History

[Mairi the Herbwench]

Jumping to a whole new thread:

Depends on which festival you're at as far as how "historical" faires can be. The one here - MnRF is terrible. There is no attempt whatsoever at any accuracy for any one. That's why I do living history (www.clanntartan.org.) My character is researched, I've written and published 2 papers so far on my character and profession, and I've done some extensive research on my time and place. I can give you chapter and verse on Scotland in 1630, political, religious, weather, customs, and about anything else you want to know. This has nothing to do with festivals. Sometimes, we are payed performers *at* RenFaires, but we are not cast. We are living history.

Some faires do moniter accuracy for the performers - not the mundanes who come in dressed in any old way. Again, as someone pointed out, this is a cross section of the country. I believe I'm the only regular poster from the northern Midwest (AKA Minnesnowta,) and thisngs are very different even a short distance away. I've heard wonderful things about Bristol and KCRF, and not from other Wenches - mostly from crafters.

What you see at one fiare will be very different from another faire - even faires in the same state. It all depends on who runs them.

[Nevada]

Scarby does throw a fantasy element in...we have Trolls, fairies etc...but you also have people who do living history and its fascinating to sit and listen to them explain their persona and the research they did for it...I attended SCA events when I was a teenager (lo these many years ago) and used to swap out babysitting for sword play lessons from the Prince of the region at that time...it was very cool to see all the history research he and his family put into their personas

[funphoto]

I think it would be really interesting to research a character. I think I could get into that. Also I see a kind of Dungeons and Dragons thing going on that I've never been into but looks like fun. It would be really cool to organise a faire at a real castle. Ever heard of a ren faire in England? As Eddie Izzard says the place is full of castles, bloody nuisance, we have keep drive around the damn things.

[Danicia de Lontra]

I think it would be really interesting to research a character. I think I could get into that. Also I see a kind of Dungeons and Dragons thing going on that I've never been into but looks like fun. It would be really cool to organise a faire at a real castle. Ever heard of a ren faire in England? As Eddie Izzard says the place is full of castles, bloody nuisance, we have keep drive around the damn things.

Then maybe you should volunteer at a small faire? I say volunteer, because for the most part, there aren't any auditions. Many small faires, who are non-profits, value their volunteers.

For researching, join a historical re-enactment group. There are a lot of great ones out there.

Also, I don't know if you are familiar with LARPing. Live Action Role Playing. There are quite a few D&D style games out there where you could join in. NERO, AMTGAARD and others.

[daBaroness]

KCRF has attempted to be pretty accurate in the past in terms of costuming and historical storylines - but I think part of the fun for people is some of the fantasy of the whole event. A few years ago we added an enchanted forest with characters from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream - so from that aspect - it's period.

This is the first year in our 26-year history we haven't had an historically accurate royal court. We've either done Tudor or Elizabethan, but this year we've developed our own royal court with King Richard and Queen Eleanor that is set during the Elizabethan period because our entertainment director loves the costuming. Our scenario is complete fantasy - it's a Cinderella story with the tie-in of the handsome prince being the son of Richard and Eleanor. I think it's going to be a lot of fun, personally!

We do have living history characters and conduct living history tours where the characters (including an herbalist, town cook, executioner, King's rangers/hunters, etc.). Our street characters are trained to be as period as possible and we do our best to stay in character and only mingle with members of our own class during the faire day. Our street characters perform strictly unscripted, pointed character interactions. Essentially I tell performers during academy the best advice I can give them is to leave "real" life in their carriages and become their character when they walk through the village gates.

They interact with patrons as the characters they portray would have. We have everything from the dung dealer, seamstress, baker, chandler, blacksmith, cooper, midwives, guildmaster, beggars, brewmasters, etc., roving the lanes of the village interacting with patrons.

We also have individual themes each weekend - generally having to do with a particular country or culture and we bring in special performers, events, and characters based on each theme. Everything from pipes and drums to belly dancers to Baccus and grape-stomping.

Bottom line I guess is that it's a show. People want to be entertained - so a lot of faires really stretch the boundaries of artistic license to achieve their goals.

C'mon down Mairi - we're open for two weekends after you close and I happen to know someone who'd be happy to host you!

dB

[Mairi the Herbwench]

I talked with a reenactor when I wsa England last summer - he said they don't do RenFaires mostly due to lack of interest. He was a Viking reenactor (of which there are a few groups I'm aware of locally.) I'd love to do a festival in a real castle, but most of the ones I saw were either in ruins, private homes, or part of the National Trust Foundation and they charge to get in...

As for research - start very general - where do I want to be? When? And then localize it - why am I here, how did I get here, what's going on around me? Find the appropriate books - if you live near a University - that's an excellent resource. Almost worth the price of tuition... http://www.clanntartan.org/resources/research.html has a list of research sites, mostly Scottish. Look at groups in your area - does the Society for Creative Anachronism have a group that you're comfortable with? Do you prefer American History? There's several Civil War groups, especially in the east. Here in MN we have fur traders and rendevourers.

Asking other people is always a good way to get information.

[Mermaid]

While England may not have faire as we know it, my mom did go to a "midsommer" faire in Sweden--which was, from her description, much like some of the smaller faires I've been to in CA. Crafts, garb was (to her eye) middle class to peasant and period, food and music. She found me a wonderful amber necklace there!

Mermaid

[Nevada]

I have heard a a couple of small village ren faires in England but not at any castles...will ask an old friend of mine who lives there...

[Mairi the Herbwench]

C'mon down Mairi - we're open for two weekends after you close and I happen to know someone who'd be happy to host you!

So, Baroness - I'll have to check my schedule - I'd love to see KCRF - I've heard a lot of good things about it, and one of my friends here has SCA friends there! Sounds like an invite to me! :D

[Kristianne the MerWench]

The faires here in Nor Cal run the gambit from insisting on a high degree of accuracy (Folsom) to including fantasy elements like the Troll (RPFN). I like them all. The smaller faires give me a chance to play with my research (since I work them) and the big faires like RPFN give me a chance to just play. I'm developing a privateer character for RPFN who is, in a large sense, in no way historically accurate. I'm doing research anyway, so I can get the period details right, even if I put them together in a totally absurd way.

My history is pretty poor but when I hear a typical irish pub song followed by cheers of "God save the queen" I have to question how authentic this whole is meant to be. I saw lots of people dressed as Scots giving the same cheer. Trying walking into a Glasgow pub shouting "God save the Queen."

I'd like to mention two things here...first, countries were different in 1565 than they are now. In reality, Scots dressed as highlanders (I'm assuming these are the Scots you saw, Funphoto) wouldn't have been in England. Most of the faires take some license with things like that because at its heart, faire is interactive theater, not strict living history. Second, be careful about mistaking, for example, Scotland then with Scotland now. Now, "God save the Queen" means God save Elizabeth II. I've been at plenty of faires where I heard Scots yelling the same phrase. The difference is, in 1565 Scotland actually had a Scottish queen for God to save.