Historical reenactment is a type of roleplay in which participants attempt to recreate some aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the reenactment of Pickett's Charge at the Great Reunion of 1913, or as broad as an entire period.
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Historical reenactment through the ages
Activities related to "reenactment" have a long history. The Romans staged recreations of famous battles within their amphitheaters An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for dramatical or theatrical performances used in greek drama performances. There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word 'amphitheatre' is used: Ancient amphitheatres, built by the ancient Romans, were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were as a form of public spectacle In general spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Derived in Middle English from c.1340 as "specially prepared or arranged display" it was borrowed from Old French spectacle, itself a reflection of the Latin spectaculum "a show" from spectare "to view, watch" frequentative form. In the Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined in tournaments A Tournament, or tourney is the name popularly given to chivalrous competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (12th to 16th centuries). It is one of various types of hastiludes often reenacted historical themes from Ancient Rome Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world or elsewhere. In the nineteenth century, reenactments were popular in a number of countries, e.g. the Eglinton Tournament of 1839 in Britain. During the early twentieth century they were popular in Russia Russia (pronounced /ˈrʌʃə/ ; Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya, pronounced [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, pronounced [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈraʦəjə] ( listen)), is a state in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, with re-enactments of the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) (1906), the Battle of Borodino The Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties. The French Grande Armée under Emperor Napoleon I attacked the Imperial Russian army of General Mikhail Kutuzov near the village of (1912) in St Petersburg Saint Petersburg (Russian: Са́нкт-Петербу́рг , tr. Sankt-Peterburg, IPA [ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk]) is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd (Russian: Петроград, IPA [pʲɪtrɐˈgrat], 191 and the Taking of Azov (1696) in Voronezh Voronezh is a large city in southwestern Russia, not far from Ukraine. It is located either side of the Voronezh River, twelve kilometers away from where it flows into the Don. Voronezh is the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway (connecting European Russia with Ural and Siberia, as well in 1918. In 1920, there was a reenactment of the 1917 Storming of the Winter Palace on the third anniversary of the event. It was this reenactment which provided the inspiration for the scenes in Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a revolutionary Soviet Russian film director and film theorist noted in particular for his silent films Strike, Battleship Potemkin and October, as well as historical epics Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible. His work vastly influenced early filmmakers owing to his innovative use of and writings about montage's film October: Ten Days That Shook the World.
Likewise, mass pageants were used to commemorate civic events like 150th anniversary of the founding of St Louis St. Louis (pronounced /seɪnt ˈluːɪs/ or /sænt ˈluː.iː/; French: Saint-Louis or St-Louis, [sɛ̃ lwi] ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. The city itself has an estimated population of 354,361 and is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,879,934, the largest urban area in Missouri and 16th-largest, held in 1914.[1]
Living history
French napoleonic artillery during the Battle of Austerlitz The Battle of Austerlitz also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon Bonaparte's greatest victories, effectively destroying the Third Coalition against the French Empire. On 2 December 1805 (20 November Old Style, 11 Frimaire, XIV, in the French Republican Calendar), a French army, commanded by Emperor Napoleon I, (1805). Main article: Living history Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to reenact a specific event in history, living history is similar to, and sometimes incorporates, historicalThe term living history describes attempts to bring history to life for the general public. Historical reenactment includes a continuum from well researched attempts to recreate a known historical event for educational purposes, through representations with theatrical elements, to competitive events for purposes of entertainment. The line between amateur reenactment and presentations at living history museums An open-air museum is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of-doors. The first open-air museums were established in Scandinavia towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the concept soon spread throughout Europe and North America. Open-air museums are variously known as skansen, museums of buildings and folk museums. A can be blurred as, while the latter routinely utilize museum professionals and trained interpreters to help convey the story of history to the public, some museums and historic sites employ reenactment groups with high standards of authenticity for the same role at special events.
Reenactors
The Company of St. George recreating a small medieval military camp in France, 2006.Most reenactors are amateurs who pursue reenactment as a hobby A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse . From this came the expression "to ride one's hobby-horse", meaning "to follow a favorite pastime", and in turn, hobby in the modern sense of recreation. Participants within this hobby are extremely diverse. The ages of participants range from young children whose parents bring them along to events, to the elderly. Among adult participants, people from all different walks of life can be found - college students, firefighters, lawyers, members of the armed forces, doctors, and even professional historians.
Reenactment groups
Main article: List of historical reenactment groupsReasons for participating
Reasons given for participating vary. Some participants are interested in getting a historical History is the study of the human past. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events. Historians debate the nature of history and its perspective on a particular period or war, particularly if they can trace their ancestry back to an individual or individuals who were involved.[citation needed] Others participate for the escapism Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life. It can also be used as a term to define the actions people take to help relieve persisting feelings of depression or general sadness.[citation needed] that such events offer.[citation needed]
Categories of Reenactors
Reenactors are commonly divided (or self-divide) into three categories, based on the level of concern for authenticity In historical reenactment, authenticity is a measure of how close an item, prop, action, weapon, or custom is, to what would actually have been used or done in the time period being depicted.[2][3]
Farbs
An American Civil War Union blockade – Eastern – Western – Lower Seaboard – Trans-Mississippi – Pacific Coast reenactor talks about life in a typical army field camp. Hard-core reenactors would consider him "farby" because of his weight, as well as the modern cigarette he is holding.Some, called "Farbs" or "polyester soldiers"[4] are reenactors who spend relatively little of their time or money maintaining authenticity with regard to uniforms, accessories, or even period behavior. The 'Good Enough' attitude is pervasive among farbs, although even casual observers may be able to point out flaws. Blue jeans, tennis shoes, polyester (and other man-made fabrics), zippers, velcro Velcro is a brand name of fabric hook-and-loop fasteners. It consists of two layers: a "hook" side, which is a piece of fabric covered with tiny hooks, and a "loop" side, which is covered with even smaller and "hairier" loops. When the two sides are pressed together, the hooks catch in the loops and hold the pieces, snoods A snood is a type of headgear, historically worn by European women over their long hair. In the most common form it resembles a close-fitting hood worn over the back of the head. A tighter-mesh band may cover the forehead or crown, then run behind the ears and under the nape of the neck. A sack of sorts dangles from this band, covering and, and modern cigarettes are common issues.
The origin of the word "farb" (and the derivative adjective "farby") is unknown, though it appears to date to early American Civil War Union blockade – Eastern – Western – Lower Seaboard – Trans-Mississippi – Pacific Coast centennial reenactments in 1960 or 1961.[5] Some think that the origin of the word is a truncated version of "Far be it from authentic."[citation needed] An alternative definition is "Far Be it for me to question/criticise",[6][7] or "Fast And Researchless Buying".[8] Some early reenactors assert the word derives from German Farbe, color, because inauthentic reenactors were over-colorful compared with the dull blues, greys or browns of the real Civil War uniforms that were the principal concern of American reenactors at the time the word was coined.[9][10] According to Mr. Burton K. Kummerow, a member of "The Black Hats, CSA" reenactment group in the early 1960s, he first heard it used as a form of fake German to describe a fellow reenactor. The term was picked up by George Gorman of the 2nd North Carolina at the Centennial Manassas Reenactment in 1961, and has been used by reenactors ever since.[11]
Mainstream
A mainstream Federal artillery Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons. These engines comprise specialised devices which use some form of stored energy to reenactor.Another group of reenactors often is called "Mainstream." These reenactors are somewhere between farb and authentic. They are more common than either farbs or authentics.[citation needed]
Most mainstream reenactors make an effort at appearing authentic, but may come out of character in the absence of an audience. Visible stitches are likely to be sewn in a period-correct manner, but hidden stitches and undergarments may not be period-appropriate. Food consumed before an audience is likely to be generally appropriate to the period, but it may not be seasonally and locally appropriate. Modern items are sometimes used "after hours" or in a hidden fashion. The common attitude is to put on a good show, but that accuracy need only go as far as others can see.[citation needed]
Progressive
At the other extreme from farbs are "hard-core authentics", "authenticity nazis" or "progressives," as they prefer to be called.[12] Sometimes derisively called "stitch counters"[13] or even "stitch nazis", many people have misconceptions about hardcore reenactors,[14] which spawn from a published book about hardcore reenactors, Confederates in the Attic Confederates in the Attic is a work of non-fiction by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tony Horwitz. Horwitz explores his deep interest in the American Civil War and investigates America's lingering ties to a war that ended more than 130 years previous.[citation needed] Hard-cores generally seek an "immersive" reenacting experience, trying to live, as much as possible, as someone of the period might have. This includes eating seasonally and regionally appropriate food, sewing inside seams and undergarments in a period-appropriate manner, and staying in character throughout an event.[15]
Hard-core reenactors generally value thorough research, and sometimes deride mainstream reenactors for perpetuating inaccurate "reenactorisms". However they are also known to carry this to extremes for periods where archaelogical or historical data is lacking, an example being to refuse to accept items that are known to have been used in earlier and later periods but which have no known evidence for their specific period .[citation needed]
Period
The period of an event is the range of dates . See authenticity (reenactment) In historical reenactment, authenticity is a measure of how close an item, prop, action, weapon, or custom is, to what would actually have been used or done in the time period being depicted for a discussion of how the period affects the types of costume, weapons, and armour used.
Popular periods to reenact include:
Reenactment covers a wide temporal span. This is a reenactment of the Roman legion The Roman legion is a term that can apply both as a translation of legio ("conscription" or "army") to the entire Roman army and also, more narrowly (and more commonly), to the heavy infantry that was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army in the period of the late Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. In this latter XV Apollinaris, from Austria.- Medieval reenactment Medieval reenactment is a form of historical reenactment that focuses on re-enacting European history in the period from the fall of Rome to about the end of the 15th Century. The second half of this period is often called the Middle Ages. This multiplicity of terms is compounded by the variety of other terms used for the period
- Renaissance reenactment
- English Civil War reenactment An English Civil War The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first (1642–46) and second (1648–49) civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war (1649–51) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II reenactment in Hampshire Today, Hampshire is a popular holiday area. Its tourist attractions include many seaside resorts, the motor museum at Beaulieu, with national parks in both New Forest and the South Downs . Hampshire has a long maritime history and two of England's largest ports, Southampton and Portsmouth, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of such
- The The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed by the 1569 Union of Lublin between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and lasted until 1795. The new commonwealth was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th-century Europe and its wars.
- Modern reenactment
- American Revolutionary War reenactment
- Golden Age of Piracy The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation given to one or more outbursts of piracy in the early modern period. In its broadest accepted definition, the Golden Age of Piracy spans from the 1650s to the 1720s and covers three separate outbursts of piracy: 1) the buccaneering period of approximately 1650 to 1680, characterized by Anglo-French
- Napoleonic reenactment
- Regency reenactment groups
- The Fur Trade Before the colonization of the Americas, Russia was a major supplier of fur-pelts to Western Europe and parts of Asia. Fur was a major Russian export as trade developed in the Early Middle Ages, first through the Baltic and Black Seas. With the development of railways, Russia traded through the German city of Leipzig. In 1950 it came to an abrupt is reenacted at events called as "Rendezvous."
- Crimean War Reenactment
- American Civil War reenactment
- World War I reenactment
- World War II reenactment
- Korean War reenactment
Clothing and equipment
Reenactor displaying buckskins Buckskins are clothing, usually consisting of a jacket and leggings, made from buckskin, a soft sueded leather from the hide of deer or elk. Buckskins are often trimmed with fringe or quillsSmall cottage industries abound that provide not only the materials but even the finished product for use by reenactors. Uniforms and clothing made of hand woven, natural dyed materials are sewn by hand or machine using the sartorial techniques of the period portrayed. The same holds true for headgear, footwear, camp gear, accoutrements, military equipment, weapons and so on. These items (which are generally much more expensive than clothing and uniform in modern production) offer the wearer a life-like experience in the use of authentical materials, tailoring techniques and manufacture. Event spectators may also derive more satisfaction when a high level of authenticity is attained in both individual clothing and equipment, as well as equipment used in camp.
A British school-based Tudor reenactment group show off their authentic clothing.Types of reenactment
See also: list of historical reenactment eventsLiving history
Main article: Living history Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to reenact a specific event in history, living history is similar to, and sometimes incorporates, historicalLiving histories are meant entirely for education of the public. Such events do not necessarily have a mock battle but instead are aimed at portraying the life, and more importantly the lifestyle, of people of the period. This often includes both military and civilian camps. Occasionally, storytelling or acting sketches take place to involve or explain the camps background to the viewing public. More common are craft and cooking demonstrations, song and leisure activities, and lectures. Combat training or duels can also be encountered even when larger combat demonstrations are not present.
In the United States, living history is the only reenactment permitted on National Park Service The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on August 25, 1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act land; NPS policy "does not allow for battle reenactments (simulated combat with opposing lines and casualties) on NPS property." [16]
The Gazette
The event will explore what might have happened in Jaywick if the French had invaded and will feature a mock battle, conducted by a historical re-enactment ...
PaperNest
Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:23:13 GM
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