So at first I didn’t intend to make this a philosophical piece but figured that there are certainly some things we can learn from what I did want to highlight. And what I wanted to highlight was the resurgence of old forms of combat coming back into vogue. I’m pretty sure we’ve talked about the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship before but thought bring it up again here. In BKFC two opponents are put in a circular ring with a ref and “box” though I believe “dirty boxing” which is really just old school boxing is allowed.
A throwback to before the days of John L. Sullivan and the like. I thought it was interesting, fun to watch, had historical interest, and though I haven’t done it am sure it provides great training. In one of these YouTube rabbit holes I eventually stumbled upon what was dubbed “medieval mma”. The first video I saw was two men in armor with swords and shields facing off against each other in what was essentially a sort of boxing ring. From there I went to see leagues where teams battle against each other with armor and weapons.
Sort of like football but 100x times cooler. It’s funny after watching tons of footage on Youtube, most of it GoPro and pretty neat I still couldn’t remember what the thing was called. Looked it up and I may be wrong here but I believe it’s called Buhurt or Historical Medieval Battles. I should note this is not role-playing, this is a sport, and I’m a big fan of it. That led me to HEMA or Historical European Martial Arts where I watched some matches.
Why These Things Are Neat & Why They Can Teach You
The thing I like about all of these is that they all involve live contact and sparring. They’re not some useless dorky role playing, they actually have the grit and blood in them. They require a mix of athletics and skill which I think all the best sports do. You use both your brain and your body, as a man should in athletic endeavor. Why I can’t stand running but love striking/grappling/MMA. We talk a lot about the importance of physical activity here and I figured I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t talk about these things.
I’m currently looking for a local school for either HEMA or Buhurt but so far haven’t been lucky, but I travel around a lot so will probably be dropping in here or there where I can find a class. Anyways say that the gym isn’t for you, don’t blame you there, but say you don’t necessarily want to box or do MMA or whatever, hey that’s fine. I figure here is another option for you. Some people might not want to do things like hike/box so here is what I can tell is another viable option.
Again you want things that challenge both your mind and your body. And Buhurt, Armored Combat League, HEMA all seems to fit the bill. Granted BKFC does too, but most of us probably can’t go to work with cuts and bruises. Regardless more options here. Especially since people have, in my opinion rightfully, been moving away from “sports” like baseball, basketball, and even American football. I think it’d be neat if schools could each have Buhurt team, but that’s a topic for another time.
What’s Old Is New
But there’s to more to this than some cool new sports you can test your mettle in. We also see the resurgence of things that were thought lost. This seems to happen a lot in history. Where knowledge will shrivel up and be held by a chosen few only to one day blossom again, only to shrivel up again later. When we look at the world around us what are other things that could be brought back, even if they were fought against? Granted this is a very broad statement but it should get you thinking.
For example I know a guy that argues for monarchy over democracy and made more sense than any current politician I can think of. I know others who think the old guild systems and the apprenticeship, journeyman, master classifications make a hell of a lot more sense for many people than the modern corporate structure. And so on and so forth. What can you think of? Even if you don’t come up with anything I still think it’s a wise exercise to take.
Many humans have deluded themselves into thinking we are constantly evolving, progressing into better ways of living, but if you look at history it seems that human history is nothing more than one long winding fall from grace, always going down. Of course the masters of this age will always tell you that this age is the best, so much better than those “dark ages” that came before. They’ll tell you lies and myths about it to keep you in the current system that they control. But think for yourself, maybe they’re right, maybe they’re not.
No matter what think…think and imagine what could be.
