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BS: Re-enactors?
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: pict Date: 26 Oct 00 - 06:58 PM Harpgirl there wouldn't be many voting against war if their country was attacked by a foreign force intent on destroying it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: GUEST,mousethief (at the library) Date: 26 Oct 00 - 07:14 PM It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, and those who have no swords can still die upon them. --Tolkien
Alex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Gervase Date: 27 Oct 00 - 05:17 AM Andy, It is indeed the great Jon Price from Lord Saye andSele's, now soberly senior in the archaeology faculty at Durham (where Alastair is currently cataloguing the theology library...don't ask). As for the more general question of why re-enact, the point is two-fold and contradictory - to connect and to escape. To connect to the people who actually did such things and lived through events and experiences that, for many, mean little other than "boring bloody history" (Which is why, rather than re-enactment, many now prefer the term "living history", and in 90 per cent of events today, that has little to do with warfare). To escape because, for me, galumphing around the English and Scottish countryside when little more than a teenager in pursuit of booze, ballads and bawds was little short of bliss! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: GUEST,Ole Bull Date: 27 Oct 00 - 10:32 AM Our crew, 22 Va Vol., began CW reenacting some twenty five years ago. We often brought the banjos and bluegrass to the campfire nightlife. Authenitcity is often reserved for military matters. We decided to change that. We now do the "Ethiopian Serenaders" instead. http://www.monumental.com/sanfords/reconst.html Besides we're too old and fat now to run around a confederate "militubbies." Living History is more of an education for the participant. On the field amid the smoke and noise one acheives insights not often recognized by the one viewing from the ivory tower. Not to mention what I have learned about American Music! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Uncle Jaque Date: 27 Oct 00 - 11:37 AM It's one thing to READ about History... quite another to LIVE it! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: GUEST,Lynn T Date: 27 Oct 00 - 02:40 PM Agreed, Lindsay! There is something really connected about making a pouch with tablet-woven edges that looks and handles just like the example found in the 1400's London mud, or making a gown dyed with the same dye/mordant recipe cited in the 1350's guild records that hangs and makes the wearer stand just like the image in the Duc de Berry manuscript miniature, or cooking a dinner using the foodstuffs, menu and spice combinations specified in le Menagier de Paris to support a particular balance of humours. It says we've "done it right" , at least this little piece, and gives a deeper insight into how people really lived then, day to day. "Living history" is the right name, not "reenactment" -- I want to know how they did it and how they lived it! Lynn |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Banjer Date: 28 Oct 00 - 04:38 AM My unit is the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, U.S. or the Rockbridge Virgina Light Artillery, C.S.A. We are equipped to either impression. Have been reenacting since 91. We keep the cannon in the garage, much to the amusement of our neighbors. I take historical accuracy seriously and maintain an authentic camp when in the field. LEJ, I undersatnd your thoughts. We have done reenactments on a few actual battle sites and considered it an honor to be able to tell the story of those who were actually there. It has a different feel when portraying a battle on the very site that it took place. Incedently, we portray the units of family ancestors. My wife's ggguncle James W. Butler signed up with the 1st Pa Vol Inf at the age of 17 in 1861 and served with various units till he retired in 1899, a 38 year veteran! There is allegedly a family member on my side that served with Rockbridge. I have seen his name on rosters but have yet to determine exactly how he fits in to the genealogy. I believe he, like our Union ancestor, will turn out to be a ggguncle. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 29 Oct 00 - 09:03 AM It's not all blokes either, I was surprised at the number of women involved, and even now, my best friend dresses up in woollen gowns and trudges round Warwick castle, but she does it for the living history kick - her job is in museums, and she arranged several of these days as part of her job. Eventually she got involved with it herself, and got me involved as seamstress.... English Heritage are particularly pedantic when it comes to their re-enactors clothing, everything has to be authentic. Ever handstitched an entire wardrobe?? LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Bluebeard Date: 29 Oct 00 - 09:07 PM I happen to have a fascination with the 19th Century. My wife reckons my re-enacting friends and I very likely lived through the period in a previous life. Been a Civil War period re-enactor since 1991 with the American Civil War Historical Re-enactment Society based in Southern Ontario. Members portray, as accurately as possible, a Southern unit..10th Louisiana, two Federal impressions, 49th New York and 10th Iowa and our artillery group swing both ways. We also have a medical group and several civilians. Playing music around the campfire led to three of us becoming an active band playing music of the time and also 1840's and 1850's. Going down to play at Fort Branch, North Carolina next weekend. We just don't re-enact war but the whole time period. Research and authenticity are important and it's a great feeling to teach a group of kids their own heritage through Living History. And it is SO much fun ! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: GUEST Date: 30 Oct 00 - 05:03 AM Liz, ever counted the number of bloody buttons on a 17th Century cassock? Imagine doing the best part of 200 buttons and buttonholes by hand! Took me bloody ages when I was about 19, but it made me the man I am today (blind, with swollen fingers and a yearning for zips and velcro!). And, Fibula, for most living history devotees, the maxim is "give me authenticity or give me death". As Lynn states, its only by wearing the clothes in the way they were worn, eating the food, sleeping on the bedding and - just sometimes - enduring the lice, ticks and other parasites that allows us fully to connect. That said, there's a fair number of tossers in all re-enactment groups whose sole aim is to get as pissed as possible and have a punch-up, but they're the minority and in some parts have almost died out - perhaps to be replaced by the authenticity pedants... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Gervase Date: 30 Oct 00 - 05:40 AM Bugger, dropped me cookie in the clarts. I was that guest. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 30 Oct 00 - 03:25 PM Gervase, I've made cassocks for church, fiddly buggers aren't they! My record though are traditional handmade Dorset Buttons - ranging from 48 for a set of cards for a City and Guilds exam made in 24 hours, to what could possibly be the biggest ones ever made, at 3 inches diameter! LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Ely Date: 30 Oct 00 - 04:15 PM "It's not a hobby, it's a way of life." Smile when you eat that hardtack. ;) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Naemanson Date: 30 Oct 00 - 05:16 PM Not all re-enactors are recreating the battles and fighting times. But, having said that, you cannot get away from the basic element that defines us as yet another animal in the kingdom. Humans like to fight. The competitive element of the blood begins to boil and then we have to butt heads and thereby choose a leader. It is there in all elements of our lives whether it is on the battlefields of France or in our own coporate offices. We will know we dragged ourselves out of that animal need when the bombs cease to fall, the guns are all rusty, and people learn to live in peace under their umbrellas. Why the umbrellas? Because the mess made by flying pigs is far worse than that made by birds. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: GUEST,winterbright Date: 30 Oct 00 - 05:54 PM Bravo! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: mousethief Date: 30 Oct 00 - 05:57 PM You know, if we're going to have any re-enacting of WW3, we'll have to do it BEFORE the war. Are there any groups that do this? How can I join one?
Alex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: The Walrus Date: 01 Nov 00 - 09:38 AM Mousethief, I do remember meeting a group of people from Thameside in Manchester who had formed a sci-fi group which they described as "pre-enactment" - does that count? Walrus |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: GUEST,MV Date: 01 Nov 00 - 10:42 AM My husband and I are Civil War reenactors with Missouri Brigade Medical Service, a recreation of a Confederate medical (obviously!) group. We find the living history aspect is fascinating and both enjoy giving presentations to groups of all ages. Our "specialty" is Civil War dancing (my husband and I used to belong to a CW dance troupe) and we love to teach/demonstrate period dances. As a dulcimer player, my own particular pleasure is to play tunes of the period and share information about the music and instrument. My "first person" interpretation is based on a real woman who lived in Missouri and whose home and descendants I've visited. Having had access to letters and personal family anecdotes, etc., I find this a most interesting way of interpreting history. My husband and I have served as tour guides at a state park in Missouri until we got really busy with reenacting and my current project is "building" a display of herbal medicine illustrating the usage of the times. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Kim C Date: 01 Nov 00 - 05:52 PM Harpgirl, living history is a way for us grown-ups to play pretend with much better toys than the kidlings. Kidlings play war, too, even without anyone to show them. And it is a way of life. There's a lot of people in this world, when their electricity goes off, they have no idea what to do so they sit around and whine about it. Me and Mister, we fire up the woodstove, get out the Aladdin lamps, put batteries in the radio and keep on going. Living history prepared me for that sort of thing. I figured if there really had been a Y2K crisis, all us reenactors would just pitch tents in a field somewhere and carry on, while everyone else commenced with a gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair. Not only that, I have learned more about American and world history than I ever did when I was in school, and I was an honors student. Louis L'amour once wrote that history wasn't just about dates, it was about the People and how they felt, what they said, what they did... and that's the truth. Living history gives you real connections to those people who have gone before us. I can't tell you how moving it was to stand on the front lawn at Mount Vernon and look across the Potomac River, and think, except for that airplane overhead, I'm Seeing What George Washington SAW from his Porch!!!!! George Washington HimSELF stood on this very grass and looked at this very river!!!!! It's also given me a lot more respect for people throughout history who have sacrificed much for something they believed in. Beat that with a big stick. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Ely Date: 01 Nov 00 - 07:49 PM My brother is a sincere pacifist. He insists that the best way he knows to teach somebody to hate war is to tell them all the bloody details of a battle. He loves the history and he likes the guns as a part of that. But he's not a gun-nut. Of course, some of them are--but there are all kinds of approaches to every interest. My mother quilts, so she made him a cot-sized (long and narrow) "memory" quilt. I think the pattern is an adapted Underground Railroad, with a Union star at one end. She replaced the center parts of the blocks with white rectangles and had people write advice to him on it in permanent ink. It also includes part of a period letter from one of our ancestors and a line from the book/movie _the Friendly Persuasion_ (about Quakers during the CW, since we're Quakers). There are lots of different things that can come out of reenacting besides accumulation of firearms. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: GUEST Date: 02 Nov 00 - 07:13 PM I was in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. That was enough for me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Wolfgang Date: 12 Jan 01 - 05:21 AM And go there for a really old thread. Wolfgang |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Irish sergeant Date: 12 Jan 01 - 10:49 AM Harp Girl: Even though this is an old thread, Women do this also and the reason I do it is to demonstrate the history of it not only the glory but the accompaning horror as well. Kindest reguards, NEil |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Hobie Date: 12 Jan 01 - 03:40 PM thank ya wolf gang |
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Subject: RE: BS: Re-enactors? From: Hobie Date: 12 Jan 01 - 03:40 PM thank ya wolf gang |