Are you a person interested in the SCA? Wondering how to participate? Are you an SCA person new to the area? A good way to start is by attending an event or a meeting.
Please feel free to contact our Châtelaine (Orientation Specialist.) 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: Event FAQ and Videos here
Check out our Activities & Practices at the drop-down menu, top of page. We have many activities on our events calendar every month.
We have a Facebook group, Instagram, a Discord channel, and an email distribution list. More information at this link.
What is Anno Societatis?? What year is it? Reckoning Dates in the Society
For help to decode the many names and terminology we use in the SCA, visit this very comprehensive unoffical glossary.
People at a winter tavern event play games and socialize.
Is this a Renaissance Fair?
No, it’s not 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, making the activities happen, and creating art and structure.
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 into regions. Kingdoms are generally the largest areas, each with a Crown (King/Queen or King/Consort or Queen/Consort). The way someone achieves these leadership positions is to win a Crown Tourney. There are Principalities within some kingdoms, and the Principality Coronets (Prince/Princess, Prince/Consort, or Princess/Consort) are chosen the same way at a Coronet Tourney. 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 place where population is more spread out. 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.