SCA Foresters Autumnal Gathering

Originally Posted: 11/3/24

Event Date: 11/2/24

Yesterday I went to an event being held by the local SCA Foresters group, celebrating the Fall and spending the day in nature, and so I wanted to talk about it! But first, some background info:

What is the SCA?

The SCA stands for the Society for Creative Anachronism. It's basically a group of people who like to dress up in medieval garb and learn medieval skills. There's so much to do between fighting, fencing, calligraphy, black smithing, leather work, and more! Often my favorite part about the SCA is simply being able to hang out with friends around a campfire. I also find it really interesting to learn from others about how things like cooking worked way back when, or different fighting styles, or really any of it.

Is the SCA a regional thing?

The SCA exists across the US (and maybe even across the world?). There are typically local groups that get together to practice fighting, but will also put on events. There are some events that are organized higher up than just locally as well. One here in Vermont for example is Panteria. Vermont is broken up into two main shires, as shown on the map below. For a full map of the Eastern Kingdom, you can click here for a full map.

What is the Foresters Autumnal Gathering?

The Foresters are a subsection of the SCA that focuses on skills related to surviving in the woods mostly. For our local group, I usually see an event each season inviting people for a meetup, and both last year and this year I've managed to make it to the Autumnal gathering. These events, as far as I can tell, are usually put together by Sage, and held at Rock Point near Burlington.

This Years Event

This year was a lot of fun! There were more people this year than last year, and it was great seeing the new faces while also catching up with some familiar ones! The day started with everyone arriving at Rock Point and heading into the woods. Once we got to the camp site, we started gathering wood to put together a fire. Once we had a fire going, it was time for a gratitude circle.

During the gratitude circle, everyone goes around and introduces themselves, their pronouns, something they're greatful for, and a goal they have for the day. It's a nice way to start the day.

After that, it was a bit of basically individual time - some people cooked, some people practiced some skills (like fire starting), others just socialized. I had a saw I had been meaning to try out so I cut up some wood. During this time I also chatted with a few people, and other people slowly showed up at the camp. One person began cooking on the fire and it was cool to watch them put together a lamb stew of sorts using a cast iron pot.

After a while of socializing and being around the fire, a handful of us went off to split some wood. As a thanks to Rock Point, Sage had offered up that we'd help split some wood for Rock Point's community pizza ovens. Honestly it was a bit funny to me this was how I was choosing to spend a weekend. As a kid, my step dad would basically have to fight us to get us to help him split wood using a hydraulic splitter, and yet here I was like 'yeah, sure, let me just grab an axe and help split some wood in my free time'.

After the log splitting, we headed back to the camp where I socialized for a bit longer. I ended up leaving before the day was officially over to go on a date with Michelle to Texas Roadhouse.

Some Photos

Someone posted some photos from the event already, and I was cracking up when I saw them because it's basically a montage of me in the same spot lmao. I talk about it in my post here, or shown below:

I did also really like how this photo came out:

Wrap up

I always have so much fun at these events, its hard for them to be over. Every time I go to an SCA event I have such a wonderful time, and I tell myself "I need to do this more often". But it's hard finding the time. I hope to keep going to events though, as everyone I've met at the SCA has been fantastic and it's a lot of fun!