Schlager.

This is coolbert:

As Colonel Craig, USMC, has said, "we no longer fight with swords". This is true.

And we no longer ride horses into battle either.

Both are legacies of a mode of warfare now gone with the proverbial "dodo". Traditions practiced for millennia by warriors the world over NOW best characterized as "lost arts".

The use of swords in warfare goes way back [men riding horses into battle even pre-dates the use of the sword] into antiquity.

"in southeastern Europe, c. 1500 B.C., a new weapon, the sword, appeared, contrived for slashing from the saddle. From somewhere men were coming who had learned to ride."

The use of the sword on horseback was quite often the domain of the noble and the aristocrat. A person wealthy enough to possess both the weapon and the horse and use both in combat. Persons given the title in Rome from even the earliest times, of "equestrian rank". The leaders, movers, and shakers of the society.

A man such as King Kanishka, who exemplifies the archetype:

"Kanishka, a Buddhist king [by conversion] of India, who ruled in the first century A.D.":

"There is a portrait statue . . . in which the long belted field-coat and heavy riding boots, the vigorous stance, and the readiness of the two hands at the hilts of two immense sheathed swords, announce dramatically the character of the Central Asians who had assumed the leadership of India,."

[a two sword man, a man of real distinction, bearing, and high social ranking. Well, he was the King, was he NOT!!]

During the European Renaissance, the wearing of a rapier was obligatory for the well-dressed gentleman of the day. A mark of distinction. Various schools of fencing such as the Spanish School and the Italian School, run by a maestro [master], taught a highly developed form of swordsmanship. Were the martial arts schools of the day and functioned much as a judo or karate school would in the modern era. But primarily catered to the "gentleman".

[the average man would NOT have been able to afford the sword, the dress, the accoutrements that distinguished the "gentleman" of the day!]

The use of the sword in the modern world has become almost a ZERO! Only in a few places in the world, such as the Sahara [Tuareg people], or in Borneo [Dayak people] are swords even worn and even more rarely ever used.

[during recent rioting in Borneo, the Dayaks resorted to swordplay with effectiveness, beheading Islamic immigrants to the island during "communal rioting".]

There is one place where the sword is still used in a cherished and respected manner. Much as it was used in antiquity, but without the lethal consequences.

The academic fencing societies of Germany.

Fencing clubs, operating almost in secrecy, that continue the ritual of the schlager duel. University fraternity members, using swords, in ritual like duels, the goal of which is facial scarification.

The dueling scar!! The trademark for centuries for young men from the upper class of German society. A scar visible to all that would mark a man as being an educated person of the university [this of course at a time when very few actually attended institutions of higher learning]. Men of the aristocracy or of the professions [a medical doctor, a lawyer, a professor, etc.] who had stoically and bravely undergone a "rite of passage" involving physical ordeal!

Having a dueling scar meant that you WERE somebody, a man who represented a "good catch" for young women.

"It was very important for these wounds to be noticeable, as the belief was that class/caste and honor were directly linked—the dueling scar was evidence that the wearer had the foundation to fulfill his destiny as one of Germany's ruling class."

Contrary to what most folks probably thing, these "clubs" [fencing societies] still exist and carry out the ritual of the schlager duel. And is still practiced by the remnants of the aristocracy that still exist in Germany, as well as those studying for the professions such as doctors, lawyers, professors, etc.

[I talked NOT so long ago to a German college exchange student about this "practice". He DID SAY schlager duels are NOT common, but DO occur. He also said he thinks the participants are crazy. That the goal is not only a scar, but the worse the scar the BETTER!! A scar is accentuated by placing a bit of horse hair in the wound before it heals!!]



Keeping the old ways alive and well in Germany!!

Are you interested!!??

[that man in uniform with the enormous scar on his face is the famous/infamous German SS Commando Otto Skorzeny from World War Two.]

"He was a noted fencer as a student in Vienna in the 1920s. He engaged in fifteen personal duels, and in the tenth of these he received a wound that left a dramatic scar (known in fencing as a smite) on his cheek."

Whoa boy!!

coolbert.