- Angela: I'm at the Stock Pavilion in Madison
where we transport back in time
to the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
[Medieval melody on recorder]
Each week, the Barony of Jararvellir,
a local chapter of The Society of Creative Anachronism.
brings that history to life.
[swords colliding]
Members of the Barony
recreate the lifestyle, arts, and weaponry
of this time period.
Almost everything the group uses is hand-made,
including the clothes and armor.
There's also royalty,
warriors,
and artisans.
Different baronies even hold battles and competitions.
At the annual border skirmish,
there was a "rapier," or slender sword fights,
weapon throws,
and archery.
[thud]
- Look at this!
Beautiful.
Doo, doo, doo, doo.
- Interested in archery?
At weekly practice,
anyone is welcome to try their hand at the sport.
And perhaps get a short lesson from Barony member
Deena Patterson.
So how do we get started?
- Well, just a couple pointers.
When we go up to the line to start shooting,
when you put this arrow on the string,
the back end, the nock,
you're going to want to make sure
you click this nock all the way onto the string.
The string gets to the bottom of it.
And when you put your arm up and you draw back to shoot,
you're going to want to make sure that when you do let go,
when you release, you just move your fingers,
and the string will move back to the center of the bow
and the arrow will fly off.
You want to make sure
you don't drop your arm or move your arm at all
that's holding that bow.
Just like baseball, with the follow through of the swing,
if you move your arm,
the arrow will end up going in that direction.
So if you drop your arm, the arrow will usually go low.
The bow you're using is a 22 pound pull bow.
It's all a matter of picking equipment
that fits with your body and your strengths.
And you can be fairly accurate with any weight bow
as long as it's something that you can
pull back and hold reasonably well.
- Thank you for that, Deena.
Let's give this a try.
[thud]
Oh!
It actually landed somewhere.
- You had a nice long draw.
You pulled your arm back very straight.
And when you released, you didn't let go--
you didn't move your body.
That was very good.
Do it again. You've got five more.
- Thank you.
- The Barony hits the mark when it comes to medieval merriment.
The archery, the clothes, the music.
It's a modern-day Renaissance revival
found right here in Wisconsin.
- All right, same plan, same plan.