ye olde english faire

So, I just found out that there's an Olde English Faire this weekend nearby. My initial reaction?


"HECK YES THIS IS AWESOME!!!"


I'm a BIG fan of everything medieval...especially swords. Swords are awesome. Something I do occasionally when I feel the need to prove my geekiness is pull out my catalog of swords, armor, and other such medieval things (yes, I actually have one...you can order one for yourself here, and the catalog is much more interesting looking than the website, plus it's free). This stuff is FULLY FUNCTIONAL (well, most of it...the stuff that isn't is far scarcer than that which is) and AWESOME. Sorry, geek moment. I just wish I had enough money to buy out the store...or heck, just buy myself a sword. Because that would be THE BOMB.

Anyway, I did put this under "philosophy" for a reason, and I promise it wasn't to rant and rave about how much I am a fan of medieval things like this. Granted, I probably COULD fill an entire post with nothing but that and my fascination with swords, but I'd probably bore you all to tears.

No, this made me think...why are we modern folk so fascinated with the Middle Ages? Or the Renaissance, or Elizabethan times (think Shakespeare). We don't see people reenacting the Industrial Revolution, or the genesis of the computer. Generally speaking, the most "modern" reenactments we see are those from World War II. No Cold War, no Vietnam War, no Korean War. Why are we so fascinated with the past?

We get taught history so that we can see what men before us have done and not mess up like they did. (I mean, Hitler? Really? Didn't you pay attention to what happened to Germany in World War I? And Saddam Hussein, didn't you pay attention to what happened to Hitler? Really, gentlemen...let's use our brains here...) Anyway, when we do our Renaissance fairs and Ye Olde English Faires, we're not reenacting some famous battle. We're visiting a slice of history from a time when chivalry was actually popular, when life was simpler and men gallant. We're taking a peek at a society that passed one thousand years ago.

Their life wasn't easy. Most people were serfs, the feudal equivalent of slaves. They toiled and worked themselves to the bone, and gave most of the fruits of their labor to their overlord, who was probably a vassal for someone else. They didn't have medicine, so simple little diseases were much more deadly. And can you imagine childbirth? They didn't have running water, or indoor bathrooms. They couldn't go to the grocery store and buy flour to make bread; they had to grow, harvest, thresh, and mill the wheat before they could even think about making bread. They didn't have electricity or internet. They got up with the sun and went to bed with it.

But we don't see this when we go to our fairs. We see the idyllic, the pretty, the romantic. We see the good aspects without having to look at the other parts. Life expectancy was low. Women were married when they were 12, 13, and 14. Most of them died in childbirth. Children weren't expected to live to adulthood.

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with our Renaissance fairs, or the Olde English Faires. Heck, I'm going to do my best to get to the faire this weekend. What I'm saying is that we should look at these fairs, and what they do present - a simple, honest life of chivalry and respect - and apply them to our crazy, over-busy lives. We have the advantages of electricity, running water and advanced forms of communication, but we can  look at their simpler lives and take a break from our own crazy lives.

 -enna