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Re: Hope Chests: fading ?
Y'know, this is just the sort of thing we members of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) are concerned about.
We prefer not to let the pre-17th century methods of making/doing things just die out. We (those SCAdians who do have children) prefer to raise our children with the learning of skills - and courtesies - of our ancestors.
I mean that last ("our ancestors") in a more general sense, since many of us do not choose personnae that necessarily correspond with our own actual ancestors' ethnicity. For example, I personally am predominately of Russian ancestry, but my SCAdian personna is that of a 12th-century Norman. I have NO known French or Scandinavian ancestry... but I wished to be Norman. And so, I am. I wished to live in the 12th century... and so, I do. Mr Witchy's ancestry is Russian with a trace of Scandinavian, but he has chosen the personna of a 10th-century "English" Saxon. It's what he wished to be.
We (all SCAdians) research the time period(s) and place(s) of our personna(ae), and re-create the personna as best as we can, given the constraints of our real-life situation (time, finances, etc). We learn the skills of our personna, and we practice those skills.
Some of us weave cloth, others spin, some brew, others sew "garb" (clothing appropriate to our personna's "period" and locale), some are armourers and weapons-makers, others embroider... or cook period-appropriate foods in ways... or paint, calligraph, carve, engrave. Some of us are blacksmiths, others are goldsmiths or silversmiths, etc. If the Art was known in or by pre-17th-century Europe(ans), then many of us do it. "Arts" = Martial Arts, as well as what we modern folks today would call "Arts".
Yes, unnu might call the SCA "our hobby", but it's really far more than just one single hobby; It really encompassses a number of related hobbies. And unnu will find relatively few SCAdian families whose children get into the sorts of troubles that non-SCAdian kids often get into -- our kids are usually too busy with medieval Arts to get into "regular" trouble.
Our medieval Arts often spill over into "Mundane Life" (that means real life). For example, I have a number of hand-sewn & hand-embroidered table linens -- some that I've embroidered, others that friends have done. I have hand-embroidered towels, as well. I have an interesting wall that always causes first-time visitors to spend time staring at: my Armoury! (well - I had one, in my living room, but it's about to be moved to the front hall and staircase leading up to the second floor)
I have Western and Eastern areas of my living room: Moroccan leather 'ottomans' with silver and brass trays, alongside standard sofas and chairs with coffee tables. I have silver tea pots and sets of tea glasses for mint tea, and I have copper Rah'whii (a/k/a ibrikii) and copper and ceramic chups for ah'wah arabiya (Arabic coffee). I also have a narghile... but never mind that.
The point is, that the older connotations of a Hope Chest need not mean that a young girl must pin all hopes upon marriage, nor that she must provide for her own household by her own handiwork. Rather, it might (now) mean that she is preparing for her own household, someday, whether that be solely her own (if she chooses to remain single) or that of hers and her husband's - shared, if she does choose to marry.
Why are some of unno so against a girl learning to embroider? Or to sew? Or cook? Or paint, or whatever she likes to do? What is wrong with a girl learning some household-sorts of skills? Even if she grows up to become a high-powered executive (or whatever), she will still need to know basics, such as cooking, cleaning, how to care for her home, her clothes, etc!
My mother-in-law, Greta, was a special ed teacher (a rarity, back in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s), and she worked outside her home every day... but she still enjoyed relaxing evenings with her knitting. Not to mention how much she loved cooking. And playing her painos, having come out of Juilliard, originally, before going back to college to become a sped teacher.
What is wrong with your daughters learning a hobby/skill such as embroidery, or brewing, or calligraphy, or miniature painting ... or any of the martial arts? What a sterile life they will lead if they never learn any such skills! What do unnu expect them to do -- work for 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, and then just stare at the boob tube a couple hours, and then sleep?? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] Don't unnu wish your children any joy in life??? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]
Y'know, this is just the sort of thing we members of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) are concerned about.
We prefer not to let the pre-17th century methods of making/doing things just die out. We (those SCAdians who do have children) prefer to raise our children with the learning of skills - and courtesies - of our ancestors.
I mean that last ("our ancestors") in a more general sense, since many of us do not choose personnae that necessarily correspond with our own actual ancestors' ethnicity. For example, I personally am predominately of Russian ancestry, but my SCAdian personna is that of a 12th-century Norman. I have NO known French or Scandinavian ancestry... but I wished to be Norman. And so, I am. I wished to live in the 12th century... and so, I do. Mr Witchy's ancestry is Russian with a trace of Scandinavian, but he has chosen the personna of a 10th-century "English" Saxon. It's what he wished to be.
We (all SCAdians) research the time period(s) and place(s) of our personna(ae), and re-create the personna as best as we can, given the constraints of our real-life situation (time, finances, etc). We learn the skills of our personna, and we practice those skills.
Some of us weave cloth, others spin, some brew, others sew "garb" (clothing appropriate to our personna's "period" and locale), some are armourers and weapons-makers, others embroider... or cook period-appropriate foods in ways... or paint, calligraph, carve, engrave. Some of us are blacksmiths, others are goldsmiths or silversmiths, etc. If the Art was known in or by pre-17th-century Europe(ans), then many of us do it. "Arts" = Martial Arts, as well as what we modern folks today would call "Arts".
Yes, unnu might call the SCA "our hobby", but it's really far more than just one single hobby; It really encompassses a number of related hobbies. And unnu will find relatively few SCAdian families whose children get into the sorts of troubles that non-SCAdian kids often get into -- our kids are usually too busy with medieval Arts to get into "regular" trouble.
Our medieval Arts often spill over into "Mundane Life" (that means real life). For example, I have a number of hand-sewn & hand-embroidered table linens -- some that I've embroidered, others that friends have done. I have hand-embroidered towels, as well. I have an interesting wall that always causes first-time visitors to spend time staring at: my Armoury! (well - I had one, in my living room, but it's about to be moved to the front hall and staircase leading up to the second floor)
I have Western and Eastern areas of my living room: Moroccan leather 'ottomans' with silver and brass trays, alongside standard sofas and chairs with coffee tables. I have silver tea pots and sets of tea glasses for mint tea, and I have copper Rah'whii (a/k/a ibrikii) and copper and ceramic chups for ah'wah arabiya (Arabic coffee). I also have a narghile... but never mind that.
The point is, that the older connotations of a Hope Chest need not mean that a young girl must pin all hopes upon marriage, nor that she must provide for her own household by her own handiwork. Rather, it might (now) mean that she is preparing for her own household, someday, whether that be solely her own (if she chooses to remain single) or that of hers and her husband's - shared, if she does choose to marry.
Why are some of unno so against a girl learning to embroider? Or to sew? Or cook? Or paint, or whatever she likes to do? What is wrong with a girl learning some household-sorts of skills? Even if she grows up to become a high-powered executive (or whatever), she will still need to know basics, such as cooking, cleaning, how to care for her home, her clothes, etc!
My mother-in-law, Greta, was a special ed teacher (a rarity, back in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s), and she worked outside her home every day... but she still enjoyed relaxing evenings with her knitting. Not to mention how much she loved cooking. And playing her painos, having come out of Juilliard, originally, before going back to college to become a sped teacher.
What is wrong with your daughters learning a hobby/skill such as embroidery, or brewing, or calligraphy, or miniature painting ... or any of the martial arts? What a sterile life they will lead if they never learn any such skills! What do unnu expect them to do -- work for 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, and then just stare at the boob tube a couple hours, and then sleep?? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] Don't unnu wish your children any joy in life??? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]
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