About the SCA | Events | Pastimes With Good Company
When Knights Were Bold | How to Get Started | Membership Info | Newsletters
About the Society for Creative Anachronism
The SCA, Inc. is a non-profit
educational organization devoted to the study of the Middle Ages and
Renaissance, and presenting the knowledge through a form of living
history. An anachronism is something that is out of its proper
time frame; creative anachronism describes how SCA participants
take their favorite aspects of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and
recreate them in the modern world.
The SCA is an international group with over 30,000 participants. Our "Known World" is divided into nineteen kingdoms, each ruled by a King and a Queen chosen on the field of combat. Local chapters within each kingdom sponsor meetings, practices, and events. The Barony of Settmour Swamp, along with several other SCA groups in New Jersey, are all within the East Kingdom, which covers New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, the New England states, and eastern Canada.
Events
Events are organized and run entirely by SCA
volunteers for other SCA participants; an admission fee is charged to
cover the local group's expenses in running the event.
People
travel from distant
SCA groups to take part in the day's (or weekend's) activities, which can include
tournaments, Royal Court, dancing, arts exhibits and competitions,
performances, and a feast.
Attendees are required to wear clothing resembling that of the Middle
Ages or Renaissance.
Events are advertised in local group newsletters and in Pikestaff, the East Kingdom newsletter. On-line event listings are available for Settmour Swamp events, and for events throughout the East Kingdom.
You can read about some of our recent events, with photographs and descriptions of the day's activities, feast menus, merchants, and entertainers.
Pastimes With Good Company
Many
arts and sciences are learned and practiced in the SCA, including
calligraphy,
cooking,
costuming,
medieval games,
music, dancing,
juggling,
embroidery,
weaving,
metalworking, woodworking, and
heraldry,
to name a few.
SCA artisans share their skills and results of their research at
local gatherings and workshops, and at
"Schola"or "University" events. Members of the SCA also give demonstrations of their skills to schools, libraries, churches,
and civic groups.
When Knights Were Bold
At SCA
tournaments, knights and other warriors fight with blunted weapons
(as was done at some medieval tournaments), using rattan versions of
swords, maces, axes, and polearms. Since even a wooden sword can hurt,
the fighters wear heavy helmets and protective armor of leather, mail,
and plate. The tournament is not a rehearsed show, but a serious and
strenuous sport; mastery of the fighting skills takes considerable
training and practice.
Other martial skills practiced in the SCA include fencing, target archery, combat archery, equestrian activities, and thrown weapons.
How to Get Started
Local
meetings and
activities are listed on the
Settmour web site,
and in our monthly local
newsletter, the Mudpuppy. Anyone is welcome at these meetings, and medieval clothing is not required.
Before attending your first event, we recommend that you get in touch with our newcomer liaison (or other SCA members). She can provide information on the various aspects of the SCA, and also has a collection of costumes, tableware for feasts, and other accessories that newcomers can borrow for an event. Participants are expected to eventually buy, barter for, or learn how to make their own.
Membership Info
You are not required to purchase an SCA membership before attending SCA meetings and events. Membership is required for holding office in SCA groups.
There are several levels of membership in the Society: a Sustaining membership ($35) includes a subscriptions to the kingdom newsletter, The Pikestaff. Family memberships are also available. Membership forms are available from the local chatelaines, the SCA Corporate Office (PO Box 360789, Milpitas, CA 95036-0789; 800-789-7486), and at the SCA website.) You can also purchase memberships on-line!
Benefits of membership:
- Membership card - by signing the waiver on the membership application, you can speed your check-in at events by presenting your card instead of signing waivers at the door.
- SCA Publications - Sustaining members receive their kingdom's newsletter. Sustaining members can also purchase subscriptions to other kingdoms' newsletters, Tournaments Illuminated (a quarterly magazine), the Compleat Anachronist pamphlet series, and the Board of Directors' Proceedings.
- Voting privileges in your local group - the membership rolls are used when determining to whom to send pollings on group matters.
Newsletters
Pikestaff - the monthly newsletter of the East Kingdom. It contains information on all events held within the kingdom, along with
contact names for local groups, and listings of kingdom and corporate
officers. To subscribe, use an SCA membership form
to purchase a "Sustaining"
membership.
The Mudpuppy - contains information for residents of the Barony and the Cantons on local events and activities, as well as articles and officers' reports. Subscriptions are available via U.S. mail or e-mail.