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'Tis the Season

© Megan McConnell

'Tis the Season

Once again, the Re-Enactment season looms before us - to the cries of "But I still haven't finished my kit for this year!".

Interestingly enough, the "season" is the same everywhere in the world - and the reasoning (weather conditions) is the same - albeit opposite.

Here in Australia, Easter seems to be the kick off point, with a number of large gatherings around the country. We then go at full tilt until about October - when it becomes just plain too hot to do a lot of outdoor re-enactment.

In other parts of the world, deep snow is a problem with outdoor re-enactment.

I must admit - I am horribly behind with my preparations for this year. I have yet to finish my new corset, and have 2 gowns and at least 1 chemise to make before the beginning of June.

At least I know that I am not alone in this. Around the world, thousands of re-enactors spend sleepless nights before events finishing off part of their kit. It seems that this last minute flurry is an essential part of being a re-enactor.

It never fails to amaze me - people who are totally organised and who would normally never do anything at the last minute, become completely disorganised when it comes to their kit!

Why is that?

Perhaps the reasoning is that we aim to produce too much - and that we also tend to use the "off-season" to actually have a life. For myself, I tend to find that during the off-season, with nothing looming immanently I tend to put off getting my kit together (there's plenty of time). Another reason is that during the off-season it canbe hard to arrange to get together with the "specialist" re-enactors to give us a hand.

Many groups counter this by continuing with regular meetings during the off-season. My SCA group does this (about 2 years ago we managed to get the lease of a hall locally - with a park next door - so we can utilise it fully to do events, workshops, and meetings). This does help - you can take your work with you, and get help and feedback. Of course, this is all done in between the serious socialising over coffee and snacks (yup - I have gone to a meeting with heaps to do, and then not touched a single thing for 4 hours!).

I would love to be more organised with my re-enactment. I make the same resolution every year - this year I will be fully organised with my re-enactment. Never works, though.

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