What is Nordhere?- In April of 2003, Wil Yannacoulias, Warren Cummins and Andreas Tesfaye
began preparations to attend the reenactment of the Battle of Hastings in Glenn Dale, Maryland, hosted
by the group Midgard. The plan didn't bear fruit, but we began discussing starting a similar group
here in Canada. In October 2003, Nordhere was born, as a living history and reenactment group focused
on England in the 11th century. Based in Western Canada, our membership is largely drawn from Saskatchewan,
Alberta, British Columbia, the North West Territories, and Ontario.
UPDATE- As of September 2005, Nordhere has been welcomed as a branch of The Vikings- North America!
What is living history?- Living history is an educational activity where a group portrays for self education and/or the education of the viewing public, a small slice of life from a point in history. This can be as simple as a single person doing a craft display or as elaborate as a fully-authentic village on a historic site. For many small-scale hobby groups, living history takes the form of small camp displays with authentic tentage, food preparation, clothing and crafts.
What is reenactment?- Reenactment is an educational activity where interested people get together to act out a historical event (usually of a military nature, such as a famous battle). Centered largely around the combat, the event is acted out with blunt steel weapons and strict combat training. As with living history, attention to historically correct detail in the clothing and equipment of the participants is of the utmost importance. Historically plausible but not documentable events can sometimes be reenacted as well: for example, no written records exist describing the Earl of Northumbria mustering and training his local levied army, but it's pretty likely that it was done and would be an acceptable reenactment event.
The goals of the group- Nordhere's primary goal is creating an opportunity for people in Western Canada to participate in early Medieval living history & reenactment. We wish to set and enforce a minimum authenticity standard, built on the authenticity standards of The Vikings North America, and to portray aspects of the 11th century in a way that is educational both to the viewing public and the members of the group. We also plan to meet and interact with other similar groups in Canada and eventually the US, in the hopes of establishing a network of like-minded contacts in the reenactment community. Lastly, some of us plan on attending the 2006 reenactment of the Battle of Hastings in the UK, and would like to prepare ourselves and meet other Canadians interested in attending.
Structure of the group- The group president is Warren Cummins, Chris Arel is Authenticity Officer, and Rob Elliot is Combat Officer. Other positions, if any, will be filled as needed. The position of President exists pretty much for paperwork and administrative purposes, as things are done on a largely democratic basis. The group has no internal hierarchy by which members climb through service or participation, and any rank is used only as a means of accentuating one's portrayal and carries no authority- as mentioned, the group is run by majority vote.
What about other groups?- Nordhere, though a branch of The VIkings- North America, is set up as an open organization rather than being a strict group with exclusive membership. Individual Nordhere members are also affilated with the Vikings-NA, the Yellowknife Medieval Society, Regia Anglorum, and the Society for Creative Anachronism. Nordhere does not demand 'absolute loyalty' from it's members, and encourages people to belong to other groups, and members of other groups to participate in our activities. Rather than competing with, we like to think of ourselves as complementing other activities out there. This approach seems to be working, as Nordhere can boast being on good terms with all the other clubs we've associated with.
If you have any other questions or would be interested in participating, please join our emailing list on Yahoo and introduce yourself.
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