Living?

[AlexRoberts]

I have a couple questions about this culture of "us"?

Do you guys have a love of the sea and want to be free but only use props and clothing to escape life?

Do you guys have a love of the sea and want to be free but don't want to choose the real life of a pirate?

Do you guys enjoy risk free pirate life that the modern culture has made fer us?

-Renni faires and SCA and festivals-

Why do you guys do this?

Edited July 31, 2010 by AlexRoberts

[Bilgewater Browne]

For me, it's as close as I can get to time-travel. The eighteenth century is a time period that has always resonated with me. During the day, I enjoy interacting with the public, especially kids. At night, I enjoy siting around the fire with old and new freinds. I also enjoy a good sword fight.

I also love the sea and had the dream as a kid to sail with Jaques Cousteau on the Calypso. That led me to study science, and that's been my bread and butter most of my life. If you want to go to sea, join the merchant marine, or a fishing fleet, or become one of those guys that sails boats for people from one place to another. Modern piracy is not a good job choice-- Modern weapons in the hands of the coast guard or navy would ensure you'd have a very short career.

[Mission]

For me, it's pretty well explained here. (But it basically comes down to having fun.)

There are actually several topics on why individual people re-enact around here, but let me take another tack.

Philosophically, I'd say that most people re-enact for one of a couple of reasons (and it can be one or all of them):

1) To educate people.

2) To make money.

Some try to get paid gigs. From what I've heard, this can be something of a fool's errand - you usually can't make enough to do more than defray your costs and you have to go to the events people are willing to pay you for and do what they tell you. Others start businesses supplying re-enactors, which appears to have more potential. Although from talking with folks who do this, it is again often done to help defray the cost of the third reason, which is what I suspect is the most prevalent one.

3) It's fun.

Fun has lots of different disguises. For example, some enjoy the company of other fun-loving re-enactors. Others engage in the escapism thing you mentioned. Love of acting is another reason - some people are born extroverts and just have to be out there. [These people often re-enact many different periods, I've found] Still another is the 'immersion' thing, although true immersion is extraordinarily challenging (think personal vermin, dirt, and really hard work) and is ultimately subject to mental contamination by modern knowledge that makes it pretty well impossible. So even that really just boils down to fun IMO, albeit disguised as completism. [i've found that folks who do this are often competitive and/or revel in organization and control.]

If you wanted to be a real pirate, you'd be off in the South China Sea or some such place wearing cutoffs and carrying an automatic weapon. That has little to do with re-enacting or the pyrates of olde.

[Bos'n Cross]

i whole heatedly agree with mission on this....... i use this hobby as an escape from regular life, its a hell of alot of fun......i also REALLY enjoy teaching(which i something i should probably look into...)......as for this inspiring me to BE a pirate, that gets a hearty and resounding no.......especially in modern times, i would never dream of attacking a defenseless merchant ship, i myself being a waterman, i would never want such a thing to happen to me........heck even if i had a time machine i seriously doubt i would become a pirate, or that i would even use said time machine.......

[Mission]

Oh, I forgot one!

4) To investigate murders - see for example the TV show Psych.

[Cascabel]

For me, it's all about performing and entertaining the public. I try to give the public the pirate stereotype that they expect to see. If people feel like they have met a "real" pirate, then I have done my job. I try to stay in character when interacting with the patrons, but when the audience goes home, I go back to my air-conditioned room and relax. I enjoy the company of other re-enactors and exchanging ideas, but I have no interest in "immersion" or experiencing the 18th century after hours.

I enjoy learning about the weapons clothing, and other artifacts of 18th century life in order to present a believeable character to the public. If the patrons have an enjoyable time, then the event survives for another year. If the patrons want to be educated, I can do that also, but most seem to prefer the entertainment aspects of an event.

>>>>> Cascabel

[LeChuck]

Alex I fear ye may have been drawn in by the romanticized version of pirate life. Sure we all think it'd be fun to sail the seas, whilst engaging in sword fight, trading cannon shots with the royal navy, drinking copious amounts of rum (mmmmm...rum), cavorting with admiring wenches, and spending yer plunder. However the lives of real pirates were hard and brutal, and more often than not were quite short. Even nowadays pirating can be hazardous to your health. Nothing will ruin your day faster than a SEAL's .300 Win. Mag. meeting with your medul..er, medu...eh,..yer brain stem.

[AlexRoberts]

I'm just curious and was lost. I think i found a happy medium. I love the gaop and i love learning about it. Yea i don't know much but thats why im young hahaha.

I've accepted the fact that if i did real piracy i'd be happy until death which would be years or months. But i found that i'd love to sail the ocean and maybe enjoy the freedom the ocean has to offer while entertaining myself with Re-enactment and making period type clothing.

I wouldn't be living a lie. I would be living a dream that has some boundaires. Thank you. I figured this all out last night at like 1am.

Re-enacting to me is like a video to the us kids. You Can get good at swordfighting or a shot with a pistol or being the most feared sword fighter.That list can go on but you get my point.

[hurricane]

Cascabel and I are cut from the same cloth, it seems. For me, it's entertaining the public. It's a better high than any drug man has come up with and I wouldn't trade it. Love it when there's a crowd to entertain, whether it's portraying a stereotypical pirate, singing songs, handing a kid my sword to try and hold or flirting with a damsel dying to be in distress.

-- Hurricane

[Iron Hand]

I does it cause I can. I'm an Historian at heart and trainin' ta be a teacher. I love this 1st person way of teachin' history. I ain't somebody what likes ta be a sterotypic pirate. I hate when someone say RRRR ta me..... I hate the "R" jokes...Been doin livin' History since 1975. Yes I stay in the field at night as well. I love escapin' the 21st century for as long as I can. It's what me and m'lady do for fun. Unfortunately Obamanomics is keepin us closer ta port than normal but there's a fare wind blowin' out d souff oer our shoulders, tides a changin', guess we'll set a corse and go.....

[Bos'n Cross]

I does it cause I can. I'm an Historian at heart and trainin' ta be a teacher. I love this 1st person way of teachin' history. I ain't somebody what likes ta be a sterotypic pirate. I hate when someone say RRRR ta me..... I hate the "R" jokes...Been doin livin' History since 1975. Yes I stay in the field at night as well. I love escapin' the 21st century for as long as I can. It's what me and m'lady do for fun. Unfortunately Obamanomics is keepin us closer ta port than normal but there's a fare wind blowin' out d souff oer our shoulders, tides a changin', guess we'll set a corse and go.....

funny enough im ok with the "aaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhh" jokes, though im personally in it for the history, i some times give in a bit in the hopes that the entertainment might help people remember, so for example: If a kid goes aarrrhh, and i do it back, but then he asks what the heck is wrong with my face(when i have the syphilis on) and teeth, he will then(hopefully) remember when i tell that sailors had a very non nutritional diet, and suffered from numerous ailments. He would both be entertained by the interaction, and learn from it as well (happened at blackbeards,i was very happy to hear the kid go tell his parents what he had learned)......in those moments i am happiest and willing to live a bit with the stereotype, so as to sneak truth in there...after all sadly, people only seem to really care about what they "expect" pyrates to be like.....my clothing already throws them off so iv got to give in a bit somewhere......lol

note: that is nnoooooottt saying that i do the stereotypical thing all the time, i pretty much only give in for kids, but i think its also very good that other people aarrree around to do what people really want/ expect, i do my best to try and walk both paths.........well thats enough ranting

[oderlesseye]

Modern piracy is not a good job choice-- Modern weapons in the hands of the coast guard or navy would ensure you'd have a very short career.

Are you sure about that? LoL

Really though..Cascabel has already expressed a point of view Eye also share, so I feel no need to repost it in my own words.. I will add one thing..Ain't nothing like a battle field full of smoke! It's a rush~

Edited August 1, 2010 by oderlesseye

[Jas. Hook]

Just a thought to toss on deck at the water butt.

I once went to a card reader as part of a fundraiser. Although I'd never met this person before some of the reading revealed different long time interests and raised some food for thought.

Personal beliefs aside, could we be drawn to reenacting previous lives or occupations?????

A sort of why am I drawn to this rather than radio-controlled airplanes or scuba diving. Hummmmmm.......

Jas. Hook

[Bilgewater Browne]

The thought has crossed my mind, though I don't out much stock in it.

[Bright]

PIRATE PERSONA

Webster's definition of Persona:

"A role a person assumes in order to display their conscious intentions"

We all assume roles every day. People reveal different roles in every aspect of their life. How many people act the same at work as they do at home? Imagine going to your boss at work and say "Yes dear, right away dear what ever you say dear". You would not have a job for very long if you worked for any sizeable corporation. How about the other way, you come home and reprimand your spouse for not cooking dinner or taking out the garbage. Can you say "Dog house" People assume different personas in order to make their life uncomplicated. As a pirate I take on a persona to make my life more authentic. It pleases me and to my advantage it affords me the autonomy of being something different. This was an immense wall to break through when I first started dressing as a pirate. Family and work thought very different of me as I started to assume this role. First a person starts growing all their hair long, a pirate of the sixteenth century did not have the luxury to be shaven or well groomed. So the first thing the people at work see is their friend / boss going senile. This starts the remarks flowing. Which brings questions to mind of what the heck is wrong with me? The next step is to start dressing the part, ear rings, jewelry, and attire. This really starts bringing up the eyebrows. My wife still complains that I had more jewelry than her. As things progress you start buying clothes that aid your persona. Imagine the face of a lady as a five foot ten man comes out of the dressing room with a women's blouse on. Let alone a spouse of a coworker. Next comes the verbal education, a pirate can not simply walk around and say "Good afternoon Doug, how is the day is treating you? Did you catch the game last night?" This does not work if you wish to embrace the persona. So you learn "Afternoon Barnacle how be t' day? Watch the game mate? No matter how hard you try to contain this persona you'll catch yourself slipping, like when you learn Spanish you say "Hola" in lieu of Hello. Imagine the ladies face when you walk out of a dressing room with a blouse on saying "Aye this shirt feels like the caresses of a thousand wenches." Before you realize it, friends that do not accept the traditions of the pirate start to fade. You find yourself surrounded by people that validate your persona.

In the words of a dazzling (I here the trumpets of a thousand angels blowing) women

A pirate; first and foremost is absolutely fearless and cowers to no one. He moves through his life's work and journey as if nobody or nothing caged his soul. He is a renegade and answers to no one...not even a vicious god he cannot see. In his mind he is his own God. His own north star who is focused on liberating himself from conventional notions. A pirate is a man who does contain a moral compass and creates pathways of freedom not fear. He understands his masculinity and power and uses it as an umbrella to protect those who cannot protect themselves. His passion is unbridled. A pirate is an adventurer not a caged animal; although women try to cage him and weaken his inherit strength he refuses to be caged and brought to his knees. A weak spineless man is to be tossed out and trampled but a pirate mans backbone is fused to invisible titanium and will not bend--he will die first rather than give up the essence of what makes him a man.

I believe this explains a pirate's state of mind. In time it becomes increasingly difficult to return to the mundane dregs of everyday life. After all, a persona is a role a person assumes in order to display their conscious intentions.

All this happens slowly, most pirates do not realize that they have changed. You find that you are spending more time in the persona. You look foreword to donning clothes, using the persona as an umbrella to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Children are particularly in need due to society's interest to have them grow up faster. Children have less time to pretend, fewer activities besides video games. Children of today need a mechanism to be children. The pirate persona helps teach that you don't have to loose your childhood imagination as you grow older. Childhood is a place in your soul that becomes buried under adulthood. The pirate persona teaches people of all ages that having imagination and leaving the problems of the world behind for a few moments is a great thing. Even when you are an adult, it is acceptable to be a child at heart. Children are the most accepting, giving, loving people in the world. They are the true treasure of all time. If I were to bury a treasure, it would contain all the memories of being a child.

At parades pirates come up to children all scary and mean, stop, smile and make them laugh. Still to this day after entertaining at a hospital, parade or appearance I find myself continuing in the persona. While walking through a crowded mall in jeans and tennis shoes, I notice a young child walking in front me, they turn around and I snarl and growl a blood curdling ARRRRR. Believe me very few parents of children find this entertaining. With out the clothes people do not realize that you are a pirate

A pirate persona, face or public mask is an avenue used to carry out your pirate activities. This mask enables you to entertain in any environment. Generally speaking, people love the image of a pirate. So far I have entertained in four countries outside of the United States. The pirates have been accepted, invited and welcomed many times over. All you need is pirate clothes, a good ARRRR, and plenty of smiles. The pirate image has been very well received. It seams my brethren before me has paved the way long before my time.

The dilemma is this; it is simple to become lost in a persona. If a person believes long enough, the persona becomes personality. People laugh at this statement, but it is real. Let me ask you this, If you could first and foremost be absolutely fearless and cower to no one. Move through life and work as if nobody could cage you. Focus on liberating yourself from conventional notions. Have a moral compass and create pathways of freedom not fear. Understand your power and use it as an umbrella to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Be welcomed with open arms no mater where you go in the world. Entertain and teach people of all ages. Perform at parades, hospitals, and television would you become a pirate?

You already know my answer.

[AlexRoberts]

That is amazing man. I loved that. I think that is a great thing. Maybe one day i actually go to a non sca or ren faire event and entertain some people it would be fun.

[Mission]

I don't think it is possible to be beholden to no one. (It's that pesky unwritten social contract thing.) Even pirates formed articles to define their view of a social contract. Nor did they live without fear. Lest we forget, GAoP pirates feared their captains and captains their pirates (who could overthrow them on a vote - or something worse) and they all feared being caught and brought to justice to some degree.

Maybe Chris McCandless achieved a bit of the 'no social debt' thing, but he didn't manage that until he moved to a barren field in Alaska where he wound up freezing to death in an abandoned bus. Like it or not, we all need other people to some degree.

[Silent]

I'm full of pirattitude! I love everything about the lifestyle, that's what it is to me and a lot of people, a lifestyle. From sailing to sword fighting, get togethers, drinking with others whiles listening to great music makes life great. It's about being free and by that I mean not caring what people think, going out having fun. If you're an outcast from society because you have tattoos or piercings and aren't social acceptable in a business stand point of view; so what, you're a pirate. To me it's about living life the way you want, having fun and enjoying what life has to offer.

We only get one life and I chose not to be a robot, my dream is to live on a sailboat and working for myself. Dressing as a a pirate of old is a reminder to me that they did whatever they could to not be tied down. This might have resulted in illness and death but were that passionate to fight in what they believed in. To me the name pirate is an honor.