Directly after the wedding, my siblings and I stopped by the County Fair for the afternoon. I took the girls to see the ribbons their 4-H sewing projects received (which were amazing - more on that soon!) while Aubrey strolled around. He came over to me shortly after. "Is it just me, or are there people in full armor walking around on the front lawn?"
I practically dragged them all through the main exhibit building, past the fast wilting cabbages and sunflowers, magnificent quilts, and pasteboard dragons. And there, through the front entrance, we could see a pavilion erected on the front lawn. Sumptuous costumes and props from the medieval era were on display, but the crowning glory were a handful of men dressed in the full body armor of Medieval Knights.
We sidled over, taking in the scene, when one of their number clad in tartan came up and invited my lord and ladies to enter. We stepped in to the inviting shade of the canopy, and received a hands-on introduction to the wonderful world of the SCA.
I'd heard of the Society for Creative Anachronism before in passing, but didn't realize that an active group was located in our area... Shire, I should say.
We examined a suit of chain mail, handcrafted by a local artisan - I utilised my oft-neglected medieval vocabulary to my heart's content. Our host discussed various aspects of the activities the group took part in, which include feast days and tourneys, as well as life skills training such as wild herb identification, spinning, costuming, ironworking, minstrelsy, and cooking.
At this point I had to ask if modern civilians were invited to try on the armor. The good fellow looked at me askance. "Weell... I suppose..." I smiled and gestured to Aubrey.
Within moments, I was witnessing the fair sight on my brother being transformed into a veritable Henty Lad.
The Cuisse, covering the knee and thigh. The heart-shaped plate is for protection against being hamstrung, as I observed to our host with good effect.
Buckling on a leather Gorget.
Donning breast and back plates, and guardbraces.
He said it was fun.
In the extreme, I might add.
