Welcome to the current middle ages, with all the heraldry pageantry and chivalry of those days of old, but with some modern conveniences and none of the nasty plagues.  This is Gulf Wars, an officially sanctioned battle of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Gulf Wars is one of the SCA's major annual events offering live action to fighters, riders, dancers, singers, poets and merchants.

Gulf Wars is a week long event traditionally between the Kingdom of Ansteorra and Kingdom of Trimaris. It takes place at Kings Arrow Ranch in Lumberton, Mississippi, and is hosted by the Kingdom of Gleann Abhann.

Attendance is currently around four thousand.  It attracts a temporary community of people from throughout the known world, all willing to suspend life in the 21st Century for a week and pretend they are living before the year 1600.

Attendees transform Kings Arrow Ranch into a medieval town and revel in the recreation of ancient times.  A fort and some backdrops to the action are permanent on the ranch; others require participants to use their imaginations. Encampments are built when members arrive and everyone tries as far as possible to live in character the entire week.   We feast on authentic period food, reproduce medieval artifacts and clothing, enjoy medieval music and dance, and we fight, day and night!

No one really gets hurt however, because this is a War With No Enemies.

You may like to view a TV segment that aired on CBS’ Sunday Morning at Gulf Wars IX.
Link courtesy of The Kingdom of Ansteorra. (Links will open a new window.)