Huzzah for Herring, Hanse, and my Ancestors
There is a “dress up for a weekend” season in the United States that extends from early summer to late September. People (mostly white folks, but everyone is invited) attend Civil War reenactments, Voyaguer Rendevous, Pioneer Camps, and, of course, Renaisance Faires.
Attending Ren Faires seems to be an activity that cuts across class and politics. A wide variety of people enjoy dressing up, eating turkey legs, watching jousting, and saying “ye olde” before anything.
A few years ago, one of my students whose mother was from England said that she and her mom didn’t get the whole American fascination with Renaisance Faires. It took me aback. What’s not to love?
I soon saw it from her point of view — a bunch of Americans putting on bad English accents might feel a little off. Perhaps it is sort of like how I was appalled to learn that many Germans get together and dress up as Native Americans. But it can’t be that bad. Can it?
Why do I love the Ren Faires so much?
Perhaps it is a matter of wanting to dress up and act like my European ancestors in order to have some connection to my forebears. It is probably also why I love period-piece TV shows and movies. I have literally thousands of ancestors who were alive during the Renaissance and Middle Ages times. What were their…
