POCATELLO — Hear ye! Hear ye! Hearken to the words of your storyteller and scribe. Through the infinite wisdom of the local king and queen, the royal subjects have been summoned. Barons and baronesses, lords and ladies, knights, peasants and all citizens of the kingdom were beseeched this past Saturday to showcase their bravery and brawn at the Highland Games.
The Kingdom of Artemisia, a medieval recreation organization, recently held a festival called the Highland Games at the Bannock County Event Center inspired by late-15th century Scottish games.
Dressed in historically accurate period clothing, groups of Renaissance re-enactors from across all of Idaho and into Montana and Utah attended a Scottish-inspired event called the Highland Games where they engaged in ancient feats of strength and indulged in culturally significant dishes.
“We get confused a lot with the Renaissance festivals,” said Anne Thompson, the deputy seneschal of the local Shire of Stonegate faction. “The Society for Creative Anachronism, or SCA, is a nonprofit educational organization. We take a creative approach to learning about history. We’re somewhere in between a LARP (Live Action Role Play) and a Renaissance fair.”
Thompson continued, “You’ll see us dress up and we take on different names and stuff like that, but it’s not as serious. If you slip up and call somebody by their regular name, nobody’s going to pitch a fit. We also don’t have fantasy (elements) so there’s no dragons and magic.”
Much like the dynasties and realms they represent from pre-16th century, the members of these groups are part of a large kingdom that is ruled by a king and queen and further factions are broken into baronies, which are also ruled by their namesakes, along with the smaller shires, which are the smallest groups within the kingdom.
Every year the local shires, in this case the Pocatello faction known as the Shire of Stonegate, host a series of events with different themes. This year, the Highland Games was picked because many in the group have Scottish ancestry and everyone involved thought it would be interesting and educational to learn about Scotland’s cultural heritage.
With many dressed in traditional kilts and other attire from the medieval and renaissance eras, attendants played traditional Scottish games like the caber toss, rock throwing and tug-of-war.
While this year’s event didn’t include the usual armored combat demonstrations of knights engaging in ritualistic combat for crowds of onlookers, there was a fencing demonstration that showcased the sword dueling talents of its participants.
Other fun activities included classes on Scotland’s fashion, history and culture along with a fundraiser that featured traditional meat pies for those interested in some archaic eats.
These medieval-style festivals also hold some form of court, a theatrical and romanticized event where attendees can get into character and receive awards, among a host of other period enriched activities.
“We do have another really big event that we are going to host that we’re very excited about in September,” Thompson said. We’re doing it up at the Stephens Performing Arts Center here at the university. We’ve rented the rotunda out and we’re going to be doing the coronation of our new king and queen, so it’s going to be pretty big.”
From forlorn corners of Idaho, parts of Utah and into Montana, the Kingdom of Artemisia hosts an assortment of fun and period-accurate festivals in towns and cities across the Intermountain West.
Whether you are a serious contributor looking to adorn historically accurate attire and develop a medieval persona, a history buff that loves the culturally enriching aspects of the events, or simply looking for fun ways to meet new people and try new things, there is plenty of ways to pledge your loyalty and participate in a bit of Dark Age debauchery.
“The important thing to know is that it’s just about having fun and that if you’re at all interested, there’s no barrier to entry, we want everybody to have as much of a chance of participating as they can,” Thompson said. “We have garb you can borrow and weapons you can borrow until you figure out what you want to do in the games. We try to make it as accessible as we can. We also try to be very cognizant of providing an open, welcoming environment for everyone, no matter what.”
For more information on the Society for Creative Anachronism, the Kingdom of Artemisia, or the Shire of Stonegate you can visit the SCA website at sca.org .
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