Yesterday Kristine and I made our annual trip to the Michigan Renaissance Festival in Holly. Kristine looks forward to this very much. I don't mind going, but to me there's not much to see once you've been there a couple times. There are a lot of people selling crafts to help enthusiasts step fully into their role: swordsmiths, kilt makers, crafters of leather jerkins or bustiers, and pewtersmiths making talismans or one sort or another to dangle from ones neck. Others offer block prints, tiles or other items to add an Elizabethan touch to one's home. There are a few stalls I like looking through, but I glaze over at most of them. And the same ones are there year after year.
There are also musicians as well as comedy acts on the various stages for inter-purchase diversion. I actually do like much of the music, and we make a point of hearing several of the players. One we've seen there a number of times that we love is Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band. We bought another of his CD's yesterday. Much of the music is actual period stuff; the rest tends toward a Celtic string band sort of sound. The comedy acts are less appealing. Actually, some of them are very funny--the first time you see them. But they never change! Apparently there is no down time on the RenFest circuit. One of the better acts is a skeleton puppet named Ded Bob, operated by a hooded figure who goes by the name Smudge. First time we saw him, in the early 90s, we thought it was a riot. Even the second time through his show wasn't too bad. But it was the same thing year in and year out. After missing Ded Bob (and the rest of the fair) a few years, we went back last year, and assumed something would have to have changed by now. Nope. If you want more of an action spectacle, there are full contact jousting matches. When I first saw one, I thought it was interesting for about ten minutes. Fortunately, there are stalls scattered throughout the fair serving Guinness stout, and they never lose their appeal.
Obviously, there are many people who don't share my take on this. The place is always crowded, and the shows are packed. And lots of people show up in costume, from pre-teens through retirees. I think the proportion of those who do has increased considerably since I started going (evidently those craftsmen are finding customers). Yesterday I was puzzling about what it was that drew people to participate in this. I doubt it’s a fervent interest in Renaissance history and culture, at least primarily. The answer, or at least one answer, hit me when I saw members of another tribe who appear there in display: goths. You will always see a few teen goths strolling around in full regalia, probably none of which graced the closets of 16th century peasants. (Actually, their gear might well have gotten them burned as witches back in the day.) Goth culture allows kids (or former kids) to play with their identity, to define themselves in some other way than quotidian reality demands. Others--whether accountants, stay at home mothers, cops, or other figures of respectability--have the same impulse, and the RenFest offers an alternative space that allows its expression. The elementary school principal struts about in leather breeches, his hand clutching a ram's horn full of ale, the lab tech transforms into a shepherdess with breasts straining chinward beneath her tightly laced and intricately embroidered bodice. Granted, this festival is a rather scripted and controlled alternative space, but it evidently suffices for those who come. I often seek out such spaces myself, though my costume typically consists of a fishing vest and waders.
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