Much too close to the pigsty
Published: Fri, 10/06/17
I really ought to know better than to involve myself in discussions on Facebook groups, especially HEMA groups. Yes, I know I should take my own advice from yesterday. However, today there was a post with a link to an article which considered four different categories of Historical European Martial Arts. It is intelligently written and I think it analyses the different approaches, including, competitive, historical recreation, practical and inclusive, as in learning from many different sources. Stav would come mainly into the practical and inclusive category. I would recommend reading it, if you are interested, it is quite short. See the link below.
I made a complimentary response saying that I thought it was a good analysis of the HEMA scene and that it should help people understand the different approaches to training that can be taken.
The up pops one of the people who as trying to give me a hard time on the other group and asks if that includes people teaching ‘fake bullshit’ and of course I know what he is referring too. Okay, I am getting dangerously close to the pigsty but I posted this as a response.
‘Not so long ago all HEMA was fake bullshit, sport fencing, stage fighting and a bit of re-enactment was sort of okay but there was a general refusal to recognise that there could be such a thing as a 'Western martial art'. Those who claimed to be doing such a thing were dressing up in funny outfits, playing with fake swords and trying to copy what they thought they saw in the pictures of very old books. Now there is a critical mass of people doing HEMA an orthodoxy has developed and those who have bought into the current orthodoxy now believe they have the right to had out 'fake bullshit' labels themselves. This is a natural human process which happens in all aspects of life, politics, religion etc and not just martial arts.’
It won’t settle anything of course and it does not really matter. Anything that makes me think is good and having people criticise, even from a position of prejudice and ignorance, is often more stimulating that just being agreed with and told how clever you are.
This weekend I am teaching at a camp, definitely the last one of the season and I will let you know how it goes next week.
regards
Graham
PS If you consider Stav to be ‘fake bullshit’ you probably won’t want to come and train next week. But if you think it might be worth your while then details here http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/train.html