It’s difficult to picture anyone who doesn’t already know me will come to read this. But, just in case, let me introduce myself and talk about what you’ll see go forward.
My name is Nora Cannaday. I may be a grown adult, but my spare time is spent in equal measures: working, playing and generally getting in trouble. I lay the blame squarely on a group call the Society of Creative Anachronism, hereafter referred to as the Society. In the Society, I go by the name Valeria Cabrielli.
A cliff notes version of the Society for the uninitiated is: a nonprofit living history group that works to preserve various historical art forms. Which art forms? It’s almost impossible to really break that list down. I could take a stab at it over the course of several separate blog posts and still miss things. Suffice it to say it can be any pre-17th century art form (including martial arts) AND that end date is frequently pushed/contested.
In my local area I can easily can easily list 50 distinct art forms practiced by one or more people. But, just because someone isn’t already doing it, doesn’t mean it isn’t part of the Society. For an idea of how niche it can get, if, tomorrow, you decided to start specializing in the creation of 16th century figure heads, that would be covered by the Society.
I often tell people that it’s the hobby that collects hobbies. If you have a boat load of free time, this is an excellent way to fill it. If you don’t, it will fill up every moment of your life that you give it.
Because it’s a living history society, we occasionally have meetups that require a lot of stuff™; from clothing and shoes to dishes and tents. Some things can bought, some things really need to be made custom. Either way, few people have the budget to buy everything they want or need. This means that most people pick up more than one skill. Either so that they can just make it themselves or so that they can make something that they can trade for what they want.
I have been somewhat lacking in that whole range of skills thing. Outside the Society? I’ve done watercolor, colored pencils, gouache, oil paint, chalk and charcoal, stained glass, baking, chocolate making… etc.
But in the Society, I’ve really stuck to two things: fencing and scribal arts. You see Caid (my local area of the Society) has a shortage of scribes. And because my services have been (and are) in high demand… I haven’t really felt much need move out of my niche.
Well, it’s about time I fixed that. Enter: the Rabbit Hole Blog.
In 2021, Pentathlon is coming around again. It’s a biannual arts competition that requires at least five entries in four over-arching categories. For some understanding of how off topic you have to get from your primary skillset: all food, from pickling to sugar work, falls in one category.
I am finding, that I really need a place to throw all of my research, work, and progress as I dive into things I am less familiar with and frankly, it wouldn’t hurt to have a place to throw my existing scribal arts research.
So: it’s all going here. Stay tuned for the next chapter. Coming as quickly as I can write it because there’s some backlog.
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