Are ya'll in a play?

Believe it or not, this is the most commonly asked question of members of the SCA. Since we frequently travel to events and patronize local businesses while dressed in our "garb", we routinely get stopped and asked if we are in a play. The real answer is kinda yes. We are in "costume" and we are "playing" at living in the medieval time frame, we just don't have a stage or audience. This is our hobby and we enjoy re-enacting the medieval ages. So the next time you see a 14^th century nobleman buying ice at the local convienant store, it just may be one of us. Say hi!

What is the SCA?

The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is a not-for-profit educational organization devoted to the study of pre-seventeenth century Western Culture. It concentrates on the European Middle Ages, Renaissance, and members work to recreate the arts and skills of this era. Some members study the Middle East and explore the interaction between Europe and Asia during the period under study.

An "anachronism" is something that is out of its proper time frame. "Creative anachronism" takes the best qualities of the Middle Ages and selectively re-creates them in the modern world.

Geographically, the SCA covers the globe with the majority of its members living in the United States and Canada. As of the end of 2005, there are 19 kingdoms, each with its own King and Queen chosen on the field of combat. The kingdoms are independent of each other, and there is a considerable amount of variation among them. Each kingdom has a body of written "law" established by the King and Queen to define the specific rules it follows, and a larger body of generally accepted custom that gives each kingdom its unique personality. All the kingdoms build their laws and customs on a framework called the Corpora, which sets overall rules for the Society.

Kingdoms are divided into local and regional chapters called principalities, baronies, shires, marches, cantons, colleges, and ridings. The names of these divisions reflect the size of the membership and /or the larger division through whom the local group reports.

What do ya'll do?

As members of the SCA, we attempt to re-create the enjoyable aspects of life during the medieval ages. Each member gets involved in different ways and aspects of our Society. A large part of our Society revolves around the art of combat that we attempt to recreate with armor and styles used during the medieval era. Others delve into the skills artisans of the time period would have needed to survive and thrive.

So, on any given day in our Society you will find any number of its members learning the arts of medieval combat, costuming, brewing, chivalry, leather working, wood working, metal working, heraldry, calligraphy, illumination, and any number of other interesting skills. Participation in our Society is only limited by our members will to persue the historical aspect of life during the medieval ages.

How do I contact you?

Information on how and when we may be contacted is located on the Contact page of our web site. If you need further information, please feel free to e-mail our Web Minister with any questions you may have.

Where can I find ya'll?

If you want to come out and see what we are all about, please come by one of our locally held weekly or monthly meetings. Our group holds fighters practice weekly on Sunday afternoon from Noon-3:00 p.m. at Tanner Park in Warner Robins, GA. If you are interested in trying it out we even have "loaner" armor for our new friends. Once a month on the 3rd Monday from 7:30-9:00 p.m., we hold our business meeting at the Flint Building at 900 GA Hwy 96 in Warner Robins, GA. Here we meet to discuss the ins and outs of our shire's routine business. Also monthly there is an Arts & Sciences class usually taught by one of our many skilled members at various locations. Please visit the Calendar page for exact times and locations.

If you are not in the Middle Georgia area and want to find a group local to you, please visit our Kingdom web site if you are in the Southeast www.meridies.org or our Society web site if you are farther afoot www.sca.org.

Can I play?

Absolutely, we are always glad to meet new friends. The activities offered through our Society satisfy a wide range of interest and anyone should find no problems finding some way to play. Now we do have certain safety and age restrictions on the full tilt fighting we perform, but do offer youth combat activites for our younger generation. The SCA is a wonderful place to get the entire family involved in an active outgoing Society dedicated to education and research. Come on out and join us.

How much will it cost me?

The SCA is a non-profit organization that does not require participants to pay in order to play. There are benefits to being a registered member of the Society, but again there is no requirement. Members who wish to purchase an annual membership receive the Kingdom newsletter from the region they register in as well as a discount on event fees.

Weekend events hosted by our groups do normally have a per person door fee that varies depending on your length of stay with us. Please see the "event flyers" on the Calendar link for more details.

Do ya'll put on Demonstrations?

We delight in being able to educate and show off our skills to anyone who has an interest. All it takes is someone contacting our Chatelaine and we'll be happy to help. The demonstration may be as large or as small as you wish, ranging from full blown fighting tournaments to as simple as discussing various aspects of the medieval life. If your group is interested in a live demonstration, please contact us.

Why are ya'll dressed so funny?

In our Society, members take on a persona that would have lived during a certain period of the medieval age. Part of playing at being this "persona" involves making and wearing clothing that is similar to what people would have worn in that time period. We call our clothing "garb" and attempt to make it as historically accurate as we can.

What about my kids?

The SCA is a wonderful place for families to enjoy themselves. Being an educational society, we pride ourselves on teaching the younger generation about the history, life, and times of the medieval ages while being able to have fun re-living them. We are a hands on society so our youth get the opportunity to participate in family oriented fun while actually learning something about history. So, if you have kids and are interested in what we do, feel free to bring them on out for some fun.

Hey! Remove my picture... name... etc...

If you have any concerns regarding any content published on these pages, please contact our Web Minister to have it removed. We will not intentionally publish personal information on any member or participant of the SCA without prior written permission. Please review our Societies Electronic Publishing Guidlines for further clarification.

HOLD!

The SCA uses this term to mean "STOP ALL ACTIVITY" there is a safety related issue. You'll hear it mostly during our fighting activites, but occasionally elsewhere. Marshals and participants may call a "HOLD" at anytime during our fighting if there is a safety related issue at hand such as getting to close to spectators, or a piece of armor failure.

A&S

"A&S" is short of the Arts and Sciences. We use this term to represent the study how things were accomplished during the medieval ages. Artisan skills such as dancing, armoring, wood working, cooking, etc... fall into this category.

Mundanes

The Society uses the term "Mundanes" to refer to non-participants in our Society. It is not meant as a derogatory term, just our reference to people not engaged in the SCA.

Garb

What we call our costumes or clothing.

Event

Normally refers to a weekend festival organized by a group local to the area where other memebers of the Society are invited to participate in the activites. These may include fighting tournaments, A&S classes or competitions, merchanting opportunities, feasts, and various types of reverly. These normally span a weekend, but some "Wars" last for a week or two.

Demo

Our term for a demonstration of our skills and activities. Anytime we put on an organized show of our activities for a group, we call it a "Demo".