Society for Creative Anachronism

Forget the Renaissance Pleasure Faire; getting medieval is where it’s really at. Or so sayeth the folks in the Society for Creative Anachronism Inc., whose idea of a good time is to recreate the High Middle Ages in Europe (roughly, 1100-1300 C.E.), when chivalry was a way of life. The SCA is organized as a feudal society; we apparently live in West Kingdom in the Principality of Cynagua, which has several active local groups. Two of these have Web sites: the Province of the Golden Rivers (www.goldenrivers.org) and the Shire of Betony Woods (www.geocities.com/betonywoods). The groups get together for feasting, merry-making and tournaments (jousting!), while individual pursuits in the Society include the study of all things medieval—heraldry, guilds, clothing. If you think along the lines Ignatius P. Reilly did in John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces, here you go. No serfs, either.