The Lounge > Historical Reenactment

Duuring's Generic Re-enactment Discussion Corner (Bitching be allowed)

(1/5) > >>

Duuring:
Because we seem to scatter generic discussions on re-enactment on a handful of threads, we might as well have one with that distinct purpose. As always, I'll bitch about stuff. Please, join me in my bitching

Discussion topic to start us off (You can completely ignore it and start another one): Tents. A necessary item or a sheer unhistorical luxury? I haven't used an A-tent since 2014, and it's really do-able. ACW and WW1 have shelters, and in Napoleonic you just sleep next to the fire with your whole uniform+blanket and you're fine. No, it's not comfortable, but re-enactment isn't supposed to be that - isn't it all about experiencing how these men lived?

joer5835:
I believe tents are absolutely fine for two personal reasons:

1. Storage. People steal things. It actually happens at events. So having a place where I can at least hide my belongings when I am not in camp is rather nice. And yes true, they are still not safe, but in tents you can actually place items out of sight. And generally, it's harder to go into a tent, take something out and get away unnoticed.

2. Weather protection. Look, I get that we try to get as close to these guys from the past as we can. So if it rains, you are out in the rain. But still, I don't particulary fancy sitting at home sick, missing a week of Uni because I got a serious cold from sleeping in the rain because I had no tent, shelter or anything to cover me. A tent at least protects me from that. Same with really cold temperates or cold, hard wind.

Duuring:
Well, obviously they are fine - I'm not saying we ought to rip off people's heads for using a tent.

People might steal things, but at the same time I just either leave everything of value at home, in someone's cartrunk or in my backpack that I always keep with me. The only things of value you ought to bring to a re-enactment are things like wallets, keys, documents and the like, which are small and easily kept in a bag.

You don't actually get a cold from bad weather, that's a common misconception. Obviously you can get hypothermia or something, but you really don't get hypothermia from sleeping outside in cold weather. The human body is quite capable of handling cold weather. Obviously we're not used to it, and yes you might get shitty evening with little sleep, but you get used to it. I can understand people of 30+ getting tents and field beds, because they have a much harder time adapting. But we're young and fit - we're tired and sore for a day or two and then we're fine.

My point is not that everyone should start burning their tent, because I don't care what other people do. My point is that it's actually not thát shitty to sleep without a tent, when done properly, and it improves the re-enactment experience greatly.

Of course, nobody should be sleeping outside, in a tent or no tent, during winter months. Because there was, or there ought to have been, no campaigns in the winter.

Olafson:
If you only bring what you can carry on yourself, then no one is going to be able to steal anything, because it will always be around you.

Riddlez:
From a non-re-enactor perspective I can understand where you're coming from, Duuring and I'd probably try to imitate the sleeping situation as best as I could, too.

Buit, on the other hand, Aren't there some genius modern-day tricks out there with modern-day stuff, but hidden cleverly so it still looks accurate?

I have slept outside twice for roughly a week now, and I found (with the proper (hehe, modern) equipment, I am sleeping better in the woods than I do at home.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page