“Reenacting” or “living history” is a hobby where the participants try to portray people of the past. Some people just have a hard time conceiving of this, they ask “DO they pay you?” NO!

“How do you know who wins or who dies?” Some battles are scripted out as to the end, some are called “tacticals” and may have judges or rules as to what happens. Some events are just “living history” (as they are so called), these usually being set up for the public. Many reenactments aren’t even done for the public, but instead for us, the reenactors. WWI and WWII events are usually of this type.

“I still don’t get it!”

Probably the best explanation I have ever heard was this: Imagine your most favourite movie. Imagine being able to “step into” that movie — that’s a lot like reenacting. And no, we don’t have a script, or anything like that. Our actions are usually just us trying to live in that time period.

If you like history, you’ll probably like reenacting — one thing to remember though, you WILL feel what it was like. This isn’t like sitting in an arm chair in your living room — in reenacting, you will feel the dirt, the wind and the rain, the sweat, the wool clothing :-0 (yep, wool — surprisingly comfortable!).

You’ll learn what period shoes felt like. How the gear was carried; what was comfortable and what wasn’t.

Often you’ll get to try period recipes for foods you’ve never even thought of. The Romans for example, loved to combine tastes that to us, in the modern world would be (and are) considered weird — pancakes with pepper come to mind. However, when you try these foods, you’ll find they aren’t bad, just different. Often different in a good way (WWI turnip jam was NOT in a good way though ).

So look around, pick something that interests you and jump on in.