though.

But if no one is posting, what is there to read?  ;)

So who here is currently involved in the SCA ?
I've been ot a few fighting practices at the Union but lack of time has
limited my involvement to that so far.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss