A newly discovered grave in Western Jutland, Denmark, from the 8th century preserves some rare Viking textiles that help us better understand what the Vikings wore. Learn more about the discovery and what we already know about Viking clothing. The Jutland Discovery It is surprising that both skeletal remains and fragile organic textiles survive, as…
As we watch the Norwegian football team battle it out at the World Cup – led by the Viking-sized Erling Haaland – and appreciate the Viking-inspired support offered by the fans, I find myself asking: what does it mean to be a Viking in the 21st century? As someone who spends a significant amount of…
Every year in the Danish city of Odense, named after the Norse god Odin, there is an annual flower festival. This reflects the importance of flowers in Scandinavian culture. You are unlikely to enter a home in Sweden or Norway without finding potted plants with carefully cared-for flowers. But were flowers equally important in the…
Belts, a very useful accessory, have been around since ancient times. They have been worn since the Bronze Age (c. 2000 BC), and those worn by the Greeks and Romans would look familiar today. The Vikings also wore belts that would not be too out of place in a modern wardrobe. The belt itself was…
Are you looking for a strong Norse name for your baby girl? Are you having a little Shieldmaiden? Below is a list of Norse names from the Viking sagas and Norse mythology, with their meanings and connections to surviving people and stories. Don’t forget that Viking men had the habit of taking the name of…
Are you looking for a strong Norse name for your baby boy? Are you having a little Viking? Below is a list of Norse names from the Viking sagas and Norse mythology with their meanings and connections to surviving people and stories. Don’t forget that Viking men had the habit of taking the name of…
Looking for the perfect new Viking tattoo for you? The Vikings relied heavily on symbols to communicate their faith and beliefs. They wore them as amulets, carved them into buildings and on stones as marks of protection, and added them to images to create additional layers of meaning. They even believed some of their symbols…
Viking culture centered around community gathering and feasting, which provided social cohesion. Therefore, the modern idea of a Viking festival, where people with a shared interest in Norse history and Viking culture get together, would have seemed like a good idea in the Viking world. Modern Viking festivals are more about fun than marriage alliances…
The Vikings generally had a good diet, rich in animal proteins and much less reliant on grains than their southern neighbors. This is one of the main reasons why the Vikings were on average several inches taller than the English and the French, and why the English sometimes referred to the Vikings in England as…
Crystals are one of the most important tools that a practitioner can have in their magical toolkit. They are believed to act as conduits, channeling energy, attracting and capturing desirable energies for magical workings, or dispelling and blocking negative energy. Different crystals are believed to vibrate at different energy frequencies, and therefore attract, dispel, and…