Medieval magic alive at Westheimer festival

by Jim Parsons

Webster's Dictionary defines "anachronism" as "a person or thing that is chronologically out of place, especially one from a former age that is incongruous in the present."

But there's a better, clearer definition right here in Houston. Consider this weekend's Westheimer Street Festival: a parade of the youthful and the hip, the body-pierced and fluorescent-haired, and the tattooed.

And in the middle of it all, a group of people dressed in medieval clothing were sword fighting, spinning thread and creating illuminated manuscripts.

It was all a product of the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international group devoted to the study of Medieval and Renaissance life between the years of A.D. 600 and 1600.

The SCA world is divided into kingdoms. Members fashion their own clothing and armor, they adopt medieval names, and they live by the same creeds and traditions that were in practice in the Middle Ages.

At the Street Festival, the central attraction was the fighting, which included both chivalric (sword and shield) and rapier (foil and epee) contests.

Members wear full armor in the medieval tradition, explained "Captain" Adrian Navarre, but the weapons they use are made of rattan, which retains the balance and handling of actual weapons but can't injure a person like a sword would.

SCA members also work with archery, musical performance, brewing, needlepoint, dancing and cooking.

The SCA was founded in 1966 and consists of 21,000 members in 700 chapters across the "known world," which consists of America, Canada, Europe, Australia and parts of Asia. The organization is divided into kingdoms, which are subdivided into cantons, shires or baronies.

Texas and Oklahoma make up the Kingdom of Ansteorra. The City of Houston is known as the Barony of Stargate, while Northwest Houston is called the Canton of Gate's Edge, Southwest Houston is the Canton of Dun Brodail, and UH is the College of Twr Cath.

UH's chapter of the SCA will be having a new-member meeting today from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at 4376 Wheeler.

Contact Jotahn (Gwen Gann) at (713) 748-5521 for more information on the UH chapter. For information on the Barony of Stargate, contact Lady Gillian Fitzsimons (Rebecca Cawood) at (713) 242-4456.