Dear friends!
As some of you may know, we are establishing an SCA group here in Spain. SCA stands for the Society for Creative Anachronism (see www.sca.org). It is a world-wide organization for people interested in living history of the period 600-1600 in Europe. Because SCA spans a long time in history it is a little different from other re-enactment groups. Due to each individuals personal interest in history it is usual that we develop a "persona" (i.e. a 12th century shoemaker, a 13th century man-at-arms etc etc). We do, however, not perform a theatre act as in live-roleplaying. The activities in SCA is to some extent centred around "armoured heavy combat" with weapons made of rattan (something between wood and grass). These tournaments are used to select the persons that are going to be princes, kings etc in the SCA Kingdoms. It is also through heavy combat one can earn the title of knighthood (Hence, in SCA we can not choose the "persona" of a knight, prince, princess etc., we must fight for it (or let someone else fight for us ;-) )). However, all we do is not just heavy fighting. SCA is basically a forum to support many activities (e.g. handicraft, cooking, festivities, archery, rapier fencing etc etc). On our events we try to recreate a as "true" atmosphere as possible. With many members (some events have hundreds to thousands of participants) the result can be truly amazing. The activities do not require membership in SCA, but it is required for some heavy combat tournaments and such. It also gives reduced site fees on most SCA events [membership in SCA Inc. costs about 20 Euro per year, so it is soon saved on a couple of events]. The SCA group in Spain will be called "Alcazar" (The fortress). Alcazar will be open for everyone interested in SCA. We are not planning to have any membership fee in foreseeable future. Participation in Alcazar activities does not exclude participation in other re-enactment groups and similar. Our first activity will be a small "picnic-event" (see below). It will be over just one day and in a place near Madrid. The site is not selected yet, but it will be a place where we can grill, cook food, do some fencing, archery, play games and have fun.
In service of the dream!
Jens "Orm Udding" Ormö (Seneschal of Alcazar)