Comments on: Did Our Ancestors Celebrate the Past?

By: Judy Saunders

Judy Saunders — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 21:11:10 +0000

The Society for Creative Anachronism will be reaching its 50th anniversary in a few short years (2019, I believe), and we focus on Medieval and Renaissance eras. I heard (though I can’t recall where or when now) of some noble in the 19th century holding a medieval jousting tournament or some such. I agree that as a species we have always romanticized the past. I also suspect it is only in the last half century that we have endeavored to reach historical accuracy.

By: Diane Ullman

Diane Ullman — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 02:37:02 +0000

While I doubt that the poor had the education–let alone the time–for nostagia, the middle- and upper classes from most eras most assuredly did. The Victorians were interested in Egypt, but were also facinated by the Reaissance and the complex history of Japan. The upper class of 18th century Vienna wore fashions inspired by Ancient Turkey, Constantinople and the Middle East. The people of the Renaissance were captured by fantasies of Ancient Rome and Greece.

I suppose a longing for a fabulous ‘Golden Age’ from some distant, misty and largely imaginary past has captured imaginations for as long as we’ve had histories and memories.

By: Taylor

Taylor — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:01:40 +0000

I’ve seen patterns from the bicentennial for “Revolutionary War” costumes. Of course that wasn’t very long ago, though. It seems that all the fancy-dress pictures of Edwardians in “medieval” costumes seem to be sort of tinged to that era. Of course, “medieval” costumes today don’t look all that much like what they really wore!

By: May

May — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:15:14 +0000

Pre Raphaelites were doing the late medieval thing, the regency saw throw backs to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans and the beginnings of archaeology (and a lot of other ologys as well). Gone with the wind was a form of escapism during the second world war (1939-1945 for those of us out side the USA.

By: JF

JF — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:48:51 +0000

check out a wonderful short story in a collection by Jack Finney (“Time and Again”, “From Time to Time”); the collection is “About Time: 12 Short Stories” – stories about people who long for a past time, and were mostly written in the 1950’s and 1960’s. My favorite is “Where the Cluetts Are” . . but for the unlimited resources of the couple in the story, my husband and I would be right next door to them! ;o) We still can dream of rescuing an Old House from the 1880’s and living in a better time!….

By: William S Dean

William S Dean — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 03:26:01 +0000

Without question, our ancestors celebrated the past, whether in masquerades and historical festivals like the those annual ones in Venice and Basel, as well as reenactments as commemorations including Custer’s Last Stand in the 1920s, manor fetes in England, etc. etc. The examples are numerous and stretch back in history at least as far as Ancient Rome where many festivities celebrated past rituals and events.

By: PJMoore

PJMoore — Tue, 17 May 2011 19:54:50 +0000

Come to think of it, I have pics of my Mother(b.1924) and my Grandmother(b.1898) at what they called “George Washington Parties” Pretty cool seeing them in powdered wigs and satins but no doubt they were costumes.

By: Tonya Clevenger

Tonya Clevenger — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:55:50 +0000

Interesting and thought provoking post. As I recall, the Victorians were great ones for collecting Egyptian and classical artifacts and there were the curiosity cabinets and museums. But your were talking about recreating and clothing..hmmm. I don’t know how long living history has been around or when it started. I feel the urge to do reasearch LOL. I imagine there have always been some, like us, who were fascinated with how others lived but circumstances did not let them explore that. Survival had to come first. I think the modern age is partly the cause of us doing this. We love our tech stuff but it is all happening so fast. We (I) long for a simpler,more elegant time. A time where we knew where we belonged, for good or bad. Anchored and more or less safe. And we tend to romanticize the past I will interested in what others have to say about this.