Day of the Knight

May 29, 2008

On Sunday just after lunch, the clank of swords and armor could be heard at the Citizens Lodge Park. The "Society for Creative Anachronism" was holding one of their monthly meetings. This unique group selects a period of history, studies it in detail, and then through a series of projects relives life as it was during that period as much as possible.
This includes learning the dances, art, literature, dress, food, and general life of the period. On Sunday they were making yarn from fibers for the eventual creation of fabrics, jousting in combat simulations, and partaking in music study and dance of the medieval period.
They just finished a session last month where they learned how to create manuscripts using the process of "illumination" calligraphy. These are the manuscript papers of the medieval era that had the decorative borders embossed in the paper edges.
The members often take a name representative of the names used during the period being studied, and refer to each other by those names during meetings. For instance, the two knights in combat were Knor McAltein (really Karl Christensen) and Sir Kristiff (Donald Allman). The female knight (if that is the right term) is Morrigen Oneal. The contestants did not joust for long, the ninety degree heat soon made the armor hot and intolerable. Thankfully, the Northern European climate of England and France was much cooler during the Middle Ages or Lady Catherine might have never been rescued from the tower of that castle.
The society has approximately forty members, and usually meets once per month. If you are interested in learning more, the national website is www.sca.org, or locally you can contact Woodrow Griffith at 482-7110, or ldeoin@yahoo.com.