The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is a medieval reenactment group with an international membership, founded in California in 1966. Members of the group participate, to a greater or lesser extent, in a wide variety of activities based on those found in pre-1601 CE cultures. The vast majority of interests in the SCA are either combat-focused, or focused on the day-to-day crafts of the period, known within the Society as A&S (Arts & Sciences). Gatherings of the SCA are events, at which attempts at pre-17th century costume must be worn, and practices or meetings, at which costuming is largely up to each member's discretion—although sufficient safety equipment must always be worn for practicing combat skills.
Arts and sciences
Within the SCA, more or less all activities which are not specifically combat-related are considered to be Arts & Sciences (A&S). These run the entire gamut of skills used in the medieval world, ranging from decorative and performing arts to practical skills such as baking, weaving, woodworking, and blacksmithing. Those who demonstrate excellence in any field, or multiple fields, may find themselves nominated for awards at various levels, the highest of which is a Society-wide award known as the Order of the Laurel, awarded for outstanding dedication to medieval knowledge.
Bardic arts The bard in pre-medieval Celtic society held a specific social class and had specific duties. In the SCA context, though, "bard" refers to most storytellers, poets, and musicians. Many early music performers prefer to use terms more appropriate to the location and time of their persona, and may call themselves minstrels, troubadours, trouvères, minnesingers, skalds, or other historical terms for performing artists. A common bardic activity at SCA events is the "bardic circle," in which performers take turns sharing pieces. Circles may be more or less structured, and may or may not have themes. Musicians and storytellers often perform at SCA feasts, combat events, camping events, and coronations and investitures. At camping events, many bards (or groups) may walk from campsite to campsite performing stories and songs. Within the Society it is generally considered polite to welcome such a person, and provide them with a small amount of food or drink as thanks for the performance.
SCA musicians and storytellers not only perform historical period pieces but often compose new period-style works, some of which are based on SCA culture. These may be in the style of ancient forms, such as a new version of a Child Ballad, or a piece recounting (in period style) some aspect of the "Current Middle Ages" such as a history of an SCA kingdom, a tribute to an individual, or an account of an event. Filking, the often-humorous setting of new lyrics to an extant tune, is also a common performance style. This practice has ample historical antecedent; ancient musical codices are full of tropes that set new lyrics to existing tunes.
Blacksmithing
The Society's interest in replicating period arms and armor has also led to a large group of people interested in historical blacksmithing.
Brewing The brewing of beers, ales, and meads is a highly popular activity across the entire Society.
Calligraphy and illumination Calligraphy is the art of writing beautifully, while illumination is the artwork decorating the page, usually with paint and gold leaf. Together these arts are used to create illuminated manuscripts, individual pages of which are commonly called "scrolls" within the SCA, and generally accompany awards granted by the royalty and aristocracy. Scrolls are also sometimes made to commemorate winning a tournament or competition, or an agreement between two parties within the context of the SCA. The Society members who are interested in these arts, and who produce these scrolls, commonly refer to themselves as scribes. Most Kingdoms have formal groups of scribes who are responsible for producing these documents and teaching the arts, generally under the direction of an officer whose title usually includes the word "signet". In the East Kingdom, for example, the officer is known as the Tyger Clerk of the Signet. Despite the fact that period documents of this sort, such as letters patent, usually contained little illumination, scrolls are commonly modeled after the pages in Books of Hours, Bibles or other medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, including elaborately painted borders around the text. Over the Society's history, the arts of calligraphy and illumination have advanced substantially, so that many scribes now use completely authentic materials and tools.
Scribes often attempt to match the period and style of a scroll to the persona of the recipient. While most scrolls are done on paper or vellum, this has occasionally led to SCA scribes creating works on objects ranging from stone tablets to drinking horns, and in at least one case, on sheet metal inscribed with Braille. This kind of creativity is generally encouraged, as long as the resulting object is appropriate to the occasion.
Cooking Many SCA events feature food ranging from simple "fighter's fare" or a "peasant lunch" of bread, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and a simple vegetable or meat soup, to elaborate multi-course feasts served over a period of several hours. Such feasts may focus on dishes from England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, or other locations and times within the SCA's period of study. Common dishes are roasted beef or chickens with mustard or other sauces on the side, meat pies, cheese-filled ravioli, green salads, "armored turnips" (turnips sliced and layered with cheese and spices), glazed carrots, applesauce, and pears or apples cooked in wine.
Feasts are not always limited to strictly period foods and recipes, but they rarely include glaringly non-period items such as hamburgers or corndogs (though there was at least one group which put on a feast in which they documented 'beans and weenies'). As with period feasts, there is often an elaborate main dish or dessert called a subtlety. (One group has a running gag at their annual feast in which the main dish is a mythical beast. To make a "sea dragon", for example, they assembled a meatloaf with a dozen chicken drumsticks arrayed along each side.)
Cooks who strive to stick to period recipes for their dishes make an effort to ensure that their menus are balanced to allow for modern palates, ingredients, and equipment, or to compensate for tight budgets or labor shortages.
A running joke in the SCA (and at least one song in very deliberate bad taste) concerns the supposed inedibility of feast food. On the contrary, SCA feasts are typically prepared by talented and capable volunteers who work long hours to prepare a good and filling meal—and usually at a cost of only a few dollars per person. Sometimes these amateur efforts even equal or surpass the quality of many expensive restaurants.
Those who work to prepare feasts are highly regarded, customarily being called into the dining area at the conclusion of the feast and thanked with thunderous applause, and many kingdoms provide for awards and titles to be granted to those who excel in this field .
Dance Dance practices are held where Renaissance Dance and English Country Dance are taught in preparation for events and demos. There are also subsets within the SCA that practice and teach Middle Eastern (Egyptian Cabaret, Folkloric and American Tribal Style bellydance) and South Asian (Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi) styles of dance to be performed at events and around campfires.
Fiber arts Many members, including men, enjoy practicing the arts of needlepoint, embroidery, cross-stitch, weaving, lace-making, quilting, kumihimo, spinning, nalbinding, sprang, braiding and dyeing. Period techniques are employed when possible, yielding intricately detailed and useful artwork which beautifies clothing and objects. Embroidery and cross-stitch in particular are often employed to create favors,Favors - http://www.florilegium.org/files/ACCESS/On-Favors-art.html given as gifts, tokens of affection or awards and often bear the arms or device of the person (usually a lady) giving the favor, or the arms of the SCA Order which the award is being bestowed (Pelican, Laurel, etc.).
Garb (costume) The most basic requirement to attend an SCA event is that everyone must make a "reasonable attempt at pre-17th century clothing." Within the SCA, the term for this type of period clothing is "garb", and there can be a very wide range in the time period, style and level of authenticity. Many SCA members make their own clothing, but can also purchase their garb from merchants or barter with other SCA members. Newcomers to the SCA can usually borrow garb for their first event or two by contacting the local group's Gold Key officer or Chatelaine/Castellan, who is responsible for helping acclimatize new members.
Heraldry The SCA maintains its own College of Arms to register and protect heraldic devices of its members (at least within the Society).
For the first three decades of the Society's existence, all heraldic device submissions had to be checked against extant SCA arms, heraldry taken from or alluding to works of fiction, and coats of arms granted to families alive or extinct. Following a major revision of the SCA's rules for heraldic submissions, SCA armorial bearings are now checked for conflict only against major coats of arms, devices and symbols that exist in the real world, and arms awarded within the Society itself.
Thus, while a person cannot register the Coat of Arms of Queen Elizabeth II or of France, for example, the SCA's College of Arms no longer checks for device conflicts with arms registered with the several European colleges of arms. In practical terms, the Modest Proposal rendered the Society as autonomous in matters of heraldry as the Colleges of Arms of various nations are in reality.
The Society's College of Arms also registers and maintains SCA names, checking against duplication and ensuring at least minimal period authenticity. In some cases, names that were once acceptable (for example, Fiona) have been shown to be of modern origin and are no longer allowed. Though bearers whose names were approved before such research are not required to change them, no new submissions with names the heralds have documented as having come into use outside the SCA's period will be accepted.
While there is no requirement to register a name and/or device, members are encouraged to do so. Newcomers are often counseled by experienced members on choosing a suitable persona name, and local heralds are usually enthusiastic about helping new members create and register a unique device that represents their personality and interests.
Martial and combat
The SCA recreates three forms of martial activities, including "heavy" armoured combat, fencing and archery. Armoured combat focuses on recreating medieval tournament culture through courteous, chivalric displays of skill in practice, tournament and melee scenarios. SCA fencing employs a form of heavy rapier fencing built upon techniques outlined in German and Italian Renaissance era (15th-16th century) fencing manuals. Archery activities in the SCA include both target archery and combat archery, using equipment modified for safety in conjunction with armoured combat during melee scenarios. Those who demonstrate prowess in the martial arts may be nominated for awards at various levels, with the highest Society-wide awards being the Order of Chivalry (for heavy combat) and the Order of Defense (for rapier/fencing combat).
Archery