Members of the SCA study and take part in a variety of activities, including combat, archery, equestrian activities, costuming, cooking, metalwork, woodworking, music, dance, calligraphy, fiber arts, and much more. If it was done in the Middle Ages or Renaissance, odds are you’ll find someone in the SCA interested in recreating it.
What makes the SCA different from a Humanities 101 class is the active participation in the learning process. To learn about the clothing of the period, you research it, then sew and wear it yourself. To learn about combat, you put on armor (which you may have built yourself) and learn how to defeat your opponent. To learn to brew, you make (and sample!) your own wines, meads and beers. Activities happen at events, practices, or in the home.
Martial Activities
There are a wide variety of SCA Martial Activities you can watch and participate in. For all martial activities, safety officers (marshals) are always on hand to ensure that the combat is performed safely and to ensure that all equipment being used meets established safety standards.
Combat is based on a system of honor – the combatants themselves determine if the attacks they receive were successful based on the angle, location, and force of the strike.
Combatants participate in tournaments one-on-one and in teams, in melees involving dozens of combatants, and even in large-scale wars with hundreds of participants! Unlike reenactments of battles from history, our combat activities are unchoreographed and the outcome is entirely based on the skill and training of the combatants involved.
All these combatants wear protective armor made from a variety of materials (metal, leather, padded fabric, plastic, etc.), as well as steel helmets (or fencing masks), which must meet a minimum standard. They train in fighting safely before they are allowed to participate in combat.
Armored Combat
At many events you will see armored fighters wearing steel helmets and facing off with shields and weapons made of rattan (a springy bamboo-type wood).
Rapier & Fencing Combat
You will also see rapier combatants fencing in the round with real (but blunted) steel blades.
Youth Combat
Even youth fighters could be competing against each other with padded weapons.
Equestrian
At other events, you may encounter equestrians on horseback jousting against each other and playing medieval training games.
Archery & Thrown Weapons
See archers shooting at targets with longbows and crossbows, thrown weapons participants hurling axes and spears at wood targets, combat archers shooting tubular arrows at the opposing side.
Siege Engineering
Or see siege engineers using ballistae, catapults, and trebuchets to fling soft ammunition at advancing armies.
