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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1995)
said[\ ecoine; and ini Wednesday ctober 11, 1995 The Battalion . senior^ ion, saij 1 vean e saiig Pi to it, le groii| aregoit}! Greek hedal iding at!: lies, Bori: to REVISITING TT IT I Tit Amy Browning, The Battamon Two knights battle it out at the Texas Renaissance Festival in Plantersville. Amy Browning, The Battalion Audience participation is a big part of the Renaissance Festival. Men from the audience are se lected to hold a rope for the performer while he juggles three sickles. Festival celebrates medieval culture By Amy Uptmor The Battalion F or two months every fall, knights can be found jousting, and fairies can be seen in the woods of East Texas, along with wiz ards, jesters and magical animals. For the last 21 years, the Renaissance Festival in Plantersville has brought a little of the magic and culture of the English Re naissance to thousands of visitors from Texas and beyond. More than 130 cast members, ranging from students to grandparents, transform into witches, nymphs and medieval maidens as part of the recreation. Stephanie Budenstein of Flouston be comes Oblivious the Jester every weekend at the festival. “We have a multi-acred stage and a huge audience,” she said, “so it takes a lot of peo ple and practice to put this on.” Budenstein, who has acted before, said she has enjoyed being part of the festival for the past three years. “I do it because it’s fun,” she said. “If some thing more were to come out of it, that would be great too, but that’s not why I do it.” Participants rehearse for two months prior to the event to make sure the festival is as authentic and fun as possible. Buden stein said the rehearsal is necessary be cause of the sheer magnitude of the Re naissance Festival. “People don’t realize how much work goes into this,” she said. Visitors to the festival are treated to many stage performances, ranging from juggling acts to belly dancing, from across the country. One of this year’s acts, the Flaming Idiots, is a juggling trio from Austin. The group has been performing at the Renaissance Festival for the past four years, and members said they enjoyed returning from their extensive touring to the yearly Texas festival. “Texas audiences are fun,” Jon O’Connor, a member of the Flaming Idiots, said. “They’re easy to whip into a frenzy.” Kevin Hunt, another member of the trio, said the group, like most acts, performs five times a day every weekend for the two- month span of the festival. Although it is a strenuous schedule. Hunt said it is defi nitely worthwhile. “We pass the hat after every show to cov er our expenses,” he said. “This is very lucra tive for us.” The Flaming Idiots’ hour-long juggling act involves acrobatics, audience participa tion and, as their name implies, juggling with fire. But the festival offers more than enter tainment. Visitors can purchase “Renais sance” items ranging from shoes to magic dust or have their palm and tarot cards read by fortunetellers. Close to 200 vendors are present at the festival to offer their trades and crafts. Large crowds attend the Renaissance Fes tival, even if people are going for their hun dredth time. Katy Null of Houston said she and her friends have made a tradition of going to the festival at least once every year. “They create such a unique atmosphere here,” she said. “It’s a fun way to escape and play for a day.” Kathleen McCullough of Dallas visited the festival for the first time this year and said she was impressed by the festival directors’ ef forts to recreate the Renaissance. “I was expecting everything to be made out of cardboard,” she said. “I didn’t think they had an actual Renaissance village built out here. It’s very impressive.” Society for Creative Anachronism re-enacts medieval traditions By Katharine Deaton The Battalion A n anachronism is some thing out of its place or time. Crystal Bennett, Society for Creative Anachronism president and a senior civil engineering major, said SCA recreates the clothing, food, fighting and arts of the Middle Ages. “Just about everything they did in the Middle Ages, we do,” Bennett said. SCA is participating in the Re naissance Festival Nov. 3-5. At the festival, the group has a booth to display dancers, arti sans, singers and fighting demonstrations. Sandra White, a senior ocean engineering major and SCA re cruiter, said the group enjoys the Renaissance Festival. “It’s a lot of fun,” White said. “The artisans set up their spe cialty areas which include em broidery, calligraphy, weaving and bead work. They also show off the costumes they’ve made.” The main event at the festival is the fighting demonstration, Bennett said. “We show two different combat styles,” she said. “We recreate the chivalric fight and rapier combat.” The chivalric fighting consists of armored knights on the ground with long swords and axes. The rapier combat is compared to street brawling with daggers and knives, Bennett said. Joe Simpson, an employee with the chemistry department, is the knight marshal for the group and is in charge of the chivalric combat. “I make sure that when we fight, it’s safe,” Simpson said. “I also teach the new members how to fight.” Sometimes, melees will happen at the festival, Simpson said. “During a melee, two teams fight each other,” he said. “There can be up to 4,000 peo ple fighting.” Research is required for the group to effectively recreate the Middle Ag£s, Bennett said. “Our main point is education,” he said. “Everyone does research. We have our own library of books people have collected over the years. Eventually, someone be comes the expert on a subject and teaches everyone else.” Bennett said they want to ed ucate all students, not just those active in SCA. “We have two goals,” Bennett said. “One is to let people know what SCA is if they want to be in it. The second is to educate peo ple about the medieval period.” )k. lays at , Editor "avs fuff. Emt** S Editor Tara ^ Heather lothani, rhel Ba'iy Lisa Nan® on, Erin f Brown, i & Lydia P £l ' jonists: yn Called ■tes&TiW s, AbbieP aersity" lines on" h y The Bat For da^ nald and kop- 15 '' year andS* I fHSJ&d fall and , 5 (except id class Texas a&m atti& Fast Feast Buffet Special Mr. Gatti’s FastFeast Buffet Specially Priced Just For You! All You Care To Eat! ^ l- Weekday Lunch $099 Plus Tax served M - F 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. • Pizza (lots of different kinds!) • SpaGatti (with Mr. Gatti’s rich 'n meaty sauce!) • Fresh ‘n Healthy Salad! • Desserts (including Mr. Gatti’s Dutch Apple Treat and Very Cherry Dessert Pizzas!) Dinner & Weekend Buffet 99 Plus Tax served M - F 5 - 9:30 p.m. Sat. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. 10 7 South College • 268-8888 Thomas Jefferson said, “We are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” It is in this spirit that we pursue the question, “Quae res veritas?” -- What is truth? The Veritas Forum Is Coming!