Region
Present meets past
Swords clash in Clinton CountyBy DAVID KAGAN Sun-Gazette Correspondent
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People from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio gathered together at the Lock Haven University Sieg Conference Center along Fishing Creek in the mountain gap east of Lamar to enjoy a weekend of Medieval fun. The event, held Nov. 16-18, was entitled “Fiber, Fabric and Fighting,” and the participants were members of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Most arrived Friday afternoon to set up their encampment, cooking themselves a “Middle Ages dinner” before retiring to the center’s bunkhouses for the night.
Saturday included a full day of activities, with kings and queens, princes and princesses, knights and squires, ladies and baronesses and mistresses all dressed in pre-1600 European clothing. Teachers conducted one- and two-hour classes in the morning in various Medieval textile-making skills.
At noon, lunch was served. Foods included various soups, assorted breads with honey butter, fruit slices and cheese wedges, coffee and tea. Knights wearing chain mail, lords in tunics and hose, squires with belt pouches, ladies in kirtles (ankle-length tunics) and wearing caps — all partook of the meal provided by head chef Aurora Nicola.
In the afternoon, fighters crossed the Fishing Creek walking bridge to the tournament field. Knight Marshall Thorvaldr Frithsami supervised all the clashes, making sure participants had the required protection (including knee, elbow, kidney, groin and throat pads, as well as helmets). Armed with shields and rattan swords, combatants then delivered blows (none allowed to the hands or to the knees or below) and always following a code of honor, admitted to the taking of any damaging hit, and fell in “correct” fashion if “killed.”
After veteran fighters Gregory Nascone (society name Sir Graedwyn Mab Teyrnon) and Doug McFarland (Bors Rouen) battled, followed by several others, Frithsami issued a call for any newcomers who were “authorized” to fight. One was Andrew Glover, who had passed the required study to engage in fighting. After his sword- and shield-crashing encounter, his wife, Holly, ran along Fishing Creek proudly exclaiming that he had performed well and now is a recognized “fighter.”
Society members are an interesting, motley group — young and old, from many walks of life, many highly educated. Edward “Edmund” Dammer of Williamsport joined after seeing an ad in the newspaper in the mid-1970s, deciding that “it just looked like fun.” He and a few others actually “got the ball rolling” in this area.
David Harris and David Hare, both of State College, worked behind the registration desk (labeled with the sign “Troll”) at the Sieg Center’s main building, where classes and meals were held. Harris, who joined the society about 19 years ago, said that he has had a lifelong interest in history, especially the Middle Ages. He admitted that in his early years with the society, “Like a lot of involved males, I was intrigued with the heavy weapons combat.” Harris works as a teacher’s aid at State College Area High School.
Hare, while attending Penn State University about 10 years ago, happened upon an society practice fight on campus, asked what it was all about, liked what he saw and soon joined.
Society members clearly are people out for a good time, enjoying a hobby that educates, gets them outside and offers exercise, and provides social gatherings where participants dance, feast, drink and form lifelong friendships.
The society has allowed four graduates of Mansfield University to stay connected. Adam Thumann, Roger Heckrote and Glover and his wife attended the Sieg Center gathering. The three young men admitted that they had enjoyed “fighting with sticks” against each other even before joining the society.
At least one Duke graced the Sieg grounds during the weekend — Duke Malcolm (Preston Williams). A Duke is someone who has been a King twice. Williams, a society member since 1985, has twice ruled the Kingdom of Aethelmearc (the central-western Pennsylvania, western New York and West Virginia realm).
A Virginia Tech grad, Williams had a friend during his student days more than 20 years ago who came by his room one Sunday afternoon and led him to witness a society fight practice on campus. “They put me in armor and then beat the heck out of me,” he said. “I’ve been with it ever since, have met some very nice people, have had a grand time fighting, and it’s all been very interesting.”
Accompanying him at the recent event was his “Medieval household” member Karen Finnemore (society name Renata). She enjoys competing in bow shooting events. Another female competitor was Elizabeth Thumann (Adam’s wife, with society name Aesa Helgulesdottir). Wheelchair bound, she fires crossbow bolts in contests.
The Society for Creative Anachronism began in 1966 in Berkeley, Calif., when a group of science fiction and fantasy fans wanted to hold a theme party patterned after existent re-enactment groups such as those of the Civil War, Revolutionary War and Buck-skinning eras. Since then, the society has grown to an international membership of more than 30,000 from 14 countries, including Australia and Japan.
According to its Web site, http://www.sca.org'>www.sca.org, the society is “dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe.” Their world “consists of 19 kingdoms,” with regional subdivisions and third-level shires, baronies or cantons.
The greater Williamsport area is in the Shire of Abhainn Ciach Ghlais (Lycoming, Clinton and Snyder counties), within Region 3 (Eastern PA) of the Kingdom of Aethelmearc. Aethelmearc’s informative Web site is http://www.aethelmearc.org.'>www.aethelmearc.org. Aethelmearc also has a monthly newsletter “Astel”; the Shire’s is called “Echoes from the Mist.”
Members of the society dress in clothes of the Middle Ages and Renaissance times; many create their own costumes. Members attend tournaments, royalty court events where members are recognized and honored for their group contributions, arts exhibits, classes, workshops and feasts. Members learn calligraphy, martial arts, dance, cooking, metalwork, stained-glass work, even how to brew mead! They study Medieval literature (such as Beowulf, Le Morte D’Arthur, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight). According to the society Web site, they do about everything except “die of the Plague”!
The yearly international society gathering is called Pennsic, held at Cooper’s Lake Campground near Pittsburgh. The 36th annual meeting there was held for two weeks at the end of July through the first week of August. According to Clinton County society member Dennis Greenaway (Denys the Decadent), it becomes “a city of 11 or 12,000” for the fortnight. “The whole logistics of it is phenomenal,” he said.
Beowulf, King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Sir Galahad, Roland, Princess Elaine — golden figures from Medieval days. Sights and sounds from that long-ago time sparkled and echoed for a weekend from the fields and in the halls at the Sieg Center, where members of the society play seriously at make-believe.