by Judi McWilliams
Over the past few years the Festival Nomad and I have had wonderful experiences visiting War of 1812 Re-enactments around Ontario. We find these re-enactments amazing and extremely interesting! In this NEW War of 1812 Discovery Series, I want to share with you some of our experiences, while attempting to shed some light into the actual historic.
Do You Pass the Ten Foot Rule? (Part One)
We have acquaintances who are “Professional Re-enactors”. Some of them have extensive collections of weapons and costumes. Being “Period Correct” in uniform, weapons and language seem to be a high priority for 1812 re-enacting and re-enactors! If a re-enactor is wise, he/she will do his/her homework! There are many terms used to help navigate and keep the accuracy of a re-enactment true. Knowing what you are doing will help with the continuity of the re-enactment. Beginning with the language spoken, for example, a person who chooses to be a “Representative Interpreter” attempts to accurately portray a character that did not actually exist but could have existed based on historical research. “First Person” interpretation is a person portraying someone from the past who has no knowledge of modern life and doesn’t “drop character”. This leads to the “My time – Your time” interpreter who may say such things as “In my time we didn’t know about 'fast food' as you do in your time”. These interpreters know about the modern times as well as the past. This sometimes helps the interpreter communicate with visitors better than the “First Person” interpreter.
(To be continued)
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