Passions: Medieval Re-enactments
By Heather Chapman (New York City)
At first, medieval re-enactments were a social event rather than a hobby for tax accountant Karen Miller. But when she began dating her then-boyfriend—now husband—Karen caught the fever. “I used to go to the local medieval fair on high school dates with my boyfriend. He was doing magic at another medieval fair…[when he learned about] the Society for Creative Anachronism… and [then] I found a local group at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where I was attending college.”
Karen was hooked from the first meeting. “For my first event, I took an old bed sheet, dyed it green, and then made a skirt and a top to wear. I helped out in the kitchen for the first event, meeting a lot of nice people. After that, I started going to the weekly music meetings and it started expanding from there. I wanted to get involved in the fighting early on, but I didn’t get around to until recently.” By fighting, Karen means sword fighting—yes, with an actual sword. Sword fighting isn’t the only type of fighting that Karen does though; she also has a second-degree black belt in Isshinryu Karate. “I’ve been doing karate for nearly thirty years, on and off. I train at least twice a week and I also help the main instructor teach the youth classes. In addition to training and teaching, I try to go to a tournament at least once a year, where I usually bring home at least one trophy for fighting.”
Despite the fact that Karen has had more than thirty years of fight training, she says that the two types, karate and medieval, are different and that she has to approach each event with a different mindset. “I need to be more aggressive in my karate; since the fights are 5 points, I usually go slowly and try to gauge the other fighter. However, the SCA fighting is a ‘one good hit and you are dead’ kind of activity. This has taught me to jump right in and get the karate points.”
Still, despite the differences in the fighting styles, Karen says that “the training I get from each of them and their different focus points, helps me out in regards to the weak areas of the other fighting [style].” As an accountant, Karen finds herself with a very full work schedule for most of the year; it’s not uncommon for her to work seventy plus hour weeks during tax season. The easiest and best way she’s found so far to balance her work/life demands is to schedule her life.
“I have a certain time for grocery shopping and paying my bills. If I want to do something else, I have to reschedule those activities, just as if it is a missed appointment.” Despite the fact that her work schedule keeps her so busy during the first part of the year, Karen has found that there is an upside: working such long hours in the beginning of the year leaves Karen with more free time in the summer to spend with her family, doing things that they all enjoy. She’s found that she can take long weekends in the summer, spending that extra time at medieval reenactments, when she isn’t busy kitting out her family with costumes.
“One of the most time consuming parts of the medieval reenactment is keeping the family clothed. I make most of the costumes for myself and for my son. He is growing like crazy, so it is almost a new wardrobe [for him] each year.” Despite the demands on her free time, Karen is very much enjoying every aspect of her hobby and looks forward to years of medieval reenactments—swords included.
