Are you a person interested in checking out what the SCA is all about, seeking how to participate? Are you an SCA person new to the area? Please feel free to contact our Châtelaine (Orientation Specialist.) Please send an email and a Châtelaine will respond.
What is the SCA?
The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international non-profit volunteer educational organization. The SCA is devoted to the research and re-creation of pre-seventeenth century skills, arts, combat, culture, and employing knowledge of history to enrich the lives of participants through events, demonstrations, and other educational presentations and activities.
Participants immerse themselves in the culture, arts, crafts, sciences, traditions, literature and lifestyles of the period. The SCA defines its scope as pre-17th century, meaning that individuals recreate all historical periods up to the year 1600 CE/AD. In the SCA most of the world can be a source for personal inspiration, research and reenactment. The core of the SCA focuses on Western Europe, although many members focus on other parts of the world.
Check out the links to lots more helpful information to get started, at the “New to the SCA” page on SCA.org.
Read about how to participate in the SCA here in the greater Seattle area: Welcome to the Barony of Madrone
More about what it’s like to go to an SCA event here: Event FAQ and Videos here
Is this a Ren Faire?
One of the things that makes the SCA different from Renaissance Faires is that the SCA is a participatory organization – there is no “audience” and no “performers”. Everyone who attends an SCA event becomes both “performer” and “audience” by participating in the activities around them. In the SCA you can learn to dance period dances, do calligraphy and illumination, make and fight in armor, fletch arrows, card wool, dye fabric, loom and sew clothing in the manner of a specific past culture, cook food based on medieval writings, and do pretty much anything else that was done in Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. What makes the SCA different from a Medieval History Class or Humanities 101 Class is that instead of just reading books about things, you actually do them!
Some History of the SCA
The SCA began in Berkeley, California in 1966 and has grown to become an organization with an estimated 100,000 participants with groups located all around the globe! Every country that hosts a local SCA group is considered to be part of the “Known World”. The SCA divides the Known World into 20 kingdoms, each ruled over by Crowned Heads, personages who often take on the titles of King and Queen, and a staff of Kingdom Officers.
We reside in the Kingdom of An Tir, and our lands are held in trust by the Baron and Baroness of Madrone (pronounced “muh DRONE uh”). Within our borders, we also have the Canton of Porte de l’Eau (east King County). The Barony is most of King County, although we do share borders with our closest neighbor to the South, the Barony of Wyewood. We are the oldest Barony in the Kingdom, with a sizable population that practices a very diverse set of interests.
Structure of the SCA
The SCA is generally divided up by geographic areas into smaller regions. Kingdoms are generally the largest areas, each with a Crown (King/Queen or King/Consort or Queen/Consort) chosen by right of armed combat. There are Principalities within some kingdoms, and the Principality Coronets (Prince/Princess, Prince/Consort, or Princess/Consort) are chosen by right of armed combat. Baronies are the next largest group by population density; a Barony can be the size of a single county/province or several counties in a rural area. Baronies have a pair of leaders appointed by the Crown with limited term durations who occupy the Baronial chairs. The Baronetcy works in conjunction with the Curia (governing council) on business matters. For areas smaller than a Barony (Shire, Canton, College, Stronghold) the group is generally run by the governing council.
In the Barony of Madrone, we have many activities on our events calendar including weekly fighter practice/social time, monthly business meetings , and Dance Practice every month. You can join us on our Facebook group page, or join our email list, or both.
You can also join us at one of our Guilds, Groups, and Activities.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the Chatelaine with any questions you may have.
For help to decode the many names and terms we use in the SCA, visit this comprehensive unoffical glossary.