Knight Time-

Brooke Heitz
LifeStyles Stringer

It is a fairy tale that every little girl has dreamed about: the helpless Maid Marian is stolen by the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, and then Robin Hood comes in and sweeps her off of her feet as he rescues her with honor and valor. Maid Marian and Robin run away to live a life of happiness and love.

The classic tale of Robin Hood and Maid Marian has come to SIUE in a different sense. The Society for Creative Anachronism has organized a student group on campus. The SCA is a group dedicated to recreating and researching the Middle Ages of European culture and history such as those times of Robin Hood and then presenting them in present day. The general purpose of SCA is to study the European Middle Ages and its crafts, sciences, arts, traditions and literature. The period of the Middle Ages is usually defined to be Western Civilization before A.D. 1600.

"With the SCA chapter forming late in the spring of 2000, there was not much time to organize the group before the school year ended," said Jim Dorethy, the head of the campus organization. "We have about 32 students interested in the group."

SCA originated in Berkeley, CA., in 1966. A group of science fiction and fantasy fans were planning a theme party. After the party, the group got together and discussed the idea of a re-enactment group. The Californians started forming groups as a nonprofit educational society and the idea took off. Since the original group in 1966, the society has grown to include over 24,000 paying members in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland and several other European countries.

The organization of SCA is set up like a feudal society. It is divided into 16 kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms are ruled by a king and queen (who rule by right of arms), a prince and princess (heirs to the throne) and a council of great officers who handle the day-to-day business of running the kingdom. The greater St. Louis area west of the Mississippi River is known to SCA as Barony Shattered Crystal. Due to the newness of the society on campus, SIUE joins with the Belleville area for the national SCA.

You're probably wondering how you can become a king or queen, or better yet, how in the world you can even join at SIUE. You might have to wait a little longer to become the king or queen, but you can become a peer with a little hard work and some effort. The king and queen appoint peers for their contributions and skills in the society.

The oldest of these peer groups is chivalry. Everyone has heard of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in history books. The chivalry, which includes the knights, consists of fighters who have achieved great skill in the act of medieval fighting and honor throughout their kingdom. The knights of SCA are undoubtedly the most famous of the peers due to the history of the Middle Ages. You can learn the fighting ways of the Middle Ages at SCA and even take part in tournaments. To fight in the tournaments at SCA events, you must have paid a $20 fee to the national SCA. This fee is only paid annually for insurance reasons.

At SIUE, it is even simpler to join. "We hold practices/meetings every Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m. at the Metcalf Theater or the Vadalabene Center in the gymnastics room where we practice our dancing and fighting," Dorethy said. "Every other Wednesday we hold a regular meetings in the Goshen Lounge. People usually drift in between the times of 5 to 7 p.m. or whenever they get a chance. It is free if you join here at SIUE."

After joining SCA, the fun begins. Not only can you become a knight and fight with a sword, but everyone in SCA gets to pick his or her own medieval name. Most people in the society pick a time period in the SCA "period" and a country, and then choose a name from that. This allows each member to create their own persona and then fit their garb and activities to this name.

During regular meetings, practice takes place for several of the "events" they participate in on several weekends a year. At these re-enactments, tournaments for dancing, fighting, and other such activities take place. Along with these events, art exhibits or competitions, classes on all manners of medieval skills, workshops, and later on, a feast and dancing take place. These events give the SCA groups a chance to show off their pride and skills to other Kingdoms. The Belleville SCA puts on about two demonstrations a month at places such as area grade schools or retirement homes. The demonstrations are free unless you plan to fight in the tournaments.

"On any given weekend of any given month, you can find SCA re-enactments happening all over the place," Dorethy pointed out.

The SCA group on campus is just beginning. Dorethy hopes that one day SIUE will be able hold its own status in SCA. "We hope to one day become more than a subgroup to Belleville. We have about 32 members signed up and if we can get about 2/3 to come, then I will be more than happy," Dorethy said.

The next official meeting of SCA will be Wednesday, Oct. 4, in the Goshen Lounge in the MUC. The SIUE group will not be appearing in Cougarfest due to a previous engagement, but you can see them on Sundays from 12-4 p.m. More information can be obtained about the national SCA group on the World Wide Web at www.sca.org. If you would like more information about the SCA group at SIUE, you are encouraged to attend the meeting or contact Dorethy at 650-3140...