Friday, March 24, 2000

Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

In Remembrance: 

Renaissance groups gather to inform public of the past

By Ken White

Review-Journal

The Rainbow Library steps back a few hundred years Saturday when the local guild of the St. Andrew's Ancient Order of Noble Scots presents a Renaissance village demonstration. Activities will include presentations from 1562 Scotland and by the St. Andrew's Renaissance Guild, Tudor era of 1500 by the Isle of Standauffish Renaissance and medieval presentations by the Kingdom of Aragon. Demonstrations, centered on the court of Mary Queen of Scots, will be held in period rope making, sword fighting in full suits of armor, candle making, military drills and belly dancing. 

There also will be history workshops, a Gaelic language group and period music. Members of the local groups will be outfitted in period costumes.

The St. Andrew's Renaissance Guild was founded in, Calif., in 1978, and has a membership of more than people and guild houses in 17 regions in Nevada, California Oregon. The Las Vegas guild house was founded in August of last year. The guild holds meets at Desert Breeze Community Center and Paradise Community Center in Henderson. Bill Sikkens, head of the local group, had an interest in the Renaissance period and formed a group in Reno five years ago. He came to Las Vegas last year and organized the local guild house. 

The Renaissance, a French word for "rebirth," was a period of intellectual and economic changes in Europe from the 1400s to 1600s. It was a time when Europe emerged from the Middle Ages -- a period that saw the bubonic plague, also called the "Black Death" kill half the population of Europe -- into a rebirth in the economic, artistic, social, scientific and political spheres. "It's an addiction," Sikkens says of his participation in the historical re-enactors guild, which presents continuing workshops in areas related to the Renaissance era.

Classes in Gaelic are held the second and fourth Mondays as each month at the Charleston Heights Community School in Garside Middle School by the Gaelic Arts and Education League.

There's belly dancing on the first and third Tuesdays of each month in the Clark County Library Theater by the Isle of Standauffish Renaissance Guild, Inc. and calligraphy is taught at 1 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at Desert Decor in Green Valley by the Cactus Quills. Demonstrations also will be held May 13 and June 10 at the Rainbow Library.

Sponsored by St. Andrew's Ancient Order of Noble Scots and St. Andrew's Society of Southern Nevada, admission to the demonstration is free.

Preview

What: Renaissance village demonstration

When: 12:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Rainbow Library amphitheater, 3150 N. Buffalo Drive

Admission: Free