HEMA Bullshit

Me, a blue haired barista with a longsword.

fool me once shame on you fool me twice whyyy that’s so mean fool me three times ohhh my goddd

The average HEMA bout with a newbie

There’s certain hobbies and interests that aren’t inherently conservative or regressive but do attract a lot of people who are those things or worse and when you’re a progressive person involved in those hobbies hearing that someone else is interested in your hobby usually has to involve some “But are you normal about it?” conversations before you get too excited

age of sail/napoleonics, allotment/food gardening, keeping chickens, golden age detective fiction, Celtic languages, Waldorf/steiner-montessori parenting - not even touching on permaculture; do not touch on permaculture - foraging and food preservation, the lord of the rings, horses -

Reblogging this to make sure I didn’t hallucinate it

My HEMA group sometimes practices outside on a rugby field and oftentimes kids gather around and watch us. It's great but also kind of puts the pressure on, which is pretty silly if I think about it. I must get a good grade in Being A Cool Sword Guy To The Nine Year Olds, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

Genuinely what are any of us talking about

Sword

Curved sword

Messer

Szabla

Epeè

Kilij

Kukri

Yatagan

Spadroon

Smallsword

One of the things I like so much about fencing is that sportsmanship is baked in. You don’t like the call? You can argue but you still have to shake your opponent’s hand. You still have to salute. You’ll get carded if you don’t. You can even be disqualified. There is room for emotion, but the bout cannot start or end without sportsmanship.