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Re-enactors (was Re: [EK] Operation Renaissance Persona)
Poster: Karen@agent.infodata.com (Harris, Karen)
Anarra wrote:
> I've been to Plimoth Plantation, where everyone is 'in persona' all the
> time. I hated it. I hated the 'actors' there speaking as if they had no
> idea what I was talking about. I'd ask a question about life in that
> time, and if it contained words they wouldn't have known back then, they
> pretended they didn't understand. That's stupid and insulting and
> doesn't teach any history, which is theoretically the point of the whole
> thing.
>
> While I don't suppose for a moment you mean anything like the level of
> persona they do at Plimoth, perhaps you can understand why I am so wary
> of movements for us all to be 'in persona' at events.
>
> (And just imagine the chaos of trying to stay in persona when speaking
> to someone 500 years your junior! :-)
I used to work at the Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run, which
(back when I worked there used to) re-enacts life on a
substinence-level farm in 1771. _Every_ year was 1771. The fashions
never changed; every season brought the same news as it did the year
before.
My outfit was based on the meticulous research of volunteers who had
put together literature years before I began working there. I wore a
linen shift, a set of stays, a petticoat, an apron, a kerchief to
keep the sun off my neck, a little white cap, and a straw hat with a
little bit of maroon-colored ribbon on it -- my one real concession
to vanity. During the summer, I went without shoes or socks. The
few times I was able to work in the winter, I wore a wool petticoat
over my linen petticoat, as well as a wool cloak. My "persona," if
you would call it such a thing, was (most of the time) a daughter of
the tenant farmer.
We ate food prepared on the farm *that day* by the "farm mother" --
often using what we could pick from the crops, but sometimes cheating
and using produce brought in from an offsite storage area -- and was
prepared over a fire, in the log cabin. The dishes and cups and
other tableware was all handmade. I had my very own tin cup and my
very own bowl. Before meals, the "father" would say a period
grace. When it was time to wash up after meals, we used loofah
scrubbers, hot water warmed over the fire, and a bit of the lye soap
made on the farm.
Most of my time was spent as scenery -- weeding in the fields,
planting, feeding the animals (which were all period breeds). I did
get to interact with the farm patrons at times -- generally when I
was up by the house -- showing how to work the butter-churn, the few
games we had at the house (quoits was a particular favorite), or
mending clothing. If someone asked me a question I wouldn't have
understood, either because I personally didn't know the answer or I
as an eighteenth century farmer's daughter didn't know the answer, I
would have politely referred them to my father and mother, who would
certainly know a great lot more about the world than I do.
For special events, I would work at a milliner's shop, and I worked
as an apprentice milliner. I mostly sewed ribbons, flowers, and
feathers to straw hats. The only real change in my outfit is that I
would wear a peach-colored short jacket on top of everything else;
sometimes some flowers or a nice pin at the front of the jacket;
still no shoes.
For all this, I attended full-day training sessions at least once a
year. I also made (or helped make) most of my outfit; I had to take
special care to make sure that no machine-sewing showed on my
clothing. (That's how I got so good at hand-hems, if you were
wondering ...) ;) As a farmer's daughter, I knew how to do two
things in sewing -- seams and hems. As a milliner's apprentice, I
knew several other fancy stitches, especially those I needed to
ornament straw hats with ribbons and flowers and feathers, and enough
embroidery to be truly dangerous. ;)
Now, why am I telling you about all this? Consider this a *glimpse*
of the life of a re-enactor who is "performing" for patrons. While I
did speak to the patrons at times, I did my best to be careful to use
words that someone would have known 200+ years ago, and that would
have been appropriate for someone of my station. I understood that
my duty -- no matter what I had been assigned to do that day -- was
to maintain the illusion that the year was 1771, and Virginia was a
colony and we were all quite loyal to King George and England,
thank-you-very-much.
Sometimes I think about going back to working with Turkey Run Farm.
It would take a huge investment -- both in terms of time and money
-- and that sort of investment is what I've currently committed to
being involved in the SCA. (I'm done with ALL of the napkins now,
BTW!!) I really got disillusioned last time I was up there for a
special event. The old log cabin was quite dilapidated; most of the
furniture had been moved to the "new house," which had since burned
down. While there were many children re-enactors, most were wearing
modern shoes, many were talking about VERY modern things, and a lot
of the fields looked like they hadn't seen crops in ages. Downright
depressing ...
Yours in Service to the Dream,
Karen Larsdatter
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