Our HEMA/WMA community, along with our Japanese and Chinese peers, are not alone in studying and appreciating the art and techniques necessary to create beautiful and functional swords – and the techniques to use them. And though they don’t get as much press nor commercial interest as the ‘big three’; there are vibrant pockets of sword history and culture hidden away throughout the world – some of which our ancestors were probably very familiar with – as a requirement to their own battlefield survival. We would like to think though, that anyone of us upon meeting a peer from Africa, India or Indonesia; would have the courtesy – and good sense - to ask: ‘just how do you best use that blade?’
History Held High, Down Under
WA TODAY (Perth, Australia) 24 April 13 Sword to inspire Perth's Anzac march
A WWI sword belonging to Australia's Brigadier General Arnold Potts will be the centrepiece of the Anzac Day march in Perth. General Potts commanded the brigade during WWII that held back the Japanese advance during bitter fighting on the Kokoda Trail.
The sword paraded by the current commanding officer of the Royal Western Australia Regiment's 16th Battalion and later laid up by the battalion within its garrison.
More Alike than Opposing.
SUDAN VISION (Khartoum) 06 April 13 The Sword in East Sudan - Changing from Historic Weapon to Man’s Finery (Mohammed Osman)
Though not HEMA-WMA specific, We hope that you’ll indulge us in posting this Beja cultural note; think of it as exploring ‘what happened on the other side of the hill’ in times long past.
We study swords and historical swordplay in part because of their cultural and historical traditions. Swords take us back to times when carrying a blade meant something in society and the use of them helped us in achieving great things.
The same applies to those cultures that our forefathers fought.
“The sword in the East has been and still is a prominent feature of the people in that part of the Sudan; it is a symbol of prestige and pride and was linked with their historic victories and battles, particularly against the British colonization,” said Mohamed Al-Hassan Al-Saigh, a researcher in the Beja heritage.
Do What You Like, Like What You Do.
WIRED (New York, New York) 25 February 13 World’s Most Wired – Swordsmith (Robert McMillan)
OK, you spend the day in the office designing software based on cutting–edge cryptology … at the end of the week … how do you relax?
If you’re Niels Provos, you head for your ‘man cave’ which you’ve rented from the local blacksmith … and forge Viking-replica swords.
Life Quote of the Month: “I thought, ‘You know, maybe you should start doing these now rather than putting them off until later.’”
Snippet
CULT OF MAC (San Francisco, California) 24 April 13 V-Moda iPhone Case Emulates The Sound Of A Sword Being Drawn (Charlie Sorrel)
iPhones, sword-sounds … and Allen wrenches. If there was a beer involved, it might be near perfect!