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Post by brokennock on Dec 6, 2020 5:07:00 GMT -7
Why do you do what we do?
Do any of you ever randomly question your motivation? Why you are doing what you are doing, spending all the time and money, purposely making some activities more difficult? What is the end goal? Is, there an end goal or purpose?
Ever hit a point where you've accomplished or acquired certain things, skills or knowledge,,, and said to yourself,,, now what?
The journey is more valuable than the destination. Is it possible to become so involved in the process and details of the journey that you lose sight of the destination and thus falter and lose direction?
Just some "thinking out loud" questions.
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Keith
Hunter
Bushfire close but safe now. Getting some good rain.
Posts: 1,002 
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Post by Keith on Dec 6, 2020 14:40:31 GMT -7
I have been passionately interested in the colonial woodsrunner's lifestyle since I was kid. I have always had the feeling that I was born too late. For me it just feels right, especially when in the woods. Modern gear & clothing just don't fit some how, seems all wrong. I feel a part of the forest environment when I am in period.
I like the feeling of being self-reliant & self-sufficient, these feeling are never more so than when I am under canvas in the pouring rain or snow. I am a woodsman above all else, & although some people may not fully understand what a woodsman is, I am what I am, & always will be.
Keith aka Le Loup.
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Post by armando on Dec 6, 2020 15:34:29 GMT -7
I think about this often, mostly because I'm not sure how I would explain it to someone else, especially folks that know me from different "spheres" completely unrelated to history or reenacting.
It goes beyond just a love of history doesn't it? I rationalize it as a deeply held drive to experience what "they" experienced even if its but a mere shadow or parody of the how and why they "did it like back then". I'll call it "experimental archaeology" but it feels like a high-brow term to add some veneer of respectability to what is actually me doing well-developed continuation of my childhood pretend play (albeit with much more research than I would do as a 12yr old boy).
Reading original primary sources and even historical fiction fuels my desire to re-create what I'm experiencing what I read about in those texts, but I can see why the average man-on-the-street would not understand the need to "know" more deeply these historical people and periods we hold in such high esteem.
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Post by paranger on Dec 6, 2020 16:32:55 GMT -7
In addition to my love of the history and material culture of the American Colonial period, I see it as a way to connect with, pay tribute to, and perhaps better understand my ancestors.
I am fortunate that, after 25+ years of military life and the transience that goes along with it, I was able to settle with my family in an 18th c. home just 3 miles from where my 8th great grandfather died in 1739. Recreating period life on literally the same ground is both a thrill and an honor for me.
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Post by brokennock on Dec 7, 2020 0:18:29 GMT -7
Wow! Some fantastic answers thus far. Thank you. I would say my own answers fall in with all 3 of you, but you have each articulated things better than I am able to.
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Post by hawkeyes on Dec 7, 2020 8:37:56 GMT -7
What Keith has shared is EXACTLY how I feel on every level.
Personally I have a hard time with modern society. I feel disconnected on many levels nor do I have any interest in being connected. However obviously I have to mettle my way throughout in ways... reluctantly. For me my 18th century experiences are without a doubt my way of being connected to a past I'm not apart of in the modern world. I feel my experiences make me look at the modern mindset of complacency and complete lack of preparedness on many levels. I feel looking to the past helps with the future, especially the way things are going...
I long for the woods, and honestly feel depressed when I'm unable to get out. I'm more comfortable like Keith mentioned, under the stars by a fire than in a five star setup... I wouldn't give up a night in the forest with my 18th century ways for nothing.
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Post by spence on Dec 8, 2020 11:04:32 GMT -7
I’ve been a hunter all my life. When I got my first muzzleloaders I simply exchanged my modern guns for them, but kept hunting in my regular way. I was interested to know what the old boys experienced in using them, so I made or acquired all the associated equipment, pouches, powder horns, measures and containers, picks, brushes, etc., and used them in an HC way as much as I could understand it. I did that for 16 years. When my curiosity got even greater and I decided I wanted to get into reenacting/experimental archeology, I knew I absolutely didn’t intend to give up my hunting and trekking in the boonies, so I custom created a back story to accommodate that. I wasn’t a young man by that time, so my backstory became that I was an old man who had come to the frontier to live with his son and his family. Using their cabin as a base, he made hunting excursions to help provide food for the family. He normally made day trips, occasionally one of two or three days. That scenario allowed me to do my colonial thing, my hunting and my trekking that I’ve always done, and at the same time experience a little of what they did. My particular interest is in the small things of their life, the guns and equipment they carried, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, the routine details of their normal existence. And most importantly, their experience of it, not how they looked, etc. I’ve now been doing this reenacting part for thirty years.
Because the core of what I want and need from my woodsy activities is still the hunting it’s all built around, I’ve never had any lagging of interest or question as to why I do it. It has just become what I do. When I’m in the woods in my full colonial rig I’m totally comfortable in my skin. It is who I am.
Spence
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Post by brokennock on Dec 8, 2020 15:37:53 GMT -7
Thank you Spence. Your answer is almost exactly what I expected, and I so much appreciate. It is another that falls in line with being piece of what I can't seem to articulate for myself.
I am more and more finding myself more comfortable in period dress in the woods than modern. With a few technical exceptions that will just take some better planning and getting used to. I'm saving that for another topic of discussion.
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Post by Black Hand on Dec 9, 2020 18:03:51 GMT -7
My initial fascination was with the Plains tribes when I was a teenager. This led to learning leatherwork, Indian crafts and bowmaking. I was then invited by a friend to visit a Rendezvous in the mid 90's. I took one look at what was going on and realized it was a place where my knowledge and passion could be applied in a real-world way. I had never hunted until the early 90s, and this also played a part which was bolstered by a 54 caliber Cabela's special BP "Hawken". I can't really point to one thing that led me down this dark path of PC/HC, but I'm here and am happy to be here with like-minded people.
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Post by Sicilianhunter on Dec 11, 2020 2:36:16 GMT -7
I've been thinking about my reply as others have weighed in with theirs.
I feel that the best way to answer is verbatim, answer for question.
-Why do you do what we do?
This is a question of few words but deep in meaning, to put it simply for the sake of brevity, I enjoy stepping out of my "every day self" for the challenge of relating to the men of history past by putting my modern self through physical/mental/emotional trials in order to toughen/enhance my modern self.
This is all really done as a facsimile as we can NEVER be as good as they were despite what our hubris tells us.
They had no modern safety nets, we do, its as simple as that.
-Do any of you ever randomly question your motivation?
Yes, I do.
I question it when my wife feels like I spend too much time talking about 18th C topics almost exclusively and talk to other people who talk about 18th C topics almost exclusively.
She doesn't understand how it can consume the excessive amounts of time, cranial real estate and MONEY that it does.
I doubt she will ever go to an event as more than just a spectator and I'm OK with that.
We delve into this Craft, whether its something we want to admit or not, because its a world we make with our own hands as long as we follow the historical guidelines. Unlike the modern world, that can deceive us by changing the rules when we are focused on something else.
Strangely, I don't question my motivation when I am freezing in a wool blanket while sleeping on cold, rocky ground, I just know that I chose a poor place to lay down my marrow bones and blame Mark Baker for it.
-Why you are doing what you are doing, spending all the time and money, purposely making some activities more difficult? What is the end goal? Is, there an end goal or purpose?
Unlike how some folks feel about it, I enjoy the social aspects.
I enjoy meeting new people, talking to them about their views, asking questions about their experience(s) and even their motivations and part of the reason I do this is for comparison to myself.
Can I do better with what I am doing by picking up a single morsel of intel from a story related to me from someone else?
Also unlike some other folks, I believe now that belonging to a group that sets a somewhat stringent set of standards on authenticity gives me a structure to follow and keeps me honest in my 18th C pursuits. I didn't always feel this way and as I've gotten older and dare I say, wiser I have changed my thinking on that.
In the end my path is my own and along the way I have picked up skills, knowledge and interests I didn't know I would have entertained yesterday, last year or before that.
Without realizing it, my goal became self improvement.
"If the self you are today can't kick the ass of the self you were yesterday, then you are doing something wrong..." -Pat McNamara
-Ever hit a point where you've accomplished or acquired certain things, skills or knowledge,,, and said to yourself,,, now what?
I don't know that I will ever be there.
I'm not there now.
Should I get there I would probably go back and improve on all of the things I've done already to make them more authentic.
Made a pair of deerskin leggings? Now make them out of brain tanned hides you processed yourself.
Did that already? Now use primitive tools and do it all over again.
Been there, done that? Now do it stone age.
I can do this all day and I know that there are those that can say they've done it all as I tick off stages of going down a rabbit hole such as this but I rarely believe them.
If I go that route myself its because I have run out of pursuits.
I don't think I'll ever have that problem with so many things to get involved in to make yourself well rounded in the Lifestyle.
-The journey is more valuable than the destination. Is it possible to become so involved in the process and details of the journey that you lose sight of the destination and thus falter and lose direction?
The only way I see this happening is if you forsake modern life for this lifestyle.
I have been warned by men in this craft that are far more well known than I will ever be that if you don't know when to back off of the 18th C pursuits and portion your time out efficiently between family and this you can lose things dear to you.
This is SOLID advice.
THE direction should be ENJOYMENT if it becomes too much a chore then you have gone off the rails and need to re-examine your mission and adjust accordingly.
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