What is a Renaissance Fair?

[LeeAnne]

I've been wanting to ask this for ages. I've seen it mentioned in a few threads but am none the wiser. Is it an American thing?

Sort of subsidiary question: what do kilts have to do with the Renaissance anyway? I mean, from what I recall in school the renaissance is more continental Europe (and perhaps southern England) than the Celtic nations.

[Zardoz]

Faires are tons of fun! A little search of this forum will show you some great photos. But it will also show you there are many humor depived folks around here, so this thread will likely go bad shortly.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...weekend-54969/

http://www.renfaire.com/General/faire.html

[Silent Raven]

A Renaissance faire is an event where there are lots of medieval activities, such as jousting, sword play, jugglers and such type of acts. lots of people dress the part and wear old fashioned clothing and sometimes suits of armor or anything to make them feel more like the belong in the dark ages. some times kilts are often wore (even if they were not around during that time) it does help with the atmosphere. living in America i can say that it is an American thing but i can not say that it is limited to America, though i have not heard of any out of the country. King Richards Faire is a hugely popular Ren faire back in my home state of Massachusetts. they are lots of fun! in a way its kinda like a highland games event, lots of historical events and competitions, and a lot of venders selling swords and crowns and things of the like.

[BonnetMaker]

Here in the UK you are more likely to see re-enactment events or festivals based on a specific tradition or historic dateline, but then, we can pick any dateline since the palaeolithic and have a choice of sites to go play in. I generally hear about renfaires from my American friends, and from what I can gather they are a much looser type of festival than the re-enactments we have over here, with far less insistance on having costumes and activities tied to a specific dateline. They sound huge fun though, a great excuse to dress up and enjoy yourself without worrying too much about historical accuracy.

I suppose the closest we get to them in the UK are the big multi-period bashes maybe?

[Cherub]

Hey don't leave the great white north out of the picture we have a number of fairs and even a Pirate Festival. My Wife is a Merchant at the fair and Myself and daughter get into the act as well. But we've been going to Renfests for over 10 years and are not likely to stop now.

Actually the reason for my start as a Kiltie since I hate wearing draw string P@#T's

[Michael Flemming]

Last summer I went to the Renaissance Fair in Bristol, Wisconsin which is just over the border from Illinois. It was a rather warm day and late in the afternoon I walked past some itinerant Viking raiders lounging under the trees and quaffing a few no doubt well-earned pints. They were dead ringers for the Vikings in the Capital One credit card commercials, and since I had partaken of a few pints myself it seemed perfectly sensible to ask them (loudly!)

"What's in your wallet?"

To which one of them replied

"My wife's hand!"

[Steve of Lansing]

*snip* ...and since I had partaken of a few pints myself it seemed perfectly sensible to ask them (loudly!)

"What's in your wallet?"

To which one of them replied

"My wife's hand!"

Nice!

[cessna152towser]

We have a renaissance faire annually here in Hawick in the Scottish Borders.
Ours is known as the Hawick Reivers Festival.
We have a mediaeval market, stocks, music, an encampment with falconry, battle re-enactments, handloom weaving etc.
Here are some photos from this year's event:-
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-2011-a-65429/

[O'Callaghan]

Theoretically, the period for these things is supposed to be pre-1600, which would include the great kilt, but not the modern kilt. You see many people at renfests wearing a sash or a piper's plaid to make the modern kilt look slightly more like the great kilt. I believe that this is the original reason why pipers wore such things anyway. Not that anyone is fooled by it.

In any case, if you are not in the 'cast' you can wear anything you want. I have heard of people going in Star Trek uniforms, although heaven knows why. I didn't see that myself, and it wasn't at the Maryland RenFest, but somewhere in another state. I suppose you would explain that by time travel, whjich would open the way for daleks and cybermen, LOL!

[Fitzy]

Here's a link to the website of one so you can see more of what they are.

http://www.sterlingfestival.com/home.html

And Wiki's discription here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_fair

Paul