Add to favorites Examiner Bio

Renaissance Faires and Scottish Games

 

The seasons of spring, summer, and fall bring a multitude of events. Renaissance Faires and Scottish Games have proven to be very popular. Each has their own specific character. Both have many similarities. How these similarities and differences are viewed depends on your view point – that is as an attendee, as a vendor, or as a guild or clan.

 

The people that attend these events seek a change from the world around them. They want to experience an idealized version of these “olden-times,” or the romantic view point they have seen in movies, television or read in books. Their need to participate in some way is a major part of visiting these events. An attendee at a Renaissance Faire can be dressed in casual attire of our current times, or they can be completely dressed in a costume that is a very accurate representation of the period and or region they wish to represent. The purpose of these faires is to create an environment that is totally open to any of these fantasies. It is an opportunity to digress in time to a place where this romanticized ideal can be relived. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, then we all may have actually experienced this in past lives and this is an unconscious or even conscious way of experiencing/re-experiencing what we may have done in past times. What it comes down to is a fun experience for those who attend. They get to see people (guilds, musicians, artists, and vendors) accurately dressed in costumes of the time. These people do whatever they can to bring this period to life. The Renaissance Faires have many types of entertainment for its visitors. These include jousting, sword fighting; parades of royalty in costume; guilds of musicians, jugglers, and crafts; Shakespearean Plays and actors in specific characters of the period. The food vendors endeavor to provide a menu similar to that of King Henry the VIII.

 

The Scottish Games have similar entertainment and events. Here there are the games that include caber tossing and stone throwing. Imagine throwing a large pole not much smaller than a telephone pole or a rock bigger than most cannon balls!! All who participate as guilds, clans, vendors, musicians, or dancers are dressed according to their clan’s tartan. Bag pipers abound with their enthralling sounds of chanters and drones. Scottish Dancers demonstrate their skill with Scottish dances such as jigs, reels, flings, hornpipes and of course the sword dances. Those that have developed a skilled Scottish Brogue give a stronger sense of Scotland with their silver-tongued Scottish accents. For the visitor it is an opportunity for them to live/relive their heritage and even have haggis for lunch. They come fully dressed in kilts, brogues, stockings, flashes, dirks, sporrans, Glengarry and Tammy hats, and of course the flask filled with a great single malt Scotch (less the Scotch is optional though not necessarily authentic).

 

The sense of pride of being Scottish or Irish is prevalent with visitors, vendors, clans, guilds, athletes. And even in those who have no Celtic background at all. It is about pride of ancestry. I can’t imagine any Scott who didn’t have both tears and overwhelming feeling pride when they viewed the movie Brave heart. The same experience came with Rob Roy. Our ancestors are where we came from and they make us who we are.

 

Over the next several months, my wife and I will be attending many Renaissance Faires and Scottish Games as vendors. I will take on the additional duty of giving reports of these events here on Examiner.com.

 

My next article will present the rules and requirements for guilds and vendors who participate in these faires and games. I will be taking photographs and recording the activities, food, people, music, and spectacles of these events. I use the “old English” spelling for faire to maintain the concept of the Renaissance period (the re-awakening/re-discovery of humanity as it emerged from the dark ages)

 

In closing I submit to my readers pictures from Fremont’s Tartan Day. I loved the music, dancing, and the escape from what is a “normal life.” I’m primarily a bassoonist/clarinetist, but when I inherited a violin from my Scottish Aunt – Ena, I began to practice Scottish Fiddling. I take every opportunity to listen, watch, and learn. Hopefully, I will be able to perform at these events soon. My last name is Armenian – Krikorian and the pride I have for this half is equal to my mother’s Scottish side and the Davison Clan. Both nations have endured many wars and occupations and yet still retain a distinct culture in spite of outside influences that sought to take away their identities and subvert them to their will. This never happened and never will!! So here is a toast from my flask to all who love what is Celtic and all who love to be proud of their origins.

 

Michael (Davison) Krikorian

Insert photo caption or credit here