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I think it is a bit like D&D, @Frogus. Maybe a bit more...lunatic. I mean, most of us read fiction. We enjoy it for its insights, and fundamentally, for its sense of escape. A few people, though, feel the need to escape even more, and choose to mimic some cardboard-deep version of the European Renaissance. Understand, I have no problem with trying to bring color and imagination into one's life. I just question whether this kind of childhood escapism into a rosey pink picture book is ultimately the most life-enhancing way to go.

I am probably not knowledgeable enough of the subject to talk very convincingly, but the way you talk it seems as if these affairs are very serious...I thought that it was just an afternoon of dressing up like a fool and eating wierd food. I'm sure noone would object to a bloke dressing up like Santa for an aftrenoon, although the costume's no less silly. Could it be that actually it's not the things that go on at renaissance faires that you object to, but that you have a stereotype in your mind about the type of person who goes to them (ignorant of history)?

Originally posted by frogus
I am probably not knowledgeable enough of the subject to talk very convincingly, but the way you talk it seems as if these affairs are very serious...I thought that it was just an afternoon of dressing up like a fool and eating wierd food. I'm sure noone would object to a bloke dressing up like Santa for an aftrenoon, although the costume's no less silly. Could it be that actually it's not the things that go on at renaissance faires that you object to, but that you have a stereotype in your mind about the type of person who goes to them (ignorant of history)?

Your aim's off. I have no objection to people who go to these things--hell, my wife and I have occasionally done it, and find it a cute way to spend an afternoon: sort of like a miniature Disneyland, without the Disney marketing overkill. No, like I wrote, it's the people who *mimic* these "anciente tymes" that I wonder about.

And not en masse. I'm sure there are folks who just do it for a lark. But a lot of people spend time and money making clothes that fit the period and place's specifications. They attend meetings with other people who all dress up, and make believe they're all knights, lords, and merchants. I see 'em as similar to Trekkies, investing a significant portion of their lives, creativity, and enthusiasm into reliving something that never actually occurred to begin with. They're welcome of course to do this, but I'm equally welcome to wonder how much enjoyment they might find pursuing some activity which doesn't retreat into a childhood fantasy land.