Re: Religion and society

[kuijt@umiacs.UMD.EDU]

Dafydd ap Gwystl sends greetings to all within the sound of my voice!

To my eyes this debate is quickly descending into the murky realms of
PC or non-PC, ACLU or KKK, and that is considerably farther than it
need go.

First:
The Society G&PD isn't bad, considering.  It is quite reasonable.

Second:
Master Thomas' guidelines for demos are not what I would have written,
but everyone should remember that there are MAJOR regional variations
in both the SCA and the real society within which it is imbedded.
In the southerly reaches of Atlantia the real world is much more
conservative than up in the DC Metro area where many of the readers
of this list reside.  In the greater DC area the idea that wearing a
black cloak might be misinterpreted as a connection with Satanism
is humorous, almost ludicrous.  In the rural areas of South Carolina
it isn't so funny.

A demo is not an event, and is most certainly NOT private--it is only
reasonable that we be aware of any existing preconceptions, and take
care not to trigger any prejudices inadvertently.  Where I grew up,
if you wore a sheet with eye-holes cut out people thought you were
wearing a ghost costume; in the rural south people might interpret
the same costume very differently.

Third:
I agree strongly with Brigantia: we spend too much time avoiding the
major part of the middle ages that was the dominant religions.  The
G&PD on religion is usually misinterpreted and misrepresented as saying
"we do the Middle Ages with all the religion filtered out."  I find it
very amusing that we in the SCA are more tolerant of people wearing
new-age religious symbols than of people wearing crosses, when the one
is totally modern and the other was ubiquitous in the real middle ages.

Fourth:
Istvan writes:
>I do think
>it would be nice to create some kind of facility for developing Orders
>like the Knights Templar, Teutonic Knights, Order of the Dragon: the
>warrior-monk kind of thing.  I know that there are certain Orders within
>the SCA for knighthood, but they are more along the lines of the Order of
>the Garter and such.

I've never heard of the Order of the Dragon.  Knights Templar and Teutonic
Knights are historical orders; the usual practice is to allow anyone to
have a Templar persona or whatever if they like, but you can't call
yourself a Knight Templar/Hospitaller/Teutonic unless you are (in the
SCA) a Knight.  I'm not aware of any such people in this kingdom, but
there are a few in other kingdoms.

Within the SCA there is no equivalent of the Order of the Garter--I'm not
sure what you are referring to there.  There are a few Companies that
you might be referring to that have recently (last three years?)
formed to re-create Tournament Societies of the 14th-15th centuries
within the SCA.  In Trimaris there is the Company of the Star; in
the West the Company of St. George; in the East the Company of St.
Michael; in the Middle the Tenons of Noble Folly and (I think) the
Company of the Peacock; and here in Atlantia the Company of St. Mark.
Although there are variations from group to group, these companies
generally attempt to live up to higher standards of authentic armour
(i.e. less sports equipment) and attempt to foster more authentic
tournaments within the SCA.  If anyone wishes more information about
the Company of St. Mark they may contact me, as I am its Captain.

Dafydd ap Gwystl, Knight