he SCA is the Society for Creative Anachronism, which is a group dedicated to researching the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and re-enacting the goods bits of their crafts, sciences, arts, traditions, martial arts, literature, etc.
The SCA "period" is European civilization before 1600 AD, and the other civilisations it was in contact with. We tend to concentrate on the High Middle Ages in Western Europe, but you'll find people in the SCA studying Persian cooking, African textiles, Mongolian bows, bronze-age Celtic jewellery, Elizabethan explorers, and more. Under the aegis of the SCA we study dance, calligraphy, martial arts, cooking, metalwork, stained glass, costuming, literature... well, if they did it, somebody in the SCA does it.
The thing that separates the SCA from a history class is the active participation in the learning process. To learn costuming, you design and build costumes. To learn fighting, you make armour, weapons, shields etc, and put them on and go learn how it feels to wear them when somebody is swinging a (blunt) sword at you. To learn brewing, you make (and sample!) your own wines, meads and beers.
e are the Barony of Ildhafn, part of the Kingdom of Lochac (Australia & New Zealand). Ildhafn comprises Auckland, Hamilton and surrounding areas of New Zealand.
The Society is organised into a number of Kingdoms covering the USA, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Each Kingdom can be further divided into Principalities, Baronies, Provinces, Shires, Cantons, and Colleges.
The local groups are run by appointed officers who answer to their equivalent at kingdom level, and who usually serve for two years at a time.