Why do you reenactment / Living History

[caiusbeerquitius]

Hi all!
I am currently working on the topics "reenactment", "living history", "reconstruction" and "experimental archaeology". The goal is to find a proper terminology for the different kinds of reenactment / living history.

I´d be happy if you´d be so ind as to participate in the poll above. Please vote for your MAJOR motivation ;-)

Thanks a lot! Christian :-D

[Medusa Gladiatrix]

Hi Christian,

Not easy to respond when having only one vote and not a multiple one so I picked other with explanation here in the thread: Actually why I started to do re-enactment/living history (or whatever you wanna call it) was that I was always interested in Roman history and actually it got triggered by the movie "Gladiator" in 2000. So I bought many books on Rome and in 2005 I went to my first Roman reenactment event at Kalkriese. Since then I wanted to do something like that as well, so nobody talked me into it, it was just me. When I got involved more into the matter, one point of doing it is also to show the people this certain part of Roman culture of which many know a lot about but mostly from Hollywood movies. So now educating people is also a part of motivation of doing it.

[jvrjenivs]

Well, my main aim is to educate people, but to be able to educate people you need to get educated yourself first, which I do by experiencing the past; making, using, testing replica object and finally by discussing this all with like-minded people.

And of course becaus it is fun to do! I love being in kit, riding horses, train to fight, etc.

[Gaius Colletti]

I voted for "I want to experience the past" although I do love educating the people on all things Roman

[Joze Noriker]

Hi, interesting theme, we wrote in German LH forum Forum Gallicum realy long long textes about this item. i agree with Jvrjenivs, but the LH is very brighte theme. I agree with Medusa, the reasons are more complexe and i can't push them in one variable.
LH is circle of: education - distribution - scientific facts - and "the past time."
It is interesting hobby, working and learning about it.
If i will have more time (and budget, too), i will not do only the continental preroman iron age time/Celtic culture; but at the moment i am working in this time and place.

I think about the living history are some books on the market. My suggestion: you forgot on the term: "archeotechnique" (Archäeotechnik)aswell.
My 5 cent.

Joze

[caiusbeerquitius]

Thanks for your input! :-)

Joze: Basically the "Archäotechnik" is under "making things" :-)
Just the term is not there, since I think it is used inflationary. ;-)

[Robert Vermaat]

Difficult! I wanted to do this (without knowing it existed) from the age of 9! Explaining to others about what you show them is the main aim now I guess, but WITH the aim to have fun in the company of people who I like too! :wink:

[garrelt]

To bad you can only choose one Item.
For me there are 5 items in the list that apply to my already 20 years of Living History "addiction" :wink:
Having a historical park/museum on walking distance and working for an Archaeological company has also helped next to my general interest concerning European history.

[franciscus]

not simple... My personal most important issue is the fun of making "reconstructions- largerly spooken..." as well in "doing" reconstruction, as in "making-constructing" things of the past... and to be wondered that people used those things two-tousand years ago !!!

I notice that i started with WW2 reenactment 15 years ago...than went to WW1 about 10 years ago and than to Norman 1066 era... and now recently I added the Roman era... the older I get, the more I go back in time (I am 46...) So I hope I have some time left to finish as caveman-homo erectus... :-)

[PhilusEstilius]

I would say that my main interest has been re-construction of all manner of Roman armour, weaponry, and artifacts. This is some thing that I have been doing now for ove 30 years and my recreations are indeed all over the world.
However having said that my true interest in Roman history began when I first went to visit Hadrian's Wall some 64 years ago, in fact that was at Chesters Roman Fort (Cilurnum) then up until I retired 17 years ago I spent 6 years working at Houseteads Roman Fort (Vervorvicium/Borcovicium) and of course Chesters.

[PhilusEstilius]

PS.
I would also like to mention that when a member of the re-enactment group IV Victrics (North/Gaurd) I put forward the Guard of honour for Her Royal Highness The Late Princess Margaret when She declared Hadrian's Wall a World Monument.
Which was indeed also a great Honour for both myself and all members of our group.

[caiusbeerquitius]

I see there are some of you who have different motivations. Just for the poll, the thing is also to find out: What is the major motivation, the one that gives you most. :-)

[Quintius Clavus]

For me, it is a kind of 50/50 split between wanting to educate the public about the past and wanting to experience the past.
I "fell in love" with the Roman army when I was 6 years old, then met the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest at age 9 in a Roman History book. I started collecting Roman military miniatures just out of college. I bought a copy of "H. Russell Robinson's The Armour of Imperial Rome in 1976; I actually have at least 3 books by him, and some articles. I toured Roman sites in England with Professor Eric Birley in 1978, where I found out about the Ermine Street Guard and was an associate member for a couple years. It was Eric Birley who told me that H. Russell Robinson had died in 1978 at the age of 40. I didn't actually start serious Roman reenacting until 2002, after going to a small event hosted by Matt Amt's group, Legio XX, in Maryland in September 2001.
I love wearing the armor, all the gear, going on route marches, going to the Lafe event -when finances allow. Any excuse, no matter how flimsey, works to get me into Roman clothes - it's NOT a costume to me. I'm the Optio/2nd in command in the Legio III Cyrenaica reenactment group. We are getting some very good recognition by the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA); three of us are regulars doing programming at schools, etc.
I'm on the board of directors of the Living History Association, based in Vermont, USA and that organization's motto is "People bringing history to people." There I and others educate each other as well as the public about our various time periods.
While I don't mind doing things by myself, the real joy is doing Roman army reenacting with like minding people/forming friendships out of a shared passion.

[Cheyenne]

There are a number of reasons why I chose to do re-enactment - it was actually something I wanted to do when I was about 12 yrs old and developed into something much more than just 'dressing up' quite early on...

Today my reasons for doing it are tenfold and I can't quite pigenohole its appeal.

Of course, my bloke thinks I'm nuts, but he plays with toy trains... so he can't argue with me

[caiusbeerquitius]

Just to reactivate this :-)