Swords clash in Avon's Washington Township Park as history reigns in Middle Kingdom
Looking to the future is looking at the past for this Avon group. Armor protects them. History envelops them.
In Washington Township Park in Avon, Indiana, members of Barony of Sternfeld, the local chapter of the international Society for Creative Anachronism, suit up for friendly battle. Swords clank as instruction is given. The armor is as varied as the people who wear them.
Almost six decades ago, people in the San Francisco Bay Area gathered to protest the modern world by having a tournament. After that first year, the organization became more serious, breaking up the United States into three kingdoms, the West, Middle and East. Indiana’s group is part of the Middle Kingdom. It also covers Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and parts of Kentucky.
“It’s not a role-playing thing,” says Paul Brown, whose society name is Paul of Beckenham. He has always been drawn to history. He found it fascinating as he studied the different perspectives and understanding how people did things and thought in older times. In the SCA, participants, or scadians, step into the roles of the researched society. And in the mix comes great exercise and a fun sport. “I’m not going to golf,” laughs Brown who says the activity is the most physical sport he has done. But it is the community that he also enjoys.
He smiles remembering tournament battle, “Go out, fight all day, die at the end of the day, get rest, wake up, drink and next day go do it again. It’s just a lot of fun. People are great. It’s kind of like an escape but it’s still very real, very physical. I’ve done role playing and this beats it by a ton because I’m actually getting something.“
Brown got into SCA sixteen years ago, when he was 21, because of his wife, Morgan Brown, whose SCA name is Morgan Woodsende of Hoghton. She is third generation SCA with her maternal grandparents among some of the early members of the organization. Her mother started when she was 16, then her father. Now her husband is in the society with her. Their daughter will be fourth generation. She’s only 16 months old, but she started coming occasionally when she was six months old.
Morgan Brown did mostly service type activities as there wasn’t as much for kids to do in the 1990s SCA. That service vein has continued as she still loves to run events.
She sees the society as being a popular community because people like having a dedicated goal. “How can I make it all period, how can I do everything historically accurate and document it?,” Brown says. “It’s fun for nerds to have a reason to research, to have a reason to have watched thousands of hours of history channel. Every documentary, you want to feel like you’re not just collecting knowledge but you’re collecting for a purpose.” Of course, she admits that she is involved because she was born into it.
In Carol Anne Smock’s mundane, or everyday life, she teaches music to fifth and sixth graders in Warren Township. Her SCA name is Tomyris of the Saka Tigrakauda, the name of a warrior queen. “You don’t have to be a history nerd,” she says. "I come here dressed from my job, and then I go for a run, and then I do this. It’s a good outlet, honestly, like just to forget about your day.”
Every form of combat, including armored combat, cut and thrust, rapier and youth, has its own armor requirements. Safety marshals verify that the requirements are met and keep everyone safe. Weapons throwing is also a marshaled activity. Friendly competition brings out laughter, as people compete in throwing weapons. Weapons thrown on various days include axes, darts, knives and spears.
Brenda Sutton, who is Líadan Lithán, is a member of the rapier community that defends the kingdom. “My husband and I fight each other on a regular basis,” she jokes. “It saves the marriage.” Her husband, Bill Sutton, or Dai Gerdwr, plays a 15th century Welch persona while she plays mid 7th century Irish persona, she adds.
Morgan Brown continues her enjoyment as a third generation scadian by running events. “It’s fun to concept something, organize it, plan it, structure it, and then put it on and have people afterwards talk about how great it was and how much fun they had.” She likes being the person providing the fun. “Without me, there is no event to go to, and people don’t have a reason to dress up and put on their armor. That’s my enjoyment.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Society for Creative Anachronism chapter embraces history in Avon park
