Like a good number of people involved in historical reenactments, my boyfriend has acquired some pretty impressive skills, such as Napoleonic-era wooden button creation, or early 19th century French army pants- and-jacket- making. But there are some things you just can't do at home, like forging metal for historically accurate buckles, or cobbling a pair of old-fashioned shoes. For those, you have to go to the MarchE de l'Histoire - the History Market.
There are temporary MarchEs de l'Histoire all over Europe, which goes to show how popular reenactment is here. This weekend, one was held in Pontoise, a town about an hour northwest of Paris. The boyfriend had been to this MarchE de l'Histoire last year with some of his reconstitution group friends, and had told me he thought it would be right up my alley. This year, he was in search of some inexpensive non-synthetic fabric to make another pair of pants - his previous pair, it turns out, is a replica of a type worn by Napoleon's soldiers before 1812; for later battles, he'd need pants in a slightly different style. This kind of attention to detail may sound like something exclusively reserved to my boyfriend and his particular reconstitution group. But what I'd find out from my visit to the MarchE is that, just as with everything else in life, there are all kinds of people involved in reconstitution - and a lot of them are just as obsessed with tiny details as my boyfriend.
Whenever I'm about to visit a new place, the first things I ask myself are: 1. What is the toilet situation? and 2. What should I wear? While I knew the MarchE would be held at an indoor convention center with toilets, I was worried about getting there. I'm so, so happy to say that by taking a chance on a Transilien suburban train, instead of the standard RER suburban trains, we ended up in transport with a toilet – sadly not a common thing when traveling around the Ile de France region! When I found out there was a toilet aboard the train, I can't express how happy and calm I felt. We found seats and settled in for the roughly hour-long ride, and I was ready to enjoy the scenery. So there's my tip for anyone who comes to Paris and wants to travel to the nearby suburbs by train: If possible, avoid the RER and take a Transilien. The latter trains may not all be guaranteed to have toilets, but there'We got on line to enter, and I tried to hide my gleeful grin at a group of male and female pirates with a huge dog on a leash getting their picture taken by a medieval monk bearing a digital camera and tripod. That was my introduction to what would be a delightful afternoon.
The MarchE, the boyfriend had told me, serves just about every kind of reenactment and role-playing group imaginable, from those doing ancient history reconstitutions (Romans, Gauls, Celts), to medievalists, to more recent historical periods like the Napoleonic era - or my absolute favorite time, the Belle-Epoque, or the First and Second World Wars, not to mention steampunk and elf groups, and so on. The dresses some women wore - and some stands sold - took my breath away. The poor boyfriend, studiously checking the thickness of different types of linen, was constantly having his arm pulled by yours truly, as I whispered, "Look at that dress!!!"s a pretty good chance they do. They're also cleaner and much more modern than the RER trains.
As for what to wear, I thought I had a decent idea: a modified version of my steampunk Halloween costume. Nothing too showy. Turns out I was way off - because when we got out of the train station at Pontoise and started walking towards the nearby exposition center where the MarchE was being held, people dressed like medieval princesses, Vikings, and even pirates, crossed our paths. It turns out that the market-goers are a mix of regularly-dressed people, and people wearing elaborate costumes - often, like my boyfriend, costumes they've made themselves. Next time, the boyfriend and I agreed, we’ll be in full regalia.
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