Welcome to Altavia
A Barony in the Kingdom of Caid,
in the Society for Creative Anachronism
On May 10th, Altavia Anniversary is happening at Veterans Memorial Park in Sylmar!
Baron Griffith Von Bremen and Baroness Amabel Radleigh at their Wedding on October 11th 2024 at GWW
The Barony of Altavia is a local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts, skills, and traditions of pre-17th-century Europe. The Barony of Altavia includes the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, and Malibu, and is part of the Kingdom of Caid which includes Southern California, Greater Las Vegas Area, and Hawaii.
Members of the SCA study and take part in a variety of activities, including combat, archery, equestrian activities, costuming, cooking, metalwork, woodworking, music, dance, calligraphy, fiber arts, and much more. If it was done in the Middle Ages or Renaissance, odds are you’ll find someone in the SCA interested in recreating it. What makes the SCA different from a Humanities 101 class is the active participation in the learning process. To learn about the clothing of the period, you research it, then sew and wear it yourself. To learn about combat, you put on armor (which you may have built yourself) and learn how to defeat your opponent. To learn brewing, you make (and sample!) your own wines, meads and beers. You will frequently hear SCA participants describe the SCA as recreating the Middle Ages “as they ought to have been.” In some ways this is true – we choose to use indoor plumbing, heated halls, and sewing machines. In the dead of winter we have more to eat than King’s venison, salt pork and dried tubers. However, a better description is that we selectively recreate the culture, choosing elements of the culture that interest and attract us.
Altavia News From Their Excellencies
April 2025
Hello Altavia!
This was a VERY busy month!
We started off with an exciting double event weekend in Caid.
At Pentathlon on Saturday our very own Sibylla (Tanya Yvette Wilson) was asked to join the Laurels!
On Sunday, Caid Archery Open was held at Woodley Park and ably stewarded by Merlin (Joshua Gore). Achilleous won the Open Handbow Division and Merlin took the Cross Bow division.
At practice, our rapier fighters are continuing the new tradition of bringing more structured classes to practice, with Master Niko Phaistos teaching a lesson on gaining constraint. We’re planning on presenting structured classes at least once a month, and look forward to seeing what people have to bring out to teach everyone.
Academia Draconis was a wonderful weekend full of teaching, learning and fighting.
After the afternoon classes on Saturday there were two Pas, for armored and rapier, which were well attended and enjoyed.
There was also an invasion by Griffins, which were rebutted by the spear throwing and combat archery tournaments. The ranged weapon tournaments were great fun, with the hosts creating paper mache Griffins for the combatants to attack. Baroness Amabel and Arnleif Oladottir stepped in, bringing combat arrows and experience to the field, and opened up the field for any who were interested in trying their hand at combat archery.
Baron Niko took first place in the spear throwing, hitting his Griffin with every shot, and Merlin won the combat archery tournament, tearing open the Griffin’s throat and releasing the candy inside to the ravenous hoards (the children).
That evening we were treated to pizza and cider by the wonderful Dreiburgen hosts, while the Torchlight tournament was held, and Baron Griffith was victorious with the most remaining lives and overall wins within the donation tournament!
We all came home, and had a largesse making night, which was incredibly well attended. Thank you to all who came out and helped us make braided belts and mug holders for the incoming barons and baronesses, it is greatly appreciated, and we’re excited to welcome our new cousins soon.
The next weekend we headed out to Al Sahid, for their Anniversary, which was a fun filled day with Easter eggs, Bunny melees and tournaments. Master Niko won to Cut and Thrust, Sir Bjorn took Armored, Mestre Róisín won Rapier, Baroness Amabel won thrown weapons and Gideon won Archery.
Wrapping up the month, we had crown tournament in Angels, and the warm day held lots of fighting for all with a best two out of three double elimination tournament. We are thrilled to have Sir Bjorn Zenthffeer and Mestre Róisín Ni Brian as our next Crown Prince and Princess, and look forward to the next rein with them.
We look forward to the next month, with is filled with tournaments and Anniversaries (including our own!)
In Service to the Dream,
Baroness Amabel Radleigh
Baron Griffith von Bremen