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How did Renaissance fairs begin?

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Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#91
post #16

What interests me is why humans crave this one time in history (medieval?). It’s old enough to be different than now but not old enough to be like caveman times? Lower technology than now but not no technology. Do people in other countries that aren’t western civilization have similar cravings for that era or an era like it?

Theoretically it's Renaissance rather than Medieval. And English Renaissance at that, which is well after the Renaissance was well underway in Italy. But most RenFests seem to cover a period of about 500 years, plus a fair bit of outright fantasy. At least at my local one, there is a Court playing out a fictional version of a real event early in the reign of Henry VIII, a period right on the cusp which I would call m…

> At least at my local one, there is a Court playing out a fictional version of a real event early in the reign of Henry VIII, a period right on the cusp which I would call medieval rather than Renaissance.

Henry VIII was in the early-mid 16th century. Thats's pretty darn late to consider medevial. Dates vary considerably but most historians consider the medevial era to have ended sometimes in the 15th century. Conquest of Constantinpole (1453) is a pretty common, albeit arbitrary date.

The Renaissance era, was considered to have begun in Italy sometime in the mid 15th century. Of course it took some time to spread throughout Europe. But by ~1500 Europe was mostly considered to be in the Renaissance. Certainly by 1521 when Martin Luther appeared at the Diet of Worms which kicked off the Reformation

Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#92
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were at least a dozen this past summer. There was one in Žovnek Castle two weeks ago. A couple of weeks before that, in Ptuj. Before that, in Celje. Before that, there was a Roman-era festival in Ptuj, which was seriously cool. And the best medieval-themed festival was in Žužemberk. I went to all of them because I have young kids and they love that stuff. It's a fun day out. Also gives us an excuse to wear all…

> In truth, these festivals are all over Europe. They're just not well advertised, so you have to look for them. Considering how crowded they feel, I’d say the advertising is plenty sufficient. They’re local events with limited space.

That's true of some of them. Some of the other ones -- usually the ones in out-of-the-way castles (but also, surprisingly, both of the events in Ptuj) -- could have been twice as busy, and they'd still have plenty of room.

Ah, anyway, it's nice that there's always something to do on a Summer's weekend...

Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#93

What interests me is why humans crave this one time in history (medieval?). It’s old enough to be different than now but not old enough to be like caveman times? Lower technology than now but not no technology. Do people in other countries that aren’t western civilization have similar cravings for that era or an era like it?

The wiki page to the Eglinton Festival notes succinctly: "Medieval culture was widely admired [in the 18th and 19th centuries] as an antidote to the modern enlightenment and industrial age."

This kicked into overdrive in the 20th, with the nascent genre of literary fantasy (and, later, video games,) showing people alternate worlds that are potent medicine against the enlightenment and industrial age -- for they contain little or nothing of the more dour aspects of 9th-17th century life.

If anything, it seems to me that most fantasy books and games like Dungeons and Dragons only make sense if you imagine they take place in the distant post-industrial future. They're too cozy; there is far too much healing magic and other tech; their economies are in many cases post-scarcity...

Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#94

Are they all just focused on sex, debauchery, lots of drinking today? I went to the one near Pasadena around a decade ago, maybe related to the OG faire, and there was so much sexual humor in the open air (like jokes shouted by storekeepers, and in the play being run) where I'd consider it an adult environment. It was a little disappointing because I was expecting something like a live-action museum, sort of like col…

Coming from the experience in the PNW, 1960s onward, Renaissance fairs were never about serious historical reenacting. The sex/drugs/music were always focus, sort of like a Grateful Dead concert without the band.

Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#95

What interests me is why humans crave this one time in history (medieval?). It’s old enough to be different than now but not old enough to be like caveman times? Lower technology than now but not no technology. Do people in other countries that aren’t western civilization have similar cravings for that era or an era like it?

Speaking just about the Renaissance fair phenomenon in the USA, I think the main inspiration was the 1960s hippy obsession with Tolkien. Renaissance fairs were just a big outdoor costume party, were you could prance, toke, skinny dip, and buy/sell crafts. The more realistically named Oregon Country Fair was originally the Oregon Renaissance Faire.

As to why fans of the fantasy genre prefer medieval settings. I know it's a topic of discussion, but I don't know if there is a widely accepted explanation.

Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#96

Since 1963. The Byrds attended the first series of renfaires. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AFlBoxsAkI#ren https://www.amazon.com/Well-Met-Renaissance-American-Counter...

If you stretch the "Renaissance" back to the Middle Ages (1300s CE), Japan had them in the Renaissance itself. 1500s samurais popularized a pasttime of reenacting 1300s samurais. Except, being Japan, they had actual relics of the period in pristine condition. I know someone in the SCA who portrays a 1500s samurai who portrays a 1300s samurai - giving him two periods of costume to play with, without "changing persona"…

In the Middle Ages, people would hold festivals where they would dress up as King Arthur, El Cid, etc.

I don’t know about antiquity - did people dress up as mythological figures? The first plays were in Greece. Were there unscripted or ad hoc performances? I know what I’m going to ask AI next.

Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#97

Since 1963. The Byrds attended the first series of renfaires. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AFlBoxsAkI#ren https://www.amazon.com/Well-Met-Renaissance-American-Counter...

As a Roger McGuinn fanatic I'm thrilled to see this mentioned on HN. Have a spirited upvote and turn, turn, turn!

Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#98
post #29

I went down a rabbit hole on Wikipedia about turkeys. Am I understanding it correctly in that turkeys went from South America to Europe then to North America? So it's native to the new world, but not native to North America? Anyway, 1500s is when they came to Europe, so maybe they did enjoy a good turkey leg...

>So it's native to the new world, but not native to North America? My understanding is that the wild turkey was common throughout North America, but was domesticated in Mexico, and modern turkey farming uses stock descending from that population. So the bird itself is native, but most Turkey farms in the US or Canada would have been Mexico->Europe->NA.

But Mexico is in North America...

Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#99
I love how history.com, seeing that I am located in Germany, instantly redirected me to history.de, where this article is not present, so then dumped me on the homepage, because no one in Germany could bear to look at things not in German.

/s No I don't - over-localization is one of the banes of my existence.

Re: How did Renaissance fairs begin?

#100
post #9

Where is the article? I'm getting something about Kevin Kostner's The West. Nothing about renaissance fairs.

It's broken in the UK. Gives a 302 redirect to https://www.history.co.uk/ And VPN via Sweden, redirects to https://www.historytv.se I don't think they want international visitors.

Same deal in Germany - straight to the www.history.de homepage.
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