Link Highlight: The SCA

I'm running low on links to highlight. Of course, I really should add a bunch more links...

The SCA is the Society for Creative Anachronism. We're a bunch of pre-1600s re-enactors/re-creators. The SCA has been around for over 40 years, has over 30,000 members, and has been described as the largest paramilitary organization in the world.

You'll note that we were started in the 1960's, and if you think about it that's not very surprising. The SCA is composed of people who would rather spend time in a different era - though the vast majority of us would rather bring modern plumbing along.

The 30,000 comes from the SCA's official website. I think that number is based on official membership, which is not required for most activities, and thus significantly understates our numbers. Quite a lot of people more involved than I am are not official members. Pennsic, our largest event, annually has over 10,000 people in attendance. True, we draw some people from other groups for that event, but still - that's a third of our membership.

The paramilitary thing is even more questionable. True, we teach and practice the use of various martial arts, most of which are much closer to the realities of combat than, say, modern fencing. On the other hand 'paramilitary' to me implies organization. Now, in theory, we've got organization. There's the SCA as a whole, its 19 kingdoms, their hundreds of baronies, shires, and principalities, and so forth. Despite that, I have never seen a large group of people less well organized than the SCA. If you're lucky, the rough schedule for an event will be available a week beforehand. If a moderate miracle happens, the schedule will be accurate to within half an hour. More frequently, some things on the schedule won't happen, a lot that weren't scheduled will, and at least one or two things will be off by more than an hour. And this is considered normal and acceptable. Some people fight for their household, some for their barony, some only for their kingdom, and some for whoever gives them the most cookies and beer that day.

Now, can you imagine trying to get a group like that to do, well, anything as a coordinated whole? A well regulated militia we ain't.

The thing I love about the SCA is the feeling that I am in a place that is much more positive than the world tends to be. More courteous, more chivalric, happier, more free. Salute your worthy opponent before you fight. Share a drink with them afterwards and laugh about how you really blew THAT move.

This is not to say that the SCA is composed only of the best people, simply that the bell curve of human quality is noticeably shifted from what I find in everyday life. Are we insane? Possibly. But perhaps, to quote Man of La Mancha: "To surrender to dreams - this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all - -to see life as it is and not as it should be. "