We know the Vikings had an expansive outlook and looked beyond their territory for trading, raiding, and settlement opportunities. With that in mind, and despite the geographic proximity of Poland to the Viking world, Poland rarely features in English-language scholarship about the Vikings and their activities. Most accounts jump over the large territories to Novgorod…
One of the most famous mortal characters from Norse myth and legend is Sigurd, also sometimes called Sigfried, who had a love affair with a Valkyrie, slew the dragon Fafnir, and died in unfortunate circumstances after acquiring a cursed ring. Sigurd’s story appears in many sources, both Germanic and Norse. Most fascinatingly, his story is…
On this blog, we often cite the Norse sagas as sources for many of the stories and anecdotes we share. However, one famous poem that rarely gets mentioned is Beowulf. This is for several reasons. First, it is an Old English poem set in the Viking World, so there is debate over whether the world…
While there are many famous Norse gods about whom significant information survives, there are also many gods that are only mentioned in passing. We must piece together the stories of these gods from fragments of information, and they have not made their way into the modern imagination in the same way as Odin, Thor, and…
Hermodr is one of the more enigmatic Norse gods, who only appears fleetingly in the surviving sources. The surviving mentions point to a god with a much more complex mythology and significance, which has now been lost to history. Hermodr means “war spirit,” which may seem appropriate for a god who is referred to as…
Our Norse ancestors lived according to the changing seasons, planting, harvesting, hibernating, and raiding based on when the weather was best suited to these activities. They also counted time according to the visible movements of the heavenly bodies, with dates like the summer and winter equinoxes and the full moon having the greatest importance. Many…
If you are anything like me, your social media is currently being bombarded with films of Krampus parades happening around Germany and Austria. Locals dress up in terrifying costumes and march through the streets to the sound of drums. This is all part of their preparation for Christmas, but where does this tradition come from…
We have previously talked about the pagan Norse Yule traditions that have found their way into modern Christmas celebrations, and the clear parallels between the figure of Father Christmas and the god Odin. But today, let’s look at some of the traditional Celtic traditions still lingering in modern Christmas celebrations. Winter Solstice Of course, like…
The Vikings had a range of burial practices that reflected their rich belief in life after death. But the burial practice that has most caught the imagination of modern enthusiasts is the ship burial. Since the Vikings were seafaring raiders and traders, sailing must have seemed like a fitting way to travel into the afterlife.…
If you have read anything about the Vikings in England, you have probably come across the term “danegeld.” Scholars use this term to refer to money collected from locals and paid to the Vikings not to attack, much like the modern Mafia. However, the term “danegeld” was not coined until after the Norman conquest of…