Period?

[Eilifr]

Ok.... I have been told it goes from the fall of the roman empire to the beginning of the rennaisance (I know I probley spelt that wrong but I don't have to spell it that often, sry) But I also know there are Pirates and stuff, I have also heard that some people greatley dislike Asian influenced personae and such... So um... Whats good and stuff huh?  

[Berzerker_prime]

I believe it's anything up to 1650. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. As for a start date, most folks fall into time periods after 600 or so, but there is no technical start date for the SCA.

Sarah T. Foole.  

[Lady Rayya]

there's actually a big debate over what is the end date, too.

since the rules mention the begging of the Rennaisance, the dates are a little more fluid than some would like.

Renn. period starts later someplaces than elsewhere, so you could have russian 1600-ish garb as perfectly acceptable while Italian in the SAME YEAR isn't.

However, 1600 is the official cut-off date, and 1650 is the absolute cut-off date if anyone notices.... (and the garb nazis will... ignore them.. or throw water on them and watch them melt..)

here's one person's thought on the end date, as gleaned from the SCA tribe on tribe.net:

"I suspect the thought process on 1600 went:
"well, 1600's a nice round year"
"okay, sounds good."
There shouldn't even be a date as such, it should be by form of era. So if
you can demonstrate that what you are doing is a part of the
medieval/rennaissance era of a particular culture, it's okay. So later
medieval era Russian stuff would be allowed while at the same time Thirty
Years War stuff wouldn't, even if they were at the same time.
It needs to be less "ZOMG that's from 1620!" and more "did you realize
you're dressed like a Musketeer?""

(the above is from Elsbeth on tribe.net.. I can't say it better than she.)  

[Sayfia]

actually, the cutoff date is supposed to be 1604, when Elizabeth I passed away, but most people just round down to 1600. After the death of Elizabeth, things got pretty strange (English Civil War, Puritans, no theater or fun), so I think that is the reasoning for that.

Also, here in the Midrealm, we don't have any problems with Asian and other culture personas. I know that we have one knight who has a Japanese persona, and we even have a knight/pelican who has an Aztec persona. I think if you want to have a persona of whatever type, it's fine by me, just do some research into it and do it to the best of your ability.

Oh, and pirates? My husband's persona is a Castillian "heavily armed procurer of other people's goods", from about the time of Elizabeth I, who moved to England to avoid religious persecution. And also found the love of a good woman there, too biggrin  

[Artimus_Twitch]

What I was given for time peirods when I was still doing A&S was "6-800 up until 1650. All cultures with direct contact with Europe". Although most people use it as "who have had contact with Europe."
Thats the reason I am a little iffy on Japanese persona's. Yes they had contact with Europians, but were still VERY isolationsit, and did not want contact. Not exactly what I would call direct contact =P

Depending on where you are from you can push the limits without too many people getting their pantys in a knot. One of the last events I went to we had a guy doing stariotypical Greek and no one seemed to care.  

[Sunegami]

I've always heard 600-1600, with room to stretch earlier. 3nodding

Also, who doesn't like Asian personas? Yama Kaminari is the largest samurai clan I know! Everyone here (Æthelmearc) loves them! whee  

[Spasms]

In the garden of lonely love
I'll wait for you
Till the time will come
When I see you smile
Just for me

What I've read and heard from my sister is that it's anything before 1604.

Course she hasn't attended any events or done anything SCA wise for a good few years, and I've never done anything. Just read about it and planned for things.

Love and loss
Embrace the pain
You can't hide your tears in the rain
I'll be there
Just wait my darling

 

[Tchipakkan]

Modern American Schools are really not very good about teaching history. (I don't think they make it fun enough!)
But Pirates like Jack Sparrow and that type, are from the 1700s- think about the tricorn hats. That's waaaay later than SCA period.
There have always been pirates of some sort. There were Elizabethan Pirates like Francis Drake, and the Vikings were pirates. All a pirate is is someone with a ship who steals. Big deal. The ones we like to think about are the ones who, like Robin Hood, (Highwaymen are land-pirates) who take from people we don't like and give some to us.
It's more of a style thing. SCA is playing Middle Ages: kings, knights, stuff like that. Pirates are from a different period when ideas like democracy and personal freedom were becoming common. In the Middle Ages people liked the idea of serving a gallant lord. Modern people don't like serving anyone but themselves.
I think it's romantic to give your loyalty to a King or Queen or Baron or some other person you admire.
The most important thing in the SCA is probably what garb you are going to wear- it should look good on you- because that's where you are going to put most of your time and money and effort. You can be any kind of person in any period, but you still should wear something that makes you look and feel great!