Announcements: SCA Census Coming Soon!

Posted by

Detail from the Hunterian Psalter, Glasgow University Library MS Hunter 229 (U.3.2) circa 1170. Public domain in the US

Whether casual attendee, crossover fighter, or experienced artisan, your voice is needed! Learn more about our upcoming census and how you can #BeSeenSCA.
FAQ Page: https://www.sca.org/sca-census-2020-faq/

Comments are strongly encouraged and can be sent to:

SCA Inc.
Box 360789
Milpitas,  CA 95036

You may also email comments@lists.sca.org.

This announcement is an official informational release by the Society for Creative Anachronism , Inc.  Permission is granted to reproduce this announcement in its entirety in newsletters, websites and electronic mailing lists.

Known World Italian Salone di Fiesole 2020 THIS COMING FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

Posted by

Greetings from THFool Dagonell the Juggler, Society Deputy for Known World Symposium Advertisements!

I am proud to present, the first ever Virtual Known Worlde Symposium!

Known World Italian Salone di Fiesole 2020

This is the postponed event that was originally to be held at Gulf War 2020.

ONLINE 5/8/2020-5/9/2020
That’s THIS WEEK FRIDAY & SATURDAY!!!

Classes on how to be an Italian Ren persona, 15th c. Venetian clothing,
Renaissance perfumes, Italian calligraphy, flags, heraldry, and much much more!

Want to teach? There’s still time. Sign up on the website!

100K From the SCA: Help for Butler County, PA

Posted by

An army of Scadians coming together to fight food insecurity in Butler County, PA.

 

While the postponement of Pennsic 49 is a great emotional loss for Scadians, it is a tremendous economic loss for Butler County, PA. Over 10,000 people attend Pennsic each year. If each of us who holds Pennsic in our hearts donates just $10, we can raise $100,000 or more to support the great community that is home to this amazing two-week event.

Further details on the website.

https://100kfromthesca.org/

Lilies, Crown Tournament, and Coronation Postponed

Posted by


Below is the complete text of TRMs posting to the Kingdom Facebook page. Main highlights are:

  • Lilies is postponed. Event stewards and staff are working on plans for a scaled down version in the fall.
  • Crown Tournament is postponed to a future date, when it can be safely held.
  • Coronation will be postponed, with the intent of giving future heirs at least a month before elevation
  • No plans to hold virtual courts

Good evening Calontir!

First, we appreciate everyone who attended our Q&A session this evening. Your concern for your fellow Calontiri heartens us. For those of you unable to attend, we know that it was short notice, but hopefully this message will cover most of the high points for you. Many of you have, until now, had a lot of unasked questions and uncertainty. We hope that this has helped alleviate those fears.

Along those lines, while we all labor with the uncertainty of the pandemic it has been Our task to keep Kingdom morale high, and to do our best to help you meet those needs from our home. Using that as a metric, last week we failed you. We apologize to you all for that and we will strive to do better. Further, if you find yourselves unhappy with the SCA, the Kingdom, or the management of your local groups under our restrictions we accept that blame as well. Please direct that ire where it belongs – on us.

Here is a very brief summary of the announcements we made this evening

-In light of the most recent health guidelines and information released by both Missouri and Iowa on Monday 4/27, We are postponing Lilies. The event stewards and staff are working hard on plans for a scaled down Lilies in the fall, and details on that will be released as they are available. While we will all miss our usual Summer, His Majesty and I are looking forward to this and greatly appreciate the efforts of everyone working to still give us that Lilies experience a little further down the road. We cannot thank them enough for time they have given and the dedication they have shown to the Kingdom.

-Because of this postponement, Our Crown Tournament is also postponed. Our current intent is to hold it as soon as it is safely possible, and We will be investigating options for that. We are working with the Society to obtain variances for several possibilities. We thank them for their willingness to work us to see that our Customs and Traditions are preserved.

-As far as other June activities are concerned, We will be maintaining our previously stated method of making decisions on a month-by-month basis and will be evaluating the possibility of smaller events, meetings, and practices for June in mid-May. We want to thank the Barons and Seneschals and Kingdom Reeve for their continued patience and support.

-With Crown Tourney postponed to an uncertain future date, Coronation must be as well. We hope to have heirs as soon as we can safely do so, and to give them at least a month to enjoy being heirs and to organize for their own reign and the continued betterment of all Calontir.

-All of these postponements lead to the necessity of seeking a variance for the extension of our own reign. We had hoped to avoid this deviation from tradition, but it has been made unavoidable by the current circumstances. We will be working to find the best possible solutions for finding our heirs to follow us in maintaining Calontir and hope that We have your patience and understanding while We do so.

The following are some additional notes based on your questions and comments:

-Please do keep the business of the SCA as active as you can – planning events, seeing to the local books, and reports. We do not know what the future time tables will be for events, and we understand that some details may be hard to pin down with not all businesses and site locations open, but if we are not planning for upcoming events now, there will be nothing to attend when the time comes and we are able to be together again.

-We do not have any plans for Virtual Courts. Those that have happened in other Kingdoms have mostly been due to the necessity of having heirs step up. The business we have outstanding, elevations specifically deserve more than an electronic thank you.

-Many had kind words for us on the reign so far and we wanted to acknowledge our entire royal household, and specifically Mistress Jorunn and Mistress Gabby for the incredible amount of effort that they have put in behind the scenes keeping us organized and making us look good. Similarly, Mistress Rochwen has been instrumental in organizing and creating the beautiful scrolls for awards that we have given and many that we have yet to give. They all deserve more thanks than we can possibly express.

These times are difficult for everyone. We know that you feel strained, patience is tried, tempers are short, and fear whispers to you. We know what to do and we know how to do it, but to stare unwavering at uncertainty is eventually bound to shake even the most dauntless.

Pick your friends and siblings up. Help them stand strong so that they may do so for you in turn. Hold Fast Calontir.

Until death take Us, The world end, or Our rightful heir take this burden from Us.

Lucian and Tamar

From Their Royal Majesties: ZOOM Populace Discussion of Current State of the Kingdom

Posted by
This information is gleaned from a Facebook event page, and edited to apply to those not on Facebook:



We know that many of you have questions about the current state of things within the kingdom and, rather than continued guesses and speculation, We invite you to join Us for a Calontir Q&A via Zoom on Tuesday 4/28 from 7:30 to 8:30pm.

This is not an SCA event or a court – just a way for us to try to address at one time all who have questions or are interested in hearing those of others. We will not be able to answer every single question that you have, because some things We just don’t have answers to, but We will do our best to pass on to you any information and assuage any fears that We can…

To prevent chaos and confusion, we will be muting all participants at the beginning of the call and unmuting one at a time to allow them to ask their questions. If you would like to speak, please use the raise hand function and we will do our best to answer questions in the order they come up. You can also use the chat window to ask questions, if you prefer.

If you have questions that you want to be sure We answer or that may require Us to do a little digging before hand, please feel free to post them on here, so that We can have the chance to get the information you are looking for.

We hope to see all interested members of the populace on Tuesday evening and look forward to hopefully putting your minds at ease.

Lucian and Tamar


Information about the Zoom meeting:
Topic: Calontir Q&A
Time: Apr 28, 2020 07:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting online
https://wustl.zoom.us/j/93124704263?pwd=NXVFL0lOeVdaWURjM2Y0N2RHNlVjZz09

Meeting ID: 931 2470 4263
Password: Calontir

Join by One tap mobile
+13126266799,,93124704263# US (Chicago)
+16468769923,,93124704263# US (New York)

To join by phone:

Dial by your location
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 931 2470 4263
Find your local number: https://wustl.zoom.us/u/acGHTWSQ2S

State of the SCA With President John Fulton and Gigi Coulson

Posted by

Greetings Known World! In the video Gigi Coulson, member of the Board of Directors for the Society for Creative Anachronism sits down to chat with John Fulton, President of the SCA, about the State of the Known World in April of 2020.

We want to keep you all updated on what is going on across the SCA right now.
Here are the topics covered in this chat:

• State of the Known World at this moment in April of 2020
o Great Kingdom leadership
o Variances encouraged
o Participation has changed but is still happening

• Guidance and Information
o Crowns & Seneschals are the place to look during pandemic & after
o BoD Meeting minutes published, meeting more frequently
o Officers across the KW have virtual classes, events, challenges

• Non-Profit Status
o Renee/John/Mike handling operations
o BoD is meeting to fulfill other requirements
o A drop in membership renewals from last April (monitoring)
o Right now fine, but monitoring and will keep the info coming as the months go on

• BoD
o Meeting virtually more often for the foreseeable future
o Ombudsmen available to Seneschals and Crowns for advice or information
o Virtual meet and greet is in the works

• SCA in the time of Pandemic
o Hobbies aren’t the priority right now, but we can still use the intellectual stimulation, the camaraderie, and the joy we get from the SCA
o Virtual everything.
o Our mission is still being accomplished

o We can still pay our bills

o We see you; we are still thinking of you and working for you

o We want you to see us
▪ so we will be having more chats
▪ we are planning a virtual meet & greet

We really appreciate you giving us some of your time while juggling life, family, kids, work, staying-at-home, and slowing the spread of coronavirus.

Let’s
chat again, soon. Have a good one, my friends!

 

Listening to Chaucer in Middle English

Posted by

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (Westminster: William ...How did our medieval English counterparts really sound? Would we have been able to understand them?

An app developed by a team at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, with the help and encouragement of medieval scholar and Monty Python alum Terry Jones, has made it possible to hear and see the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales on your phone, tablet or computer.
The free app is available from iPhone’s app store, Google Play and at http://www.sd-editions.com/CantApp/GP/.

The app allows you to hear Chaucer’s words as they would have sounded in his day while the prologue is displayed in both Middle English and modern English. The app displays one or two lines at a time, advancing as the narration proceeds. It’s a fascinating way to learn more about Chaucer and Middle English. You can also see the full prologue in either Middle English or its modern translation.

You also can just listen to the narration like a podcast, but without the modern translation to guide you, it can be a bit difficult to understand. If you want to listen to the Canterbury Tales in modern English, you can find downloadable audiobooks and audiobook CDs at most libraries.

If you’re not interested in the text or you don’t want to download another app, you can see the 2015 performance of the prologue at https://artsandscience.usask.ca/english/research/performances/the-general-prologue-in-historically-based-performance.php.

This was one of the last things Terry Jones worked on before he died earlier this year, and the team dedicated the app to him.

Peter Robinson of the University of Saskatchewan described to Open Culture how Jones’ behind-the-scenes influence helped drive this project. “‘His work and his passion for Chaucer was an inspiration for us. We talked a lot about Chaucer and it was his idea that the Tales would be turned into a performance.'”

The Open Culture website noted that “The strangeness of Middle English to our eyes and ears can make approaching the Canterbury Tales for the first time a daunting experience. The Chaucer app is an excellent research tool for scholars, yet the researchers want ‘the public, not just academics to see the manuscript as Chaucer would have likely thought of it,’ says Robinson, ‘as a performance that mixed drama and humor.’ In other words, reading Chaucer should be fun.

“Why else would Terry Jones—a man who knew his comedy as well as his medieval history—spend decades reading and writing about him?”*

*”Terry Jones, the Late Monty Python Actor, Helped Turn Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales Into a Free App: Explore It Online,” Open Culture, http://www.openculture.com/2020/02/terry-jones-the-late-monty-python-actor-helped-turn-chaucers-canterbury-tales-into-a-free-app.html, retrieved April 25, 2020.

Announcement: Pennsic 49 Postponed to 2021

Posted by

PENNSIC 49 – COVID 19 UPDATE
24th April 2020

G’Day Everyone,

COVID-19 is touching all of our lives and at this time our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our Pennsic Attendees, Cooper’s Lake Family and Staff:, the entire Community of people in and around Cooper’s Lake Campground we interact and depend upon, and our numerous vendors who supply our event. They are all part of the “Pennsic-War-Family”.

When I took on the office of Mayor of Pennsic 49, I promised to, and was entrusted with, the welfare and safety of the entire Pennsic Family. It is therefore with great sadness that I must inform you today that, we have decided to postpone Pennsic 49, scheduled for July 24, 2020 through August 9, 2020 to July 30, 2021 through August 15, 2021.

This postponement will come as heartbreaking news to many of you – and it has been an exceedingly difficult decision for us to make. Since the first Pennsic Wars at Cooper’s Lake we have been so proud to welcome people from all over the Knowne World to beautiful lands of Aethelmearc, but this year, sadly we cannot gather together as before.

As many of you have read in my previous COVID-19 updates, the impact of this terrible pandemic has effects that reach far past just those that attend Pennsic War. I will not go into all our considerations here again, you can all read my previous two posts that outline many of the factors we considered before making this decision. However, on this one occasion the emotion of Pennsic needed to be removed and the hard decision made.

It has been arranged with Cooper’s Lake Management, that those who have preregistered for Pennsic 49 may have their registrations rolled over to 2021.
If you desire a refund, please go to www.cooperslake.com and log into your pre-registration account.

Even if we cannot be together this July, we remain optimistic that the situation will soon improve. I know we are all very worried about the impact that COVID-19 is having on our loved ones and daily lives. My Pennsic team and I send you our very best wishes. We cannot wait to share time together at Cooper’s Lake again with you all.

Yours,

Sir Gregory of Loch Swan
Mayor
Pennsic 49