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Reenactors?

Lady2

Lady2

Senior Registered
I have read Barbara Lane’s books about regressing reenactors and seeing if they lived during the same period they reenact several times and love them. And am now getting into reenacting myself, as I just feel a calling to the periods, the weaponry and clothing...reenacting seems to be the main way I can ‘go back in time’. Are there any reenactors here on the past life forum? What makes you want to do it, does it relate to a past life you know of? It does for me…
 
Hello,


I had been involved in this sort of thing, but because I was portraying KM (Kriegsmarine) there really wasn't a whole lot I could do. I had done this since 2004, and starting out my uniform would have been called a bit 'farby'. Yet, I had what I had because the resources were next to nil as far as any sort of Kriegsmarine and/or U-Boat portrayals. Yet - despite it being very 'cheap' in certain ways, it still looked decent and I did get compliments on it. I was essentially breaking ground with all of this because I was the only one doing this (to my knowledge) at the time.


As years passed, I had been able to acquire better items because they were being made and I also had the finances with which to purchase them. One of my ultimate purchases, which I later had to sell to buy furniture for my apt., was an original KM officer's dagger with the hangers. It was hard parting with that, but there was no other way I was going to get the needed funds to get some furniture for my apt.


I do have, though, high quality replicas of the medals I earned back then - including the U-Boat Badge w/ Diamonds (although these are Zirconias). I also have a full set of the grey leather gear: trousers and deck jacket that I do wear even when not at an event. The trousers come in handy when it's bitter cold out and I have to shovel or clean off the sidewalk a bit. And the jacket is 3/4 length and lined with black wool blanket material, so it's wonderful to have in the colder months.


I really don't have a 'specific' uniform because my portrayal was that of being 'on the boat' rather than the dress uniform - so I had been able to use predominantly vintage style civilian clothing. The only thing I would need to do is convert the buttons from plastic to wood or coconut.


Because I had been involved as long as I did and managed to help gather some 'wisdom' and information, when the UK's U-Boat Society emerged in 2008, I started to help them and gave them all I could via their forum.


I really don't participate in events anymore because - as I said, there wasn't much for me to do and I now mainly focus on my 'vintage life' (most, if not all, of my furniture is from the mid-late 1930s). I collect and use vintage items from the 1920s - 40s, and sometimes I am simply given them. I have a Singer sewing machine with the cabinet that is from 1938-39 that the mother gave to me. We took it to get cleaned and serviced and it works just fine. I recently used it to make cloth drawstring bags for some of my crystals, out of scrap material I bought at the local quilt store in town.


I love going through thrift stores, yard sales, and antique shops to see what I can find. I usually can get some pretty good deals since I have an 'awareness' of the prices.
 
Wow...it'd be cool to meet that guy.


When I got to this part: "And my son said, "Dad, you are starting to scare me." I told him, "You're scared! This is me we are talking about"."


All I could do was smile and nod my head because I got that same type of reaction from many others when I tried to talk about how I reincarnated. I felt the same way that guy did...the same way. :rolleyes: *whimsical look*
 
Back in 1978 I fell asleep on the commuter train going home to Greenwich, Connecticut from New York, and had a particularly memorable dream in which I and another fellow captured a small vessel in a harbor that was held by the British. During that dream I missed my stop, and by the time I awoke, we were passing over the small harbor of Cos Cob, which I had never seen before. I had a strange attraction to that harbor, and I found out a year later that such an event did take place nearly 200 years before at that precise location. That memory seemed to open a flood-gate, because I shortly afterward encountered a series of synchronous events and memories which led my entire family into the field of living history interpretation.
 
Not really a reenactment, but I was involved in a high school drama deal (not a class, we did this for extra credit) where I got to play a knight. I was just filling in during some rehearsals, as the guy playing the knight was out sick, and they needed someone who knew the lines. I offered, hoping they wouldn't mind a female knight for a day.


When I put on the costume and strapped the sword to my side, however, I became the knight. My friends noticed a marked difference in my carriage, my manner of speaking, and (in the words of one) this aura I seemed to be emanating. She told me she fully expected to see me leave school on a white charger. (No such luck, I had to use a blue Toyota...)


I told her I was just throwing myself into the role. In reality, as I suited up I relaxed my mind and let whichever life most fit the role I was to play step up and run the show for a little bit. Sometimes it's tempting to do that a lot, since my past lives seem to have so much more experience at certain things, but then how would I learn anything for this current life?
 
Nightrain: Back in 1978 I fell asleep on the commuter train going home to Greenwich, Connecticut from New York, and had a particularly memorable dream in which I and another fellow captured a small vessel in a harbor that was held by the British. During that dream I missed my stop, and by the time I awoke, we were passing over the small harbor of Cos Cob, which I had never seen before. I had a strange attraction to that harbor, and I found out a year later that such an event did take place nearly 200 years before at that precise location. That memory seemed to open a flood-gate, because I shortly afterward encountered a series of synchronous events and memories which led my entire family into the field of living history interpretation.
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Wow. That's cool. :cool :thumbsup:


See - it is stuff like this that I have the most interest in - the 'connection' between the 'physical' and the 'spiritual' in the form of coincidences or synchronicity. I tend to be fascinated in how the two are interconnected.
 
Re usetawuz:


What is your view then on it since you feel/believe that it doesn't exit? I'm curious to know. :)
 
I had never did any reenaction... Fortunately or unfortunately. As in my country, WW2 is not studied much.. T.T(Actually, only the Japanese invading Malaya is.. WW2 is studied in two or three pages only at Form 5 (17)..) but I saw in an Anime convention, some guy cosplaying as an SS soldier. (Sturmbannfuhrer) with medals and all (it was all in order, fortunately.. Or else I didn't know what I would've done.. the only thing wrong was his weapon; his M1 Carbine..) Ironically, he has dark-skin.... (==")


He was walking around and I stopped him and asked how he made it.. I was curious.. He then told me he bought the hat from a shopping mall but the insignia he carved it in himself.. The medals and insignia is from a mounting board. But the pants and all must be tailor-made (Makes me think of the cost..) My sis was freaked out and couldn't go anywhere near him.


PS. Nazi cosplaying is quite normal in my country in places like that... The reason why is because the Holocaust is not studied here and there are practically no Jews, gypsies..etc etc here..(In fact, some people have placed 'boycott Jewish products' posters at few places (Leftovers from the Israel-Palestinian conflict) but I have never seen a Jewish item here.) Honestly, reminds me of home sometimes..Except the language is diffrent.. Even some of my teachers encourage us to boycott Jewish items.. (She better stop talking or I WILL lose it..) But my country is not anti-Semitic..they just don't really like Israel for the Israel-Palestinian conflict..
 
Thank you all for sharing and replying!

Kapitan said:
I love going through thrift stores, yard sales, and antique shops to see what I can find.
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Kapitan: I enjoy doing this too! Thanks for sharing your story.


Jody: very interesting link, he sure does look just like the general…I have heard many stories how Civil War battlefields do strange things to people, some personal friends of mine included…


Nightrain: your personal experience is fascinating! Amazing that you would have woke up in the exact harbor, wow…My whole family is into living history too.


Shiftkitty: Thanks for posting, I can relate to wanting to dress up with the boys. I have already made it quite clear to family and friends that I’m not getting into Civil War reenacting or medieval for that matter, unless I can dress like a man. :) I am very good at medieval style archery in this life, my brother and I love sword fighting, and I can't wait to learn how to shoot a Civil War rifle!...
 
Re Lady.:


You're Welcome :) Thankfully where I live there are tons of antique shops around, but I've been out enough to know where the best prices are. ;)


My most recent 'vintage present' was a late 1920's watch that I am hoping to get taken care of. I love its Art Deco style. It needs to be fixed and just needs a new band. Although I do not wear watches because I don't 'live by the clock' - I would like to get this restored.
 
Speaking of antique shops, which can make me feel transported back in time also, but what really does it for me is an antique bookstore.


In my area, we used to have a variety of bookstores (until the Internet and the economy put them out of business) but I would peruse them for hours at a time, on my days off, while being transported back in time.


I never came across (yet) a tome that I had written in a Past Life, but nevertheless I loved the smell of the books, the feel of the real paper and so forth.


My electronic reader is very nice, but it’s not the same experience!
 
I agree with you Hydrolad - while I don't have one of those electronic reading things, I understand their usefulness...but for me it's just a no-go on those things. There is a part of me that kind of laments the fact they've ever come out into existence because nothing can replace a book. I like books better because I can make notations in them and cross reference check with them. And that's just the beginning...


I won't go too far into my sob story about how sorry I am that they don't make books like they used to for the most part - such as ones with wonderful Art Deco or Art Nouveau artwork done on the cover... :(


I could go on and on and on...
 
I'm not a reenactor, but I've always wanted to reenact the Napoleonic Wars. If I had been born the day after my actual birthday, I would share a birthday with Napoleon! :laugh:


Anyway, growing up, I remember hearing people talk about "Waterloo", and I always knew what they meant, yet I didn't.


After "learning" what Waterloo was, and hearing about Austerlitz, I desperately wanted to reenact the Napoleonic Wars.


Oddly, my favorite character in any movie that has Napoleon in it is well, Napoleon. Whether that's a good or bad thing I'll leave to other's perspectives. And I have been obsessed with France for some time.


Finding out later that I was a soldier in Napoleon's army was somewhat of a shock, and somewhat expected. During the invasion of Russia, I got to carry the French flag :laugh:


We got our butts kicked at Waterloo though :(


To be honest, myself in that life was somewhat bummed to have to return to his life as a musician.
 
I'm not a reenactor so much as I'm a 'reliver.' Yeah, I just made that word up.


I have such a love for the thirties and forties, that my room virtually looks like a time warp. And when I live on my own my entire house will probably look like something out of the thirties. I hope to one day live very similarly to how they did then.


It's like I can't live in this century and be happy. I have to surround myself with the past; it just makes me feel more comfortable.
 
I'm with ya on the century thing. I've been deeply compelled to build a time-machine and travel back to 19th Century France or England.


Sometimes I tell people I'm stuck in the 60s because of my obsession with the time period. In truth, I'm comfortably stuck in the late 18th and 19th centuries. :cool


My mother is planning on getting our own house soon, and I think I'll make a point of remodeling my bedroom. I'll buy me a French and English flag and alternate them depending on my mood :laugh:


It'd also go well with my Hetalia: Axis Powers France Seven Years War costume :rolleyes:


Oh yeah, that's another thing. The Wars of Austrian Succession. Obsessed with that, and unfortunately, I can't find any books at the library about it :grr: I was told to request some, but I'm too lazy to do that :cool


P.S. Your room is awesome by the way :D
 
I'm obsessed with the '60s and '70s, myself. My room is all vintage-i-fied as well (Beatles and Muppets posters, record player, funky lamp, etc), but with some modern things in it. Whenever I visit a vintage store with all the VERY cool artifacts, I think, "Can't I just LIVE here??"
 
I understand about reenacting the past...I can see the draw, the familiarity and the comfort involved. Researching it and trying it on for size is all well and good, especially if it triggers some sense of altered time. I have such a feeling about the Gilded Age in the US, the revolutionary period along the eastern seaboard of the US, medieval France and to a lesser extent England and the British Raj in India.


With that said, I find some of the comments above about "not feeling comfortable in this century" almost disturbing. I realize there can be some carry-over of past-life trauma, and often fully reviewing that past experience allows it to take it's proper place in our psyche and relieves us of the effects it has on us in this lifetime. Outside of that, our past lives were an opportunity to live in that other time period, and this is our opportunity to live in this one...to me it is imperative to focus on this lifetime and live our lifeplan in this era...the clues we receive from our past are made available to us to benefit our current situation, not to escape it...to provide perspective beyond what we are currently aware of and to more fully live this lifetime. This life you now live is intended to be your priority, those from the past are only intended to spice the stew.
 
Mammatus said:
I'm not a reenactor, but I've always wanted to reenact the Napoleonic Wars.
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I would recommend watching the movie "The Duellists" with Harvey Keitel and Kieth Carradine...Ridley Scott's first film. It is the true story of two of Napoleon's soldiers engaged in a string of duels with each other throughout Napoleon's reign. It is incredibly visually accurate in both the locations, scenes, uniforms and the mentality (at least it felt so to me!). In fact, I nearly jumped off the sofa due to my familiarity with the final scenes. It is largely filmed in the Dordogne region of France.
 
usetawuz said:
Outside of that, our past lives were an opportunity to live in that other time period, and this is our opportunity to live in this one...to me it is imperative to focus on this lifetime and live our lifeplan in this era...the clues we receive from our past are made available to us to benefit our current situation, not to escape it...to provide perspective beyond what we are currently aware of and to more fully live this lifetime. This life you now live is intended to be your priority, those from the past are only intended to spice the stew.
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Even though I am a culprit of one of the "uncomfortable in this century" comments, I must agree with this.


I try to focus on the good things about this century, and focus on what I can do to fix the bad things. Over the past few years I have come to realize my purpose in this life, and it's something that truly has over-ridden all other desires and goals, at list in rank of importance. In has been in someways, as a Taoist would say, a "renouncment of worldly goals and possessions".


I have great potential, I just need to get out of Ohio first. Meanwhile, I will continue to philosophize and share them with the world through the use of the wonderful interwebz. Without the 21st Century, I wouldn't be connected to the outside world :( I feel like a hermit. But maybe that's the effects of living in a town with only 8,000 like-minded people (you'd also be surprised at how white supremacist this county is too. Makes me wonder why my soul chose this particular body)
 
I'd like to read the book by Barbara Lane. Great idea to think about regressing the reenactors. It does seem possible that a person would be drawn to a period that may have been when they lived a past life.


I haven't thought about reenacting, but if so I think I'd like it to be part of the Victorian Period. Beside the fact that I love the furniture, art, clothing, literature etc., it would be fascinating to get in on the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and all the underpinnings of social reform.


I like your room, Red Night. Something about the 30s and 40s pulls at me but maybe because I lived them in this life.
 
It's not that I'm 'uncomfortable' with this time period. I believe I can still learn the lessons I need to in this life while still living with aspects of different eras though. I accept the twenty-first century for what it is. I don't have a problem with it and think there is a heck of a lot of good to it, it just doesn't totally sit well with me.


I was being a little dramatic when I said 'I hope to live exactly how they did in the past.' That isn't entirely true, because I wouldn't do it to the extent where it would cause me to become a recluse or anything.


There are just things I don't appreciate about the time we do live in like the lack of privacy and the invasion of rather useless technology. It seems there's a new iPhone every month, yet people are still living with out electricity in some places. The progress we are making in certain areas is not beneficial to us. We need progress in science, medical technology, and the like. Not entertainment.


The 1930s and 1940s was such an emotional, tumultuous time period for so many of us. And in my case it has left a huge imprint on my soul, which is why it has the effect it does on my current life.


With that being said, I do think that it can get out of hand. It has with me, to the point where I actually will sometimes follow routines from previous lives. You almost become an incarnated ghost; you act like you never died and you're still living the way you lived all those years ago... like time doesn't even exist. It's extremely unhealthy, I'm sure. It's something I have to heal from. I realize I have to learn that I'm living now, and not then. I get sad at times because I feel I missed out on so much from dying young. I have the urge to go back and finish my lives, but I know I can't...


Thank you to everyone who complimented my room, by the way. :)
 
It felt SO familiar - going to my very first pre-1840 reenactment at a living history site just a 30 min. drive from my home...With the original stone trading post and one of the original houses still standing that has been fixed up - it was a time where the Americans and Native Americans still got along and mixed, their clothing often was a mix of American cloth and leather fringe...The sights, smells, the mens rifles and 'longhunter' outfits captivated me. I knew these feelings related to a past life of mine, I lived a life as a white longhunter who chose a Native American wife, even though all my white friends looked down upon me for it. I didn't realize how strongly I still remembered and felt about that time until I was amongst these people, it was like a time warp...


Usetawuz - I totally agree with you on the need to focus on THIS life in this century, though I believe there is a balence. I think reenacting is a great way to 'go back in time' with friends and family, enjoy a piece of the past - even if it's just for a short time - to balence the business of our lives today. Reenacting really enlightened me on how hard the common persons life was back then, to make your own candles, bread, butter, grow your own crops and raise your own animals, etc, that it made me appreciate all the more the bounty that we have at our fingertips nowadays.
 
I have a lot of respect for people who know how to do things the old way.


People today don't seem to have the connection to the land they used to have, and that's no good at all -- that's why they don't respect their Mother, the Earth. I saw

, made and narrated entirely by a guy in the 60's who decided to build his own cabin in Alaska. He made the cabin and everything in it and it still stands today. How many people today could survive just one day in that wilderness, let alone decades, like Dick Proenneke did? There's someone who knew where his water was, and knew his garden.
 
Now I wish I can reenact... But there are NO reenaction group for any kind of history here. At all. The people here...How do I say it... Don't love their history at all here. Mainly cause most of them might have came from Europe in their PL and most say history is boring and actually made fun of the people there. Although they were conquerors and all and its boring, you still have to respect them! :grr:


Oh, and most parents won't agree with it. Here, security is tight.
 
Jody said:
I have a lot of respect for people who know how to do things the old way.
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So do I Jody! I enjoy watching changing signs in the weather, or lighting a fire with fint and steel, it's a satisfying feeling. Great links, I enjoyed Dick Proenneke's documentary when it was on immensly. Thanks for sharing!
 
I feel the same - I do what I can as far as 'the old ways' go - since I live right in town (so no herb garden for me). Unlike many people in this day and age, I fix my own clothes, I know how to sew on a button (you'd be surprised at how many people can't do that), recycle my soap scraps, etc.


I have a great old sewing machine that I was given (it's a '38-'39 Singer with its original cabinet) and if I could have someone teach me, I wouldn't mind making my own clothes even. I'm pretty good at sewing either by machine or by hand.


Over Thanksgiving, I was recently asked if I was still into the reenacting thing and I said that I really wasn't - and that I wanted to focus more on the vintage stuff. It's more fun actually...no politics involved. :laugh:
 
Several posts talk about doing things the “old fashioned way” and I never thought about it that way.


Like one of the other moderators (Tinkerman), I like to tinker also, an amateur inventor, so to speak, but because of limited space, I don’t really have a workplace.


And also, because of personal medical conditions, I don’t have the strength in my hands like I used to, but half of the challenge is thinking of other ways to do things!


Perhaps in a previous lifetime, I was a ?????? and the choices are endless, the obvious, a frustrated self inventor, or perhaps a smithy, who made metal objects to sell to the people to a wood worker, who did the same.


As to whether I would want to be a reenactor, I really don’t know.
 
Have you ever attended a reenactors meeting?
There was a multi-era convention (from Prehistory to the Vietnam War) with 1350 participants this weekend in France.
I went there, I wanted to see if I felt anything special about the scenes, the atmospheres and to be able to talk about historical points.
Indeed I had feelings at the camps of the Vikings, Native Americans. I had shivers when I saw the reenactors of Napoleon’s Grande Armée shouting "long live the Emperor" at the sound of drums.( I guess I was in the opposite side in 1812).
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But I was disappointed by the reenactors of the Vietnam War. I think they replayed much more movies than the real Vietnam war. by the way I asked them why they were interested in this period and the answers were the movies, the music...
I was touched to see close up an M60 machine gun, perhaps memories of my last life as a US marine in Vietnam, I would have liked to take it and maneuver it but it was not possible. I would have had a hard time explaining my own motives to them. They were already suprised of my interest and knowledge.

That’s why I answer but as a joke:" I was probably there in a past life!"

It was an experience to see if I could feel something special about an historical era, maybe something related to past lives but I would not like to be a week-end reenactor. Memories of past lives are not a game for me.
 
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