In Spain there’s people who reenact War of Independence (against Napoleon) battles. It’s a recent phenomenon, I have a strong suspicion that some of the people who started it got the idea in the USA.
There’s also Renfaires/Artisan’s Markets whose people would have a fit if they saw my wench costume from the Miami Renfaire (they don’t believe in bodices, we definitely did).
Plenty of re-enactors of all periods in the UK … storyguide3 has mentioned some of the Roman-era lot; for the mediaeval period there’s Regia Anglorum and a host of smaller groups (and the SCA’s around, too); the big ones for the Civil War period are the Sealed Knot and the English Civil War Society.
Sorry Martini Enfield (I know your brother Henry well); I meant that the re-enactment itself was considered a “dick move” by those with politically correct axes to grind about Quebec sovereignty.
It’s a sad comment on my country’s level of maturity that history has to be ignored–or worse, censored–to spare sore feelings.
(Ref. the British having to label the opposing sides of a re-enactment of Trafalgar as blue and red, to save French face).
Needed links:
Marvel Secret Wars Reenactment Society:
Lebanese Civil War Reenactment Society:
http://www.aqoul.com/archives/2006/04/civil_war_reena.php
Caveat clickor.
In Eastern Europe, there’s the Bohurt medieval re-enactment festival. Which is my all time favorite because, while in general re-enactors on either side of a mock battle come from the same SCA and culture, from what I understand this one pits Russian teams vs. Polish teams vs. Ukrainian teams vs. Lithuanian teams etc…, citizen from each countries tending to be fiercely patriotic and proud of their histories, which happened to involve conflicts with each other. A lot.
The melees are on the hum… virile side of re-enactment. It really looks to be more of an excuse to beat the tar out of each other than any historical pretense. Keeps it honest, you know ? 
ETA : note that this is based on Friend Information, most of the pages regarding it are written in Slavic languages I can’t identify, let alone understand. So, don’t take this as gospel or anything.
Ah, OK. That makes a little more sense. Thanks fpr the clarification!
And you’re right that it’s sad a historic event 250 years ago has to be censored just because a handful of people are still a bit miffed about it. We can’t sanitise history and pretend it was all kittens and rainbows and no wars or unpleasantness.
Quite true. When I was a Union infantry reenactor awhile back, I have to say, we found those Johnny Rebs were very reluctant to take a hit and fall down when we loosed a volley - plenty of joking about “ironclad Confederates.” It’s not easy to forget when you lost a war on your own territory and then had to live with the result. There are still some folks south of the Mason-Dixon Line who take it all 'way too seriously.
An American friend of mine of Puerto Rican descent is a Napoleonic French cavalry reenactor, and has gone all the way to Europe to take part in big reenactments.
I read a British mystery novel a few years back in which an English Civil War reenactor is murdered on the (simulated) battlefield by a fellow reenactor, using a loaded replica weapon, who counts on all the noise and confusion to pull off the crime.
That has actually happened, albeit accidentally. In September 2008, a “walk-on” Confederate shot and wounded a Yankee calvaryman. I believe a fatal accidental shooting happened at a Battle of Gettysburg re-enactment, but my Googly-fu is weak and not finding it.
The 2002 Elmore Leonard novel Tishomingo Blues is centered around similar shenanigans during a Civil War reenactment. Leonard says it’s his favorite of his books.
Could we expect anything different from a group so heavily made up of white male red-state gun fanciers?
I think it would be an easier question to ask what ISN’T reenacted by various British societies?
There are Vikings,Saxon/Norman,19thc.,18th c.(army and navy),Middle Ages,Roman, WW2,Wild West that I know of and probably a lot more.
Hi there! Lapsed Thirty Years’ War (Army of Gustavus Adolphus) re-enactor checking in. There were a small group of us around the Mid-Atlantic and we’d link up with other seventeenth-century groups around the country for fun ‘n’ games. (I still have all my gear sans matchlock, which I don’t think I would have been allowed to import.)
There are similar groups here in Sweden, but they’re more focused on the eighteenth century and the Great Northern War than the TYW. Did find one group but they’re based on the other side of the country, and I unfortunately have a lot on my plate already. But I’d love to get back into it. 'S fun.
If you’re in the Delmarva area and want to get a taste of what people are up to, there’s an annual event called Marching Through Time that lets every group set up camp for a weekend and then let them pound the tar out of each other in a mock battle. It was a trip the time I went; I remember walking through the encampment watching a group of Union soldiers playing vintage baseball to the accompaniment of medieval musicians playing their brains out two campsites over.
paperbackwriter, the incident I think you’re referring to happened at the 1998 re-enactment in Gettysburg to commemorate the 135th anniversary. Here’s an NYT article about it. It wasn’t fatal but it was close.
As to other foreign involvement in USCW re-enactments, there appears to have been a New York regiment composed entirely of German immigrants, and a group of Germans put a re-enactment unit together to show up for one of the Gettysburg shows (where the regiment fought). I’m told the spectacle of them marching off to war singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic in German was a sight to see.
Jesus, I’m such a re-enactment nerd…
Join the club.
Oh wait, you probably already did. 
When I was at the Battle of Antietam reenactment about ten years ago, there was a group of Prussian military observers in full (period) uniform watching us as our battalion formed up. They looked sharp.
The only actual battlefield shooting I know of was that Gettysburg incident, although every once in awhile it seems I read of someone dying of a heart attack at a reenactment.
[CW hijack]
I actually had a distant uncle fight at Antietam with Co A of the 16th CT; if I understand the history of the battle and of his regiment correctly he ended up on the south end of the action around Burnside’s Bridge - which, incidentally, was the first action he saw after mustering in. Ultimately he ended up getting captured around New Bern, NC in 1864 and got shipped to Andersonville, which he miraculously survived - only to die in the Florence, SC prison camp. I have four letters he wrote home to his brother (my direct ancestor), copies of which I sent to the guys who re-enact the 16th. They loved it.
[/CW hijack]
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham is still a (somewhat) current political issue in Canada, as strange as it may sound. It’s still being used as justification for many things by people of various political stripes. And as long as this is the case, reenacting it will be controversial.
We had a thread about this in which I tried to explain some of the still-current issues raised by this battle.
One of the best re-enactment sites is Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Mass. The 1627 village is very accurate and the “inhabitants” are extremely in character. You can sit and bat the breeze with them for hours.
let me ask this however surprises me anyone with prostetic device and or has a hearing aid are allowed to have it meaning? i thought reenactors cannot be in battle or be involved in reenacting the civil war if they have hearing aids because hearing aids are not period items of the 19th century, and it made me stumped when i heard that what you said can you clarify this or whom i can contact on more details about this, i know i am a reenactor but i have never heard anyone being a reenactor with hearing aids it cannot show others will see it, and it either has to be inner hearing aids or nothing at all what do you think
Different reenactors have differing standards of authenticity. My American Civil War reenactment unit’s rule was that if the public can see it, it should appear authentic. By that standard, hearing aids and prosthetic devices that can be seen would be be a no-no. Others are more lenient (“What matters is the spirit of the occasion, and all of us enjoying history together”) or more strict (“Not only should it look authentic - it should be authentic, right down to the correct thread count in your Union blue wool sackcoat, and dammit, you should be wearing period underwear even though no one will ever see it”).