Reenactment and LARP

Reenactment is an activity where people recreate or commemorate historical epochs and events through dramatization, costumes, props, staging, and/or authentic environments.

Live-action roleplaying, shortened LARP, can have contemporary or fictional settings, but is often based on historical periods. Here people are improvising and immersing in their role, rather than playing by a pre-written plot. The focus can be on adventures and fights or more on the social interaction.

Pioneer villages are settlements, authentic or reconstructed, in a historical setting; often from the early modern period (15th to 19th centuries).

The Society for Creative Anachronism or SCA is a large group — as of 2014, 30,000 paid members and about twice that many participants in their events each year — that aims to recreate medieval Europe "as it should have been", including much of the beauty and pageantry but without plagues, inquisitions etc.

Europe

France

There are often re-enactments on the D-Day beaches on or around the June 6th anniversary of that invasion.

Hungary

Kurultáj — an annual celebration near Bugac on the dusty Great Plain where you will find Hunnic warriors, Magyar horsemen, and medieval Hungarians. Towards the evening, the atmosphere grows increasingly spiritual with much shamanic chanting and drumming, eventually culminating in a fire ceremony at night.

Sweden

A LARP group in Sweden

Sweden has a developed LARP scene. While authentic historical environments are few, the right to roam allows for outdoor events. SVEROK is the Swedish federation for LARP-related events.

Medeltidsveckan ("Medieval Week"), Visby. A one-week Medieval convention in August.
Stallarholmen Viking Festival, Strängnäs, re-enacts the Viking Age.
🌍 Batalj Event, Storå. A closed down mine with post-apocalyptic atmosphere, used for sci-fi and horror events.

United Kingdom

Both the English Civil War Society and The Sealed Knot are societies that conduct re-enactment of the battles (some fictionalised) of the English Civil War era.

Many groups for Historical Renactment exist with The National Association of Re-enactment Societies acting as an umbrella organisation.

North America

Historical Reenactment

Reenactment of the Battle of Olustee.

Historic sites will often have guides in period costume to explain the historic context of a venue. In the United States, the American Civil War appears frequently as a re-enactment epoch, particularly in the South where most battles were fought. The War of 1812 is likely to make a re-appearance in historic fortresses along both sides of the Canada-US border.

The era immediately before the adoption of steam power (and the subsequent industrialization of the United States and industrial Britain) is most common in pioneer villages, although gold and silver rush ghost towns may also be re-enactment targets. While most sites will represent colonial or post-colonial eras, don't be surprised if your guide is a costumed Viking at the Anse-aux-Meadows archaeological site on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula.

Rodeo events combine reenactment with competitive sport.

Canada

The largest medieval LARP in North America is the Duché de Bicolline in Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc, Quebec, Canada.
Gimli (Manitoba) has the "Islendingadagurinn", a four-day festival in August which includes daily Viking battle re-enactments.

United States

LARPers at an Anime Convention

LARPing in the United States is mostly popular near college towns, and other areas with large nerdy populations. Where historical renactments are focused on recreating history for onlookers, LARPers are usually focused on reliving an experience for oneself, or as entertainment, and thus joining a LARP is usually more accessible.

Stay safe

Many reenactment and LARP events include carrying and use of functional weapons such as bows, swords and knives. Local laws must be followed.

Even the foam coated weapons can be dangerous, if they are starting to break. Check the condition of yours.

Some events are held at places that can be dangerous, such as caves, wilderness or abandoned industrial facilities. Be sure to know any security measures in place, and what to do if you get lost.

gollark: I think that's been done a lot already. I liked https://qntm.org/ra, which is basically that.

gollark: I suppose you could argue that it isn't really relevant, since it can't run in the actual universe.

gollark: It also can't model itself.

gollark: It's an (uncomputable) algorithm which is boundedly worse than the best (computable) algorithm to infer things and it's arguably general intelligence.

gollark: Well, we have Solomonoff induction.