There are lots of people who say we are a re-enactment group (which is true for some people), a living history group (also true for some people), an experimental archeology group, a LARP, or a shared costume party — all of these are true to some degree.

A membership will get you a reduced fee for getting into an event, a subscription to our monthly newlsetter, and it will let you hold official volunteer positions, but for your first event or two, see if you like our group before you spend any money. 

The SCA doesn’t need to cost you a great deal of money to participate, and we’re happy to have you try it out and you can decide when it’s worth getting a membership.

If you aren’t sure where to belong, feel free to email the Kingdom Chatelaine (official newcomer liaison for Ontario) and they’ll help match you up with a group.

You have all sorts of choices for a mentor or guide — your local (or nearby) baron and baroness are there to make sure everyone feels welcome.  They are the folks wearing the gold coronets with six pearls or stones on them at events.  You can also find their contact information and pictures (so you know what they look like) HERE.

You can also talk to your local seneschal (chairperson) or if your group has one, your local chatellaine (newcomer liaison).

​These people can make you feel welcome, introduce you to people with similar interests, and are fun people who have been involved in our club for years.

You can google ‘Pennsic’ or ‘Crown Tourney’ on Youtube to see event activities, you can find kingdom, barony, shire, or special interest groups on Facebook, or Twitter, or even Reddit.

A good place to start is our official kingdom (or Ontario-wide) Facebook group HERE.  There’s a lot of activity about upcoming events, local gatherings, or Ontario-wide notifications.

One word of warning — there are all sorts of people with different interests and activity levels in the SCA on social media, and sometimes it’s hard as a new person to keep up with everything that’s going on.  Some people who might comment on your post haven’t been out to an event in years (but wish they could), or could be almost as new as you.  Take everything with a grain of salt on social media, and remember the real fun is in person at an event.

There are people in the SCA who attend 1-2 events a year, and they are a part of our club as much as anyone else.

There are others that attend 2-3 fight practices or meetings a week, plus attend 3-4 events a month, sometimes travelling to the US or far away to experience events in other kingdoms.

Odds are, your interest and free time will put you somewhere in between those activity levels — participate as much as you are comfortable doing.

You might just choose a simple medieval name — use your first name and your local SCA chapter name (so Chris WIlkinson might be Christopher of Greyfells) … or you might be interested in Mongolian culture and choose Yegedei Sacchin.  You also might choose a place and time you are interested in, such as 13th century Novgorod, or even a craft you would like to learn, such as a English shoemaker from the time of the Tudors.  While you aren’t making up a fictional character, you are building what we call a persona — a medieval person that you might have liked to have been.  You can put as much or as little effort into it as you want to.

Your persona is not supposed to be a hard and fast rule that limits your interests.  You might decide that even though you are interested in portraying an Icelandic person from the 13th century, that you might want to own a Mongol outfit — or there might be a themed 14th century tournament event and you want to make a set of clothing that fits in — try whatever you like!

A white belt is reserved for knights — someone who has achieved a level of mastery in armored combat and has been recognized by the king and queen.  A white baldric is worn by Masters at Arms, an equivalent rank to a knight.

By custom, red belts are reserved for squires, students of knights who are interested in armored combat and have been taken as formal students by a knight or master-at-arms.

Green belts are often worn by apprentices of a Master or Mistress of the Order of the Laurel (equivalent to a knight), who are in a formal relationship to be a student and learn an art or craft or skill.

Yellow belts are often worn by proteges of a Master or Mistress of the Order of the Pelican (equivalent to a knight), who are in a formal relationship to be a student and learn how to effectively volunteer and serve the society through holding offices or helping in various ways.

White livery collars are worn by Masters or Mistresses of the Order of Defense, who are the preeminent rapier combattants recognized by the king and queen, and their students wear red livery collars.

There are several other sets of tokens or regalia worn by various offices or are associated with specific earned titles — don’t worry too much about it to start, and try to stick with a brown or black belt for your first set of clothing.

Inside those kingdoms are baronies (regional groups), cantons (local chapters inside a barony), shires (independent local chapters), strongholds (independent local chapters at a military base), and colleges (independent local chapters at a university).

All our groups are given medieval names, often a play on the real place.  For example, Trinovantia Nova is latin for New London, and the group is based in London.  You can find a relatively recent map of the kingdom HERE.

Beyond that there are non-geographic groups such as guilds, households, camping groups, and more.

All the names are a lot to take in, and it’ll take you time to learn them all — don’t worry about it, we’ve all been there, there’s no pop quiz!

If you want to stay for feast (dinner), you’ll need a cup, plate, bowl, and cutlery.  If you don’t happen to have medieval feast gear, you can pick up wooden plates or bowls from the local value village or supermarket, or just bring something fairly nondescript.  Sometimes there will be loaner feast gear available too.

You’ll need to bring some money for the site fee — that’s the cost to get in, which we use to pay for the rental of the hall, which is usually $10-15 per person.  If you want to stay for feast, or buy lunch at the event, you will need a little more money to cover the costs.  These prices are advertised on the event ads (found on the calendar link on the main page).

That’s it, that’s all you need to get started — come on out!

Keep in mind that the gate people have a ‘morning rush’ between about 11 and 12 as everyone shows up — either come early to beat the rush, or check in, and be patient for them to get through checking everyone in.

Aside from the gate folks, a local baron and baroness (anyone wearing a gold coronet with six pearls or stones) attending the event is sure to help you.

They’ll be the folks whizzing around the event or sitting in the fancy thrones with the big gold crowns.  All you have to do is approach, wait for them to have a break in whatever they are doing, and introduce yourself as new.  They’ll be thrilled to talk with you.

Understand the king and queen have a lot of people who want to talk to them at every event, so just be patient.  If there’s someone following them around, you can always talk to them as well (they are usually acting as a herald or entourage for them, so they’ll be able to tell you when a good time to introduce yourself is.

If there are classes or workshops happening, you can attend those and try your hand at calligraphy, woodworking, or whatever might be happening that day.  Ask the folks at the gate who you checked in with for what is scheduled.

While you can watch the armored combat or fencing at an event, it’s more exciting to try it — but you can’t just jump in on that without proving you are safe and putting together your own set of armor.  Find out where your local group’s fighting or fencing practice is, and the local organizer (the marshal) will help you get started, and you could be fighting at an event within a month or two.

Lastly, there are often opportunities to get involved — there might be singing at feast, a chance to hold a spear in court, medieval games to play in the back of the hall, or more.  Ask someone friendly if you can join in, they’ll be glad to involve you.

This is the best way to get to meet people, have something in common with the experienced folks running around, and learn how the club works.  Our society and all our events completely rely on volunteers.

Just ask the people running gate, or the local baron or baroness (the folks wearing the gold coronets with six pearls or stones) how you can volunteer, and they’ll find something for you to do.  Today you might be helping with the kitchen or lunch table, but it’s a step towards learning how to cook a feast for 50 people down the road.