Posted on 07/12/2005 1:11:36 PM PDT by HungarianGypsy
I just joined the SCA yesterday. Am trying to find out about Hungarian history and have had a hard time for years find anything related to the name Magoch (it has no relation to Magyar). There is a site that says the name has to do with the old Hungarian religion. There is also a town by that name that was ruined during the Tartar (Tatar) invasions.
I figured if there was anyone who would know any of this type of thing, they would be a Freeper.
I would also like to get to know others in the SCA, if you are out there.
Here's a link regarding early mythology relating to Hungary. link
Priestly titles:
Táltos Priest king (root-word is wisdom, knowledge "Tud, Tut"
Magoch Magus, Magian priest (root-word magia=bonfire)
Bacsa,Baksa Priest of crafts, science
Harsány Priest of song and ceremonies
Arbis Priest of medicine (modern "doctor"=Orvos)
Barus,Rasdi Priest of magic (modern Varázs)
Garabonciás Priest of storm black magic. (from Kara-pan)
So9
magoch = magog
I'll ask my hubby if he remembers his childhood. :-)
From what I understand there is NOBODY involved with the SCA who knows about history. Pointy ears? Viking ninjas? Peace ties on weapons?
Good luck!
This is the link I mentioned. It's the only once I can find. I remember going to one of the book sellers and trying to explain what I was looking for (even a little snippet) and he went on about magyar and looked like I was a nut for suggesting otherwise.
I'm a lapsed Scadian. My wife and I are about to rejoin.
Perhaps their headquarters can help you, or the local kingdom, barony, or household. I believe there is a directory of them on SCA's website, http://www.sca.org
Looking up magog was actually really helpful. It related to the mythology bit again. Magoch is actually an ancestral name, so I figured it would be a good one to use.
LIGHTNING BOLT! LIGHTNING BOLT!
"From what I understand there is NOBODY involved with the SCA who knows about history"
Then the sum of what you understand is very little.
Rhaine
Mason De Animal
Minister of Sciences
LOL! I think it's funny, because I love lightning (from a distance). Even based a lot of a story I am writing on lightning -- before looking that up. Of course, it's a given I would like lightning. Arizona has some of best lightning displays in world.
Maybe he or she has seen too many of those large women in chainmail bikinis. *Ow! My eyes!!"
You're thinking NERO, or one of its many imitators. The SCA allows no magic/magicke/etc (though historically-accurate alchemy would be ok), no non-humans, and no non-historical (or at least potentially historical) clothing, so no chainmail bikinis. Also, while there are some pasty-faced basement-dwellers and large women who wish they could be elves, most SCAdians tend more to the mature and relatively fit persuation.
Granted, my experience with the SCA is limited, but ...
You're wrong in that there are quite a few SCAers who know a quite a bit about the Middle / Dark ages. Many people joined up specifically as a form of practical real world research. I believe that was the original point of the whole thing. One of my employees used to be a member. I think he joined up to learn blacksmithing and armoring (and probably to meet women). I once found him in the shop after hours making a sword on the old CNC while babysitting the EDM. He was going to compare it against a pattern welded blade he was making at home. Anyone with a forge in their garage is a bit nuts - but he's a damn fine machinist.
You are correct, though, in that the numbers of these people in the SCA are decreasing every year. Every year they have some big hoopla in a park near my home. We used to go to watch. As the years passed, we saw fewer and fewer lace makers and blacksmiths and such, and more and more pewter dragons and crystals and fat "barbarian" women in furry bikinis and other such drek. We stopped going years ago. I think even my machinist quit. A while back he was complaining about how the liberal nitwit artsy hippies had taken over the SCA. He doesn't complain any more, but his new car doesn't have any of the SCA bumper stickers his old van did.
In other words, I think the SCA was a good idea and a good organization, but over the years it has been infected by liberalism and liberals, and as the infection has spread, the symptomatic liberal detachment from the truth and reality has grown. The spreading lack of historical knowledge in the current SCA is just a symptom of its growing liberal detachment from historical truth and historical reality. Liberals live in a fantasy world today; is it any wonder they create a fantasy world when trying to "re-enact" history?
There are still SCAers who know a lot about the actual middle ages, and try to recreate them authentically, but they are getting fewer and fewer every year are are getting lost among the sea of the "Pointy Ears and Viking Ninjas" as you call them.
I was going to ask for pics of the "barbarian women" but I wized up.
Where are you located (generally)? The reason I ask is that I suspect that the SCA in some regions of the country is more likely to adhere to the original purpose of the group than in others. For example, my (limited) experience with the local TX chapters indicates that things are still pretty normal here. I suspect that California and some regions of the Northeast are the worst, though surprisingly not in MA or NH, where there is a well-established counter-group founded by former SCAdians who got tired of getting hit with baseball bats and founded one of the early "boffer" groups, and added in the fantasy elements to boot (partly to counter NERO). My guess is that the alternative group in New England serves to siphon off some of the fantasy types that would otherwise "contaminate" the SCA up there, thus keeping it more "pure", especially since there aren't any member fees, and the people are for the most part a good bunch. Anyway, I hope you are wrong about the local group here, at any rate.
The SCA will not teach you squat about history.
Its full name is the Society for CREATIVE Anachronism.
Historicity is of zero importance to the SCA. Dressing up in armor made of jute wall covers and whacking each other with PVC pipes is far more important.
Now, what did you want to know about the Middle Ages? I'm your go-to gal for that.
Orygun.
though surprisingly not in MA or NH, where there is a well-established counter-group founded by former SCAdians who got tired of getting hit with baseball bats and founded one of the early "boffer" groups, and added in the fantasy elements to boot (partly to counter NERO). My guess is that the alternative group in New England serves to siphon off some of the fantasy types that would otherwise "contaminate" the SCA up there
That would make a bit of sense. Sort of like the Naderites and Greenies leaving the democrats because the democrats aren't "liberal enough". The mind boggles.
What is a "boffer group"? I don't know a lot about the SCA but I do know a lot of people join for casual sex. The mind also boggles.
Like I said before, I don't have a lot of direct knowledge of the SCA or its internal workings, only what I've seen. I get the strong impression that most of the local SCA groups and members are sourced out of the local colleges and universities, which are all (no surprise) extremly liberal socialist and therefore detached from reality (or maybe it's the other way around). So I guess it's no wonder the local SCA members are also detached from historical reality. It may be different in "red states"; I can only report on what I've observed locally.
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