From: lawbkwn@buacca.BITNET (Yaakov HaMizrachi)
Subject: Catching up....
Organization: The Internet
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 05:02:56 GMT

Unto all who read these words, greetings from
Yaakov.  May the Holy One look down on us in
mercy when he comes to judge the World next month.

Go away for Worldcon and get buried in digests.
*sigh* Some of this may seem old, but I did want to
comment.

Bertram's Baby
Mazel Tov!  Congrats! etc.!
(Glad it wasn't born ay Pennsic.:-))

Arval posted that Tournaments were not
entertainment for the  masses.
Alas, I cannot find my copy of the *Decammeron*.
However, I remember several stories in which
the heroe hosts and enters tournaments to
catch the attention of a lady.  While the
protagonists were upper class, I got the impression
that large crowds gathered to watch tourneys.
Also, in the tale of William the Marshal, it
reports that a town of 6000 spectators, merchants,
and hangers on formed around one of the
tourney's for the duration of the tourney (2
weeks).  In fact, the discription reminded me
an awful lot of Pennsic.

Pentacles, Pentagrams, etc.
Every time this comes up, I post the
same thing.  Each time, I keep hoping I
won't have to post it.
Tibor, if you really cannot find any
examples of the pentacle in medieval
armory, I will lend you my book.  The
book is *Medieval Jewish Seals From
Europe* by Daniel M. Friedenberg,
Wayne State University Press, Detroit,
1987.  I strongly recomend it to anyone
interested in Jeweish armory or naming practices.
Friedenberg gives each seal by geographic
region, gives a black and white photo, catalog
number, and a brief discussion.  On page 68,
he discusses the pentagram, pentacle, and
hexagram as not uncommon JEWISH symbols,
particularly used as arms parlantes or
pretentious arms for those named David or
Solomon or those claiming Davidic descent
(a very common conceit for Jeweish leaders).
These symbols were associated with the seal
of Solomon.  I particularly recomend to you
the arms of Nachum son of Jacob:
A pentacle inverted, between two
crescents bendwise and two mullets
of four points bendwise to sinister
in chief a winged Jew's hat.  The author
includes the following comment:
"As noted before, the stars of five or six
points were not exclusively considered either
religious or symbols of specific religions
at this time, despite the more common use
of the hexagon by Jews.
of the hexagon by Jews."
There are several other examples of pentacles,
inverted or otherwise, in the book.

In general, my problem with people displaying
pentacles is that they have no clue what
the period meaning of the device is.  I have
toyed with the idea od greating pentacle-bedecked
folks as Jews, but it just doesn't seem worth the
effort.  I have also thought of sporting a pentacle
along with my Jewish star, but folks would get
the wrong idea.
However, I think Igree with those who
say that the ban is a bad policy decision.
I understand the underlying concern that the
BOD has, and believe they are correct to be
concerned.  But I believe that we must balance
the effect on our membership from without
against the internal feelings within.  If we
could really deflect all bad feeling from
the SCA by refusing to register the armory,
I'd say go for it.  Unfortunately. I don't
think we deflect enough bad feeling to make
it worth the trouble.
Yes, there are regions where one does not display
a pentacle without fear of one's life and
reputation.  But, as some point out, the SCA does
not ban display, only registration.  The same
social forces will act to prevent display
whether or not the item can be registered.  Meanwhile,
folks in more tolerant areas feel stepped on
and persecuted.
So we lose both ways.  Our own members are
groused at what they feel is arbitrary persecution,
and intolerant groups still call us Satan's little
helpers.  To my mind, a much better solution is'
to allow registration of the symbol and trust
to the sensitivity/survival instinct of
Pagans living in intolerant areas not to display
it.


The Same Sex Consort business:
An awful lot of emotionally charged topics
have merged in ths  topic and I would like to
break it down into a number of sub-topics.

'Inspiration'
I'd love to treat the notion that one
wins crown for one's true love the same
way I treat the notion that all period
marraiges were love matches.  That's the theory,
and the populace believes it, but no one
who knows better thinks that's how it is.
If I were in range to enter crown, I'd ask
my lady if she thought she could handle it
(after first determining if we could afford it).
I believe she can, but she might not want to make
the time/emotional commitment.  If she said no,
I have a list of people I would ask.  Not
because they are particularly close friends,
or because I want to bed them, but because
I feel they would make good Queens.  This
is the sort of 'inszpiration' I would like
to see, the inspiration to do one's duty for
the kingdom and serve the populace.
Inspiration can come from many sources and
can 'inspire' us to win tournaments or fight
more chivalrously, but I do not consider that
to be a compelling argument.  One does not have
to fight for one's inspiration to fight chivalrously.
For example: Were I to fight in a crown tournament,
with my household and my over-lord in attendance,
their presence would inspire me to fight
to the best of my ability and as chivilrously
as possible, yet I have no intention of
putting any of them on the throne.
Therefore, I would like to see all consorts
chosen on political, rather than emotional
basis and let your emotional inspiration
cheer you from the sidelines.

Some have argued that the historical accuracy
argument shouyld be balanced against the needs
of the Society, as a 20th century organization,
to act sensitively to the needs of its members
and disregard authenticity where it creates such
ill-feelings among members that a significant
number feel hurt/excluded.

This is a powerful argument, but I still do
not find it compelling.  In the first place,
there is no period analog to same-sex consorts,
even in fiction.  While we compromise our
accuracy by allowing more women fighters than
the handful allowable by historical precident,
it seems to me that we do far more violence
to our recreation when we allow something for which
there is no justification.  Even our most
outrageous OOP practices have some purported
period analog (duct tape and plastic for
silvered wood and whale bone), or come from
an earlier part of SCA history when people thought
what they were doing was period and screwed up.
(Our Victorian style order of precedence and
title-stacking) This would be the first time
we deliberately changed a period practice to a
non-period practice.  Perhaps the damage done to
the membership by keeping the rules counter-balances
the damage done to our recreation, but
we should recognize that such a step is far more
radical than what has gone before.  This goes
beyond women fighting, rattan swords, and plastic
armor.

For those who discount my words as one with an
interest in the status quo, fear not.  I am excluded
from fighting in crown by a far more effective
mechanism.  All events take place on Saturday.
I shall never enter a crown tourney, never shoot
a royal round or IKAC, never eat on board at
a feast, all of these pleasures denied me by scheduling.
Does this make the SCA anti-semetic?  Is this
a pernicious plot to exclude religious Jews? No, it
is just that Saturday is the most convenient day.
So I sigh and accomodate myself to things as
best I can.
The point of the above is not a useless indulgence
in self-pity, but an inventation for people to
consider the following:
1) It is impossible to accomodate everyone;
2) There may be legitimate, sometimes unavoidable
reasons for a policy that excludes someone.

This does not mean there are not homophobic
people in the SCA who use history as an excuse.
Similarly, there are anti-semetic people in the
SCA (I've met a few) who are no doubt deleighted
that I can't make most events.  The question is:
Is there a legitimate concern or is it a smoke-screen
for exclusion and hate?

Written this 14th day of Ellul,
Yaakov HaMizrachi
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca