Jump to content

"Ren" Faires


JoshuaRed

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 63
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Still tryin' to figure out just how and when cocked hats became associated with the Renaissance....not that anything at a Ren Faire bears any resemblance to the Renaissance anyway. That's kinda like dressing up as a cowboy except wearing bell-bottom jeans. :lol:

Well, they aren't really a celebration of history, are they? It's all about entertainment, and the facade is historical. Ren faires aren't like Westworld, unfortunately.

(Hmmm... interesting idea for a film... Delos re-opens with a pirate themed park, and then the robots run amok! naaa...)

My Home on the Web

The Pirate Brethren Gallery

Dreams are the glue that holds reality together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh I agree, they are and SHOULD be all about fun! But it seems that in the past 10 years or so, they have gotten SO wildly removed from the Renaissance they should just be rename them to "Fantasy Faire" or something like that. When you actually see someone dressed in clothing appropriate for the Renaissance, they look out of place among the pirates, Orcs, thieves, corsairs, Klingons, and dudes in black denim with Kill Bill Swords, etc.

I'm not knocking Ren Faires at all, heck I love 'em! It's just humorous what they've morphed into!

newbannersigtar0db.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good point. I remember the first time I saw something about Trekkies going to a faire dressed in trekstuff. It blew my little mind. I don't have a "problem" with it, but it does boggle my mind. The stuff I saw at this last Md Pyrate Invasion weekend ran from two guys from Legio XX in full Roman kit through to modern day bikers posing as pirates and beyond into the realm of drow and assorted fantasy things. Talk about diversity. :lol: :)

My Home on the Web

The Pirate Brethren Gallery

Dreams are the glue that holds reality together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm glad they did morph, cause if they didn't, this pirate would have no place to pirate.

Aye. Drink to that matey ;) . Very true although faires are very "fantasy" what better place to pirate(because not all of us can afford a pirate ship me says!)!

"A merry life and a short one be my motto"

Avid the PA ren faire, or live nearby? We're trying to start a club/group to do some fun things outside of the faire! www.countyerdoubloons.com/tavern

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm glad they did morph, cause if they didn't, this pirate would have no place to pirate.

In a way, that's bad. Think about this - if they did not exist, would we be more inclined to work hard at finding good sites to host historically accurate pirate events?

Fwiw, Not So Young Jim Hawkins and I were discussing the weird things we've seen walking around at renfairs, and I decided next year I want to go in full WWII GI kit, covered in mud, looking like Willie and Joe from a Bill Maudlin cartoon.

My Home on the Web

The Pirate Brethren Gallery

Dreams are the glue that holds reality together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In a way, that's bad. Think about this - if they did not exist, would we be more inclined to work hard at finding good sites to host historically accurate pirate events?

Fwiw, Not So Young Jim Hawkins and I were discussing the weird things we've seen walking around at renfairs, and I decided next year I want to go in full WWII GI kit, covered in mud, looking like Willie and Joe from a Bill Maudlin cartoon.

Oh boy i think i would just start laughing if i saw that but credit will go to you because i have seen the star wars ewoky thing walking around so i guess wwii fits right in :unsure:

Weirdest thing i saw was this tall skinny white guy in gothic trench coat attempt to be knighty like thing with leather doublet, armour, bracers, broadsword etc all gothic spikey like with some short rather large hispanic girl in jeans, leather knee high fold top boots, a leather corset that wasn't on correctly, a dagger, and some weird rounded hat with a feather....

I wasn't quite sure what was going on... B)

"A merry life and a short one be my motto"

Avid the PA ren faire, or live nearby? We're trying to start a club/group to do some fun things outside of the faire! www.countyerdoubloons.com/tavern

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In a way, that's bad. Think about this - if they did not exist, would we be more inclined to work hard at finding good sites to host historically accurate pirate events?

Um, I hope someone in my area would, I know that I am far to lazy to try an organize an event of that size. So far pirate parties are as far as I go :D:o .

We have like two pyrate themed fairs out here. But thats all I dress like anyway. So if there is a renn faire near by, this pyrate be invading, just another excuse to dress like a pyrate. :)

Petee-2.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the latest thing are the Vikings. Actually they've done it fairly well considering they are way out of the time period.

A good chunk of the Escondido faire, tends towards fantasy anyway.

But for me, I really don't care, I just find it rather amusing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dressing like a pyrate is way more fun then when I am dressed in my Ren Garb. Down here, the Ren Faires make participants go through costume approval. That's all good and well, lots of us conform.

The strangest thing I've seen was at Southern Faire just this past spring. There was a really tall guy that dressed in a bright turquoise pari of tights and leotard. He wore a green felt hat with some kind of bolero vest, slung a quiver over his shoulder and resembled Peter Pan. Quite a site indeed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the latest thing are the Vikings. Actually they've done it fairly well considering they are way out of the time period.

A good chunk of the Escondido faire, tends towards fantasy anyway.

But for me, I really don't care, I just find it rather amusing.

That is very true, at the PA Ren Faire they even have viking game booths and areas. I guess they figured weaponry, violence, classic coolness would result in a good addition? :D

"A merry life and a short one be my motto"

Avid the PA ren faire, or live nearby? We're trying to start a club/group to do some fun things outside of the faire! www.countyerdoubloons.com/tavern

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you think there are "hard-core" ren types who do care? I'm just curious. And I do find it to be a fascinating phenomena. I know here in Md they've got themed weekends, but from what I could tell of the pirate weekend, it was practically an "anything goes" weekend. Is that the way it always is, I wonder?

My Home on the Web

The Pirate Brethren Gallery

Dreams are the glue that holds reality together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They tried to do a historically accurate dress code at Hellrona, but everyone still did their own thing. I mean...hello...pirate!!!! ;) Afterall, they're really more like guidelines aren't they? ;) Personally what I get out of Ren Faires isn't a history lesson as much as an opportunity to meet some exceptionally nice people who for the most part really get into the spirit of the event and are there to have a good time. I'm with Petee on this one.....if there's a faire and I'm goin'...then there will be pirates about!!! Huzzah ;););)

barbadossambanner0zj.jpg

"There be the chest, inside be the gold, we took them all. Spent them and traded them. We frittered them away on drink and food and pleasurable company. The more we gave them away, the more we came to realize... the drink would not satisfy, food turned to ash in our mouths, and all the pleasurable company in the world could not slake our lust. We are cursed men....Compelled by greed we were, and now we are consumed by it."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dressing like a pyrate is way more fun then when I am dressed in my Ren Garb.  Down here, the Ren Faires make participants go through costume approval.  That's all good and well, lots of us conform. 

The strangest thing I've seen was at Southern Faire just this past spring.  There was a really tall guy that dressed in a bright turquoise pari of tights and leotard.  He wore a green felt hat with some kind of bolero vest, slung a quiver over his shoulder and resembled Peter Pan.  Quite a site indeed!

thay there fella, new in town?.....ouuuuuu, turquoise tights, tho nice....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is an interesting topic indeed. I guess that I fall into that wierd hybrid catagory. Not exactly a Rennie...not SCA. In regard to period correctness and the existance of Pyrates:

The Renaissance Period is defined as the transitional movement between the Middle Ages and Modern time; starting at the beginning of the 14th century in Italy and lasting thru the 17th.That is quite a chunk of time to pass through. Pyrates about? I would say so, least we forget Granuaile "Grace" O'Malley of the late 1500's. (And there were always those in the Orient. :lol: )

The word itself, "Renaissance" is derived from a French word meaning "rebirth". That era in time saw many advances in culture, etc, etc...

As to the "dress code"...Hell I have seen cast members that were out of the loop in propriety. We need not even delve into the oddities that appear within the gates. ( Yes, I have seen Stormtroopers, as well.)

I have my private set of grumblings that need not be aired and will admit that come April/ May, you can find me at my second home of Scarborough Faire...Every weekend...Without fail. Guilty, your Honour!

So, I guess you take the good with the bad and there is always a Pub nearby to ease the pain. If nothing else...The oddities do make for amusing viewing.

...Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn, Tombless, with no rememberance over them: Either our history shall with full mouth Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave, Like a Turkish mute, shall have a toungueless mouth, Not worshipped with a waxen epitaph... King Henry V- William Shakespeare

'She wore a gown the color of storms, shadows and rain and a necklace of broken promises and regrets.'~Susanna Clarke

Attention! All formats of plot and characterizations produced under the monikers "Aurore Devareaux" or "Tempest Fitzgerald" are protected under the statutes of Copyright law. All Rights Reserved. F.T.M.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh I agree, they are and SHOULD be all about fun! But it seems that in the past 10 years or so, they have gotten SO wildly removed from the Renaissance they should just be rename them to "Fantasy Faire" or something like that. When you actually see someone dressed in clothing appropriate for the Renaissance, they look out of place among the pirates, Orcs, thieves, corsairs, Klingons, and dudes in black denim with Kill Bill Swords, etc.

I'm not knocking Ren Faires at all, heck I love 'em! It's just humorous what they've morphed into!

it's the job of the producers of the faire to oversee the attitude (that which should be made to be called a uniform) of the participants. It is period they are signed off to authenticity and a job well done they be doing but its the patrons that endeavor to reach outside the boundary but within a potential realm where that which might be could be and if it could be it is! I liken to see though at pirate faires the uniforms of the Spanish, French and English Royal Navy participants to which my liking is to remove their heads and all that is fun too. But who's going to tell a dragon crawling on the ground, or a woodsman, or a magician or priest his money's not welcome? No one. So yes it's all whored up because we are all whores! Me for example I cant get into boots unless they tie closed or have that little assisting zipper on the inside of the ankle. Do I think I should be kicked out? No i wear a size 10 boot but in order to get a pull on boot on I'd have to buy a size 12 or bigger so I'm not proud my attire has a zipper but it does....

Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a knife in your back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pirates were around before the Renaissance and are still around. I don't get bent out of shape when people come in Renaissance attire to a GAoP faire, bouncing around with moccasins and jerkins wearing bandanas on their head, saying look I'm a pirate. :huh:

Petee...thats what we call PLASTIC PYRATE RATS around here. I like to growl at those and throw rocks (JK) :huh:

"If you would have fought like men you would not die like dogs!" Anne Bonney

Women who behave rarely make history! - unknown

"SAFETY MEETING!!!!" Capt. Mason

There is no problem that cannot be solved with the use of black powder!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...
&ev=PageView&cd%5Bitem_id%5D=6083&cd%5Bitem_name%5D=%22Ren%22+Faires&cd%5Bitem_type%5D=topic&cd%5Bcategory_name%5D=Scuttlebutt"/>