Ren Fairs are interesting…
It’s where people may or may not dress up as they think people would have dressed up in the 1200-1700’s. 500 years of fashion stuffed unceremoniously into a market. Oh and it may be Renaissance or Fantasy. You’ll see people with horns and wings and feathers. They’ll wear midriff baring outfits and nun’s robes. They’ll wear faux pirate gear and costumes that include armor from 4 different countries and 3 different centuries of manufacture. They’ll wear $400 boots with a “I made this myself” fairy costume. They’re selling wooden swords, beer steins, and games. You want a weapon? There are plastic and aluminum copies of authentic arms, and light sabers. Tacky jewelry to works of art can be 2 tents from each other.
Turkey legs–smoked and served in aluminum foil and a paper basket or fish ‘n’ chips seem to be the popular food. Why is this funny? No turkeys in Europe until 1550’s and then not to common people.
But…I love Ren Fairs!!! The choreographed fights, the belly dancing, the fake English Accents (because all Renaissance fairs are English) the trolls and creatures and costumes, and those dam turkey legs.
I got to thinking. Did the people in the Renaissance have 1C Fairs? Did people dress up in Roman and Greek outfits? Would the tourists dress up in their favorite apostle garb? Everyone would have had to speak in a very bad Greek or Latin accent. They’d have to lose the colorful outfits they wore and choose plain peasant robes.
(Yes, those are authentic outfits from the Renaissance. These below were designed by Michelangelo…not the turtle, the guy that did David…)
Go to the 1C fair! Wear a sheet! Might have different pagan gods, fair folk, leprechauns, and other mythical creatures on display and wandering on the midway, and those that still worship those gods waiting for the lightning to strike. Instead of jousts and such, they could feed the Christians to the Lions at 1:00 3:00 and 5:30 shows. (No not REAL lions! They wouldn’t get volunteers that way!) They could serve Roman Pork and wine and some beer from Goth. The Goths would wander around the fair and threaten the civilized people dressed as Romans. It could be fun.
Or you could go REALLY far back and have Ark-Fest! They could have a large boat on display with all sorts of zoological exhibits. They could have a rain dance! They could throw fake rocks at each other! They could close the Festival every night by having 1 guy at the top of the tower yelling through a megaphone, “Was that Thunder I heard?”
Measureable progress 