Editing Historical reenactment (section)

===Living history===
{{Main|Living history}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J0628-0006-001, Interessengemeinschaft Mandan-Indianer.jpg|thumb|A living history reenactment of Native American life in [[East Germany]], 1970. [[Native Americans in German popular culture|Native Americans were romanticized in Germany]], making them popular reenactment subjects.]]
The term "living history" describes the performance of bringing history to life for the general public in a manner that in most cases is not following a planned script. Historical presentation includes a continuum from well researched attempts to recreate a known historical event for educational purposes, through representations with theatrical elements, to competitive events for purposes of entertainment. The line between amateur and professional presentations at [[living history museum]]s can be blurred. While the latter routinely use museum professionals and trained interpreters to help convey the story of history to the public, some museums and historic sites employ living history groups with high standards of authenticity for the same role at special events.

Living histories are usually meant for education of the public. Such events do not necessarily have a mock battle but instead are aimed at portraying the life, and more importantly the lifestyle, of people of the period. This often includes both military and civilian impressions. Occasionally, storytelling or acting sketches take place to involve or explain the everyday life or military activity to the viewing public. More common are craft and cooking demonstrations, song and leisure activities, and lectures. Combat training or duels can also be encountered even when larger combat demonstrations are not present.

There are different styles of living history, each with its own fidelity to the past. "Third-person" interpreters take on the dress and work in a particular period style, but do not take on personas of past people; by taking this style, they emphasize to audiences the differences between past and present.<ref name=":0"/> "Second-person" interpreters take on historical personae to an extent, engaging audiences to participate in period activities, such as soap-making or churning butter, thus restaging historical episodes with their spectators.<ref name=":0"/> Finally, "First-person" interpreters "feign previous folk 'from outward appearances to innermost beliefs and attitudes,' pretending not to know anything of events past their epoch, and engaging with audiences using antiquated dialects and mannerisms.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=Replacing the past: restoration and re-enactment|date=2015|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/past-is-a-foreign-country-revisited/replacing-the-past-restoration-and-reenactment/85D12C84DD94F5010CDFFC5C348101F3|work=The Past Is a Foreign Country – Revisited|pages=464–496|editor-last=Lowenthal|editor-first=David|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/CBO9781139024884.017|isbn=978-0-521-85142-8|access-date=2020-12-03}}</ref>

In the United States, the [[National Park Service]] does not allow for battle reenactments (simulated combat with opposing lines and casualties) on NPS property; however, there are exceptions, such as Sayde<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.landsknechte-bretten.de/galerie/der-tross-1-tag/ |title=Der Tross 10–14 Juni 2004 |access-date=2018-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513165828/http://www.landsknechte-bretten.de/galerie/der-tross-1-tag/ |archive-date=2016-05-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> or the [[Schloss Kaltenberg]] knights tournament.<ref>[http://www.ritterturnier.de/ Kaltenberg web entry]</ref> The majority of combat reenactment groups are battlefield reenactment groups, some of which have become isolated to some degree because of a strong focus on authenticity. The specific German approach of [[authenticity in art|authenticity]] is less about replaying a certain event, but to allow an immersion in a certain era, to catch, in the sense of [[Walter Benjamin]] the "spiritual message expressed in every monument's and every site's own 'trace' and 'aura{{'"}}, even in the [[The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction|Age of Mechanical Reproduction]].<ref name= MP/> Historic city festivals and events are quite important to build up local communities and contribute to the self-image of municipalities.<ref>Benita Luckmann: ''Bretten, Politik in einer deutschen Kleinstadt''. Enke, Stuttgart 1970, {{ISBN|3-432-01618-2}}.</ref> Events in monuments or on historical sites are less about the events related to them but serve as [[staffage]] for the immersion experience.<ref name= MP>Michael Petzet: "In the full richness of their authenticity" – The Test of Authenticity and the New Cult of Monuments, Nara Conference on Authenticity in Relation to the World Heritage 1994.</ref> In Denmark several [[open air museum]]s uses living history as a part of their concept. These include [[Middelaldercentret]],<ref>[http://www.middelaldercentret.dk/Engelsk/themedievaltown.html The Medieval Town]. [[Middelaldercentret]]. Accessed 9 September 2015</ref> [[The Old Town, Aarhus]] and [[Frilandsmuseet]].