The Vikings - Season 3

[EE_]

Season premier starts at 10:00 tonight on the History Channel. Any fans of the show?
Best series on TV!

https://pmctvline2.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/vikings_season3_horiz.jpg

History Channel’s “Vikings” are ready to raid on Feb. 19, kicking off a bloodthirsty third season that will see Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) and his horde continuing their exploration of England before setting their sights on the treasures of Paris.

But while Ragnar is now king and thus, according to Fimmel, “has the power to say what we’re going to do,” it won’t be smooth sailing for the reluctant leader, says series creator Michael Hirst.

“He never wanted to become king. He’s never been driven by the ambition for power. His motivating factors are twofold: one is his great curiosity, like the god Odin. And the other is that he does desire fame. Fame was the biggest thing for the Vikings, not celebrity — fame for doing amazing things,” notes Hirst. “So he’s king, but he’s uneasy about being king. He’s acquired power that he never intended to acquire. He is very aware that power corrupts. But it does give him the opportunity to do certain things that he does believe in and he does want to do, and one is to establish the farming settlement in England on the land that King Ecbert [Linus Roache] has given him. That’s perhaps not a very sexy ambition, but it’s actually what happened. It’s what, in the long run, led to the Vikings establishing themselves in England and France and so on.”

Fimmel admits that Ragnar’s restless curiosity and hunger for notoriety are what drive him towards France and the domain of Emperor Charles (Lothaire Bluteau), after his ally Athelstan (George Blagden) notes how strong the French defenses are. “He challenges Ragnar in the way that he says it. Ragnar wants to see if he can beat them.”

He adds, “Ragnar wants to get back to raiding. He’s done the people-pleasing stuff, setting up farms and trying to be a good guy, but he wants to get back to the old raiding that [we saw] in season 1… There are so many issues that come with being a person in power and so many demands and a lot of trust issues. And I think there’s a bit of corruption in everybody, including Ragnar, but his spirit was always about discovery and learning more and that’s what he wants to do. And once he settles the farmers and gets all the political stuff out of the way, he’s going to head to Paris, and he meets his match.”

As a result of his wanderlust, Ragnar’s relationships will once again take a backseat, with his second wife, Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland) left back home in Kattegat with their children. Hirst aptly compares the Vikings to rock stars who try to escape the issues in their home lives by going on tour: “[They] need to raid to get away from their girlfriends and wives and responsibilities and children,” he laughs. “I think that the Aslaug/Ragnar relationship was under a lot of strain anyway ever since she saved Ivar. And Aslaug is great this season, and [the story takes her] to different places, unexpected places, some dark places, ultimately, in which she’s reconnecting with her Viking heritage. Her parents, though she didn’t know them, were very famous and she takes hold of that. She stops being so pliant. She stops being apologetic, and it was a very interesting development and arc to write. The arrival of a stranger [played by Kevin Durand] who may or may not be a god, is also a catalyst for her.”

Ragnar’s ex-wife, Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), is also an earl in her own right, and as Winnick notes, “she’s now a free woman. She’s now exploring different lands, and establishing a settlement in Wessex with King Ecbert’s help. She is trying to follow her original dream from season one — she and Ragnar had a dream to explore, and to be able to educate themselves, and to be able to try different resources and give their people more of an opportunity.” Being a free woman also means the possibility for new romantic partners, and this season brings a couple of characters into Lagertha’s orbit for the first time, including Kalf (Ben Robson), her second-in-command.

“That was a bit of a wild card to play, in the sense that the storyline is not fully devolved on camera yet, so me and Ben had to sit down and try to figure out how much do they really know each other? How many years have they worked together? And Ben’s great to work with. He brings a very light side to me,” Winnick previews. “We figured because Lagertha was in a position of power, and then became an earl, I feel like she’s really helped groom him into his position. She also has a very intimate relationship with him, in the sense that she trusts him. He’s probably spent many nights helping her plan, either different raids or just making sure there aren’t any people that are threatening her position. It’s interesting to create that, because we have to start as if we’ve known each other for so many years.”

Despite Lagertha’s new romantic prospects, Hirst admits that she and Ragnar are still inextricably linked: “Despite the fact that Lagertha and Ragnar are divorced, they’re still kind of a couple. They still think along the same lines and want to tell each other things.”

The same goes for Ragnar and Athelstan, whom Ragnar trusts above anyone else. “He’s the only one that [Ragnar] can be honest with — he doesn’t have to act like he’s in control,” Fimmel explains.

Athelstan has been in a state of constant evolution since the show began, but Blagden hints that season three might finally present him with some semblance of balance — at least initially.

“He is constantly changing and he never stops changing as a character, and Michael explained that he hoped this season that [Athelstan] would be reborn. I think that kind of summarizes his journey — we see him being a little bit mischievous at the start of the season,” Blagden teases. “At the end of season two we witnessed a kind of acceptance from Athelstan, with the help of Ecbert, of being able to a) forgive himself and b) find his place in between these two cultures, being content in the discontent; being comfortable in the middle of them… He’s starting to think, ‘actually, I can kind of swing both ways religiously. I can be a multi-faith minister.’ I think he’s a lot more comfortable in himself.”

Hirst maintains that “Vikings” remains “a family saga” which has now evolved into “an extended family saga,” admitting, “I set myself up with all these fractured relationships in order then to address them and find out what happens to them all. A lot of tragedy, I have to say, but I have to raise the ante. It wasn’t just how much bigger it’ll be going to Paris — it’s how much more important the personal issues are too. And the consequences of that are actually quite… ‘significant’ doesn’t even cover it. This season is heartbreaking.”

[Celtic Rogue]

Yup!

[Dogman]

It is very good!

[singular_me]

is there as much violence as in "The 100" ... just asking because I even think the Game of Throne isnt that good because of this - in my view of course

[Dogman]

is there as much violence as in "The 100" ... just asking because I even think the Game of Throne isnt that good because of this - in my view of course

Sure their maybe some embellishment, but in reality if you are a student of history, way back then it was normal for things to be bloody. Whole towns and city's wiped off the map by the conquers, and all killed nothing living spared.

So who is to say, this program sure there is blood shed, but it seems an accurate depiction of the times, when casual death was common.

[Shami-Amourae]

Where are the Black and Tranny Vikings? This lack of Diversity™ is offensive.

[ximmy]

I've never seen it but some of the guys at work were talking about it today.

[Horn]

Does that guy have a tattoo on his head?

She has the nicest hair I've ever seen on a Viking woman

[singular_me]

it has not changed that much since then, weapons are just different. Death is death.

if I have to put up with much violence the plot has to be a 5 star rating. The 100 is really whatever in my view, for example.



Sure their maybe some embellishment, but in reality if you are a student of history, way back then it was normal for things to be bloody. Whole towns and city's wiped off the map by the conquers, and all killed nothing living spared.

So who is to say, this program sure there is blood shed, but it seems an accurate depiction of the times, when casual death was common.

[steyr_m]

I've never seen it [don't own a TV] but may get the series from the library.

One thing I noticed as being odd, maybe because my antennae are always tuned looking for Social Engineering, is why is the guy holding a crucifix? I thought Vikings were pagan. It is my understanding that Christendom ended the Viking era....

[mick silver]

my dad side back in the day were Viking they had o be some bad ass men . I don't get to see the new shows but I will catch up later on the net .... new to me

[Horn]

It must not be violent at all, singular, they're only walking on a red blood soaked beach.

Looks like the guy stoled the cross as part of his plunderins.

[Dogman]

I've never seen it [don't own a TV] is the guy holding a crucifix? I thought Vikings were pagan. It is my understanding that Christendom ended the Viking era....


It must not be violent at all, singular, they're only walking on a red blood soaked beach.

Looks like the guy stoled the cross as part of his plunderins.

He may be holding it and is having thoughts of the christian religion and wondering if there is anything to it, compared to his own pagan beliefs and may end up as one of the first converted.


OR

As Horn said it is plunder and he is doing as we in this modern day still do as a time honored tradition when it comes to things in our stash of precious metals and things of value.

He was just fondling the cross, thinking "My precious" as some do when a gold or silver round is in our pockets, because pockets did not exist in his day!

One really can not know when it came to berserkers of his day what he was thinking!

;)

[EE_]

The Vikings raided a Christian monastery last season, killed all but one Christain monk. Ragnar took the monk to learn of their culture/religion and the English kingdom. Ragnar became friends with the monk and trusted him. The monk even became one of the Vikings and fought with them in battle. I'm guessing Ragnar lost/will lose his trusted friend the monk and is holding his cross.

Hope this helps

[Dogman]

The Vikings raided a Christian monastery last season, killed all but one Christain monk. Ragner took the monk to learn of their culture/religion and the English kingdom. Ragner became friends with the monk and trusted him. The monk even became one of the Vikings and fought with them in battle. I'm guessing Ragner lost/will lose his trusted friend the monk and is holding his cross.

Hope this helps

Pretty much my take also, but forgive me I just has to play a tad with those two quotes, my inner barbarian made me do it ! ;)

http://gold-silver.us/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7341&stc=1

[EE_]

Where are the Black and Tranny Vikings? This lack of Diversity™ is offensive.

No blacks and tranny's yet...the Jews didn't arrive in England until just after the Viking age. So, they didn't bring black slaves, homosexuality and cheating the people there yet.
It was 'William the Conqueror' that fucked everything up.

There is no record of Jews in England before the Norman Conquest in 1066. The few references to Jews in the Anglo-Saxon laws of the Roman Catholic Church relate to Jewish practices about Easter.

Believing that their commercial skills and incoming capital would make England more prosperous (sucker), William I (William the Conqueror) invited a group of Jewish merchants from Rouen, in Normandy, to England in 1070. However, Jews were not permitted to own land (as most gentiles were not allowed to own land) nor to participate in trades (except for medicine). They were limited primarily to money lending. As Catholic doctrine held that money lending for interest was the sin of usury, Jews dominated this activity.

The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history.

Hope this helps

[steyr_m]

He may be holding it and is having thoughts of the christian religion and wondering if there is anything to it, compared to his own pagan beliefs and may end up as one of the first converted.


OR

As Horn said it is plunder and he is doing as we in this modern day still do as a time honored tradition when it comes to things in our stash of precious metals and things of value.

He was just fondling the cross, thinking "My precious" as some do when a gold or silver round is in our pockets, because pockets did not exist in his day!

One really can not know when it came to berserkers of his day what he was thinking!

;)

I know what you are saying, but it is there for a reason. Just like Episode 1 of TWD where it shows Merle Dixon with a crucifix on an armband before he even speaks [going from memory here].

[singular_me]

well maybe should I have given a hint, I have written screenplays, and the predictability factor for me comes first. :)

Violence without a triple A plot is just boring.


It must not be violent at all, singular, they're only walking on a red blood soaked beach.

Looks like the guy stoled the cross as part of his plunderins.

[Horn]

I know what you are saying, but it is there for a reason. Just like Episode 1 of TWD where it shows Merle Dixon with a crucifix on an armband before he even speaks [going from memory here].

No doubt, it sells more views by the bunches full that way.

[Neuro]

From my schooldays I remember Ansgar, back then taught as the first Christian missionary, to Sweden in the early part of 9th Century. That is probably doubtful, but he is maybe the first moderately successful, managing to convert some important people without being killed himself...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansgar

I know Eric the red who discovered Greenland has been described as pagan, but his wife was christian. And their son Leif Eriksson, who discovered America was said to be christian. Eric the red is an interesting story in itself, he named Greenland as a marketing ploy, to lure a bunch of Icelanders to Greenland, making them believe Greenland was greener than Iceland. However Greenland was warmer then than it is today. The last Viking settlers died there in the early 15th Century, after climate cooling set in and sheep farming became an impossibility. In the centuries before they had a trade with whale oil with the rest of Europe, but I think that trade died off sometime in the 14th century and then the colony didn't have any ships connecting them with civilization after that...

[govcheetos]

No one gonna comment about the rune on her shield which has been perverted by the liberals?

[steyr_m]

No one gonna comment about the rune on her shield which has been perverted by the liberals?

Didn't notice. Did Vikings usually have runes on their shields?

[Dogman]

Didn't notice. Did Vikings usually have runes on their shields?


http://www.ibtimes.com/vikings-season-2-spoilers-what-does-lagerthas-new-shield-represent-katheryn-winnik-1569558

Snip/

(http://www.ibtimes.com/vikings-season-2-spoilers-what-does-lagerthas-new-shield-represent-katheryn-winnik-1569558)“Pop quiz answer: #Lagertha shield resembles a TREE & Rune FE – meaning ‘Wealth’ = Strength, Growth, Family (Tree),”she said.


The blond haired beauty went more in depth on her Instagram page (http://instagram.com/p/mi8c5FGKBy/), capturing a photo of explanatory text regarding her character’s armor.


“The design for this shield/flag is loosely based on a rune from the Scandinavian alphabet meaning ‘Wealth.’ Runes are very important in Viking history as they are some of the few well preserved reminded we have of their lives.


It was also inspired by the branches of tree, signifying strength, growth and family. Lagertha as a character has grown so much and we wanted to give her a strong symbol for her return as Earl.


The colour we feel is both strong a feminine as the same time, having seen it one screen we feel it was the perfect choice


As a single unit it’s a strong symbol but when you see it en mass (her shield maidens, her ships, her troops) it gives a real sense of her power and gives us a hint and her feisty spirit.”

Snip/


(http://www.ibtimes.com/vikings-season-2-spoilers-what-does-lagerthas-new-shield-represent-katheryn-winnik-1569558)

[singular_me]

well there are two different versions of runes... difference is not that huge, so which one you mean?

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Ffc05.deviantart.net%2Ffs20%2Fi%2F2 007%2F299%2Fa%2Fb%2FRunes_by_sp4depir4te.jpg&f=1



No one gonna comment about the rune on her shield which has been perverted by the liberals?

[BrewTech]

The Vikings raided a Christian monastery last season, killed all but one Christain monk. Ragnar took the monk to learn of their culture/religion and the English kingdom. Ragnar became friends with the monk and trusted him. The monk even became one of the Vikings and fought with them in battle. I'm guessing Ragnar lost/will lose his trusted friend the monk and is holding his cross.

Hope this helps

Monks, yet no beer?

I'm calling fake.

[Neuro]

well there are two different versions of runes... difference is not that huge, so which one you mean?

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Ffc05.deviantart.net%2Ffs20%2Fi%2F2 007%2F299%2Fa%2Fb%2FRunes_by_sp4depir4te.jpg&f=1
What is the language immediatelly under the Runes. I realise it is probably supposed to represent the pronounciation of the meaning of the particular Rune, but it isn't any ancient Nordic/Germanic language I know off, it's not even reminiscing of a Germanic language...

[EE_]

Monks, yet no beer?

I'm calling fake.

Alcoholic Beverages and Drinking Customs of the Viking Age

The staple grain cultivated during the Viking Age and medieval period in Scandinavia was barley, and it may have been the only grain grown in Iceland up through the point at which the mini-Ice Age of the 14th century made it impossible to grow grain in Iceland at all. Most of the barley was used to brew ale, which was the staple beverage of all classes. Even children drank ale daily, especially in urban areas. (Skaarup, p. 134). The Old English didactic work Ælfric's Colloquy shows just how ale was regarded in early Northern Europe: when the novice is asked what he drinks, he replies, Ealu gif ic hæbbe, oþþe wæter gif ic næbbe ealu ("Ale if I have it, water if I have no ale").

Early Northern Europeans were quite familiar with alcoholic beverages made from the fermentation of grain. In 77 A.D., the Roman encyclopaedist Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder) recorded in his Historia Naturalis that beer was known to the various tribes of Northern Europe under many different names.

It should be noted that while the modern words "beer" and "ale" are today almost interchangeable, there is good evidence that shows that the two drinks were very different in early Northern Europe. It is clear from Old English and Old Norse sources that ale (Old English ealu, Old Norse öl) was produced from malted grain. However, literary analysis shows that Old English beor and Old Norse björr are terms used for sweet alcoholic beverages. Until the last ten years or so, philologists thought that beor and björr were derived from the word for barley, and it is only recently that it was realized that the term almost certainly referred to cider (whether from apples or pears) during the Viking Age (Hagen pp. 205-206; Roesdahl, p. 120). English translations of the sagas will translate both öl and björr interchangeably as beer or ale, and so are not a good guide to the actual terminology being used in the original Old Norse text. To sow further confusion, in the Eddaic poem Alvíssmál verses 34 and 35, a variety of Old Norse terms related to fermented beverages appear and are implied to be synonyms:

Þórr kvað:
Segðu mér þat Alvíss, - öll of rök fira
vörumk, dvergr, at vitir,
hvé þat öl heitir, er drekka alda synir,
heimi hverjum í?"

Thórr said:
Tell me, Alvís - for all wights' fate
I deem that, dwarf, thou knowest -
how the ale is hight, which is brewed by men,
in all the worlds so wide?

Alvíss kvað:
Öl heitir með mönnum, en með ásum bjórr,
kalla veig vanir,
hreinalög jötnar, en í helju mjöð,
kalla sumbl Suttungs synir.

Alvíss said:
'Tis hight öl (ale) among men; among Aesir bjórr (cider);
the Vanir call it veig (strong drink),
hreinalög (clear-brew), the giants; mjöð (mead), the Hel-Wights;
the sons of Suttung call it sumbel (ale-gathering).

The exact recipes and methods that Viking Age Scandinavians used to produce öl are unknown. However, some brewing experts think that certain surviving ale-brewing practices in rural western Norway may preserve Viking Age techniques:

In the remote rural region of Voss most of the farmers make their own beer. When a new brew is underway, the smoke and rich odours tell everyone in the neighborhood that beer is being made and the go to the farmhouse to help out and then sample the finished brew. Jackson went out with farmer Svein Rivenes to collect juniper branches. Rivenes sawed sufficient branches to fill the 700-litre [about 185 gallons] bath-shaped tank in his cabin that acts as both the hot liquor vessel and the brew kettle. He feels, just as the medieval monks recorded by Urion and Eyer felt about the hops in their bière, that the juniper branches, complete with berries, helped him achieve a better extract from his malt as well as warding off infections.

His water source - a stream tumbling down the hillside outside his cabin - has a double use. It is his brewing liquor and he also immerses sacks of barley in the stream where the grain starts to germinate. A neighbor has turned his garage into a kiln, powered by a domestic fan heater, and there barley is turned into malt. In the brewing process, when hot liquor has been added to the malt, the mash is filtered over more juniper branches to filter it. The berries give flavor to the wort - just as they do to gin and other distilled spirits - but Rivenes also adds hops when the wort is boiled. The yeast used in the Voss area has been handed down generation to generation and Rivenes thinks it may date back to Viking times. The farmer-brewers in Norseland start fermentation with a "totem stick" that carries yeast cells from one brew to the next.

The beer brewed by Svein Rivenes was, according to Michael Jackson, around nine or ten per cent alcohol and had a rich malt character, with a syrupy body, a pronounced juniper character and was clean and appetizing. Jackson brought a sample of the yeast back to Britain... The Viking yeast was classified as a traditional ale yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but was different in several ways to a modern ale yeast. It had different taste characteristics. It was multi-strain whereas most modern ale yeasts are single or two-strain. Modern yeasts have been carefully cultured to attack different types of sugar in the wort and, where a beer is cask conditioned, to encourage a powerful secondary fermentation...

It is unlikely that a genuine Viking ale was brewed from pale malt: until the industrial revolution and commercial coal mining, malt was kilned over wood fires and was brown and often scorched and smoky in character, though the habit in Scandinavia of drying malt in saunas may have made it paler. (Protz, p. 25-26)
As well as juniper, Germans and Scandinavians were known to add a variety of herbal agents or gruits to their ales to produce bitterness or add other flavors, to disinfect and thus extend the "shelf life" of the product, and to add medicinal qualities to the drink in some cases (Protz, p. 20, La Pensée, pp.128-144). Hops was one such additive, being used in Viking Age Denmark and in tenth century Jorvik (modern York, England) and probably elsewhere in Scandinavia during the Viking Age (Hagen, pp. 210, 211; Roesdahl, p. 119). Hops, when boiled with the wort in the process of making ale, releases bitter acids, which both bitter the brew and add antibiotic properties that allow for better preservation of ale. Other herbal additives included alecost (Chrysanthemum balsamita), alehoof (also known as ground ivy, Glechoma hederacea), bog myrtle (also known as sweet gale, Myrica gale, especially used in Denmark, northern Germany and in England), horehound (Marrubium vulgare, called Berghopfen or "mountain hops" in Germany, where it was used as a hops substitute), yarrow (Achilea millefolium) and others (La Pensée, pp.128-144, Hagen, p. 212).

The drinking of ale was particularly important to several seasonal religious festivals, of which the Viking Scandinavians celebrated three: the first occurring after harvest, the second near midwinter, and the last at midsummer. These festivals continued to be celebrated after the introduction of Christianity, although under new names. Historical records show that ale consumption at these festivals, even in Christian times, was quite important: the Gulaþing Law required farmers in groups of at least three to brew ale to be consumed at obligatory ale-feasts on All Saints (November 1 - Winternights), Christmas (December 25 - Yule), and upon the feast of St. John the Baptist (June 24 - Midsummer). More ordinary festivities, celebrated even today, are so closely associated with beer that they are known as öl ("ale") and include Gravöl (a wake, or "funeral ale"), Barnöl (a christening, or "child-ale") and taklagsöl (a barn-raising, or "roofing-ale") (Nylén, p. 57).

In Hákonar saga Góða (The Saga of King Hákon the Good) in Heimskringla, it is quite evident that Hákon, who practiced his own Christianity in secret, was beginning through legislation to move the traditional holiday ale-feast as part of a campaign to eventually convert the country:

Hann setti það í lögum að hefja jólahald þann tíma sem kristnir menn og skyldi þá hver maður eiga mælis öl en gjalda fé ella og halda heilagt meðan öl ynnist.

[He had it established in the laws that the Yule celebration was to take place at the same time as is the custom with the Christians. And at that time everyone was to have ale for the celebration from a measure (Old Norse mál) of grain, or else pay fines, and had to keep the holidays while the ale lasted. (Heimskringla, Chapter 13)
Brewing was usually the work of women in medieval Iceland, and probably in the Viking Age throughout Scandinavia as well:

Requiring fire and the warmth of the kitchen, brewing was allowed even during the Christmas holiday. Traditionally, women have been associated with this work and it remained a female task throughout the medieval period. In one of the heroic sagas a king resolved the jealousy between his two wives by deciding to keep the one who presented him with the better beer on his return from war. As late as the end of the fourteenth century a laysister was superintendent of brewing in Vadstena, a Swedish monastery that accommodated men and women. Describing a brewing in honor of Bishop Páll, a vignette states specifically that the housewife was in charge. On important farms the physical work needed for large quantities may have demanded male help, as suggested from a brief glimpse of the farm at Stafaholt where the female housekeeper (húsfreyja), assisted by the male manager (ræðismaðr), replenished the stores of beer depleted by the visit of fourteen unexpected guests. Consumed at the alþingi, beer was commonly brewed on the spot, but there the quantities demanded and the scarcity of women made it a male task. Mentioned rarely in the sagas, brewing was a difficult process and occasionally required divine assistance mediated through miracles credited to Icelandic bishops (Jochens, p. 127).

http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/drink.shtml

Drink like a Viking!
http://vikingdrinkinghorns.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/drinking-horn1.jpg
http://editorial.designtaxi.com/news-dashorn2110/4.jpg

[monty]

Viking Christmas Norway style

https://sciencenorway.no/christmas-history-literature/heres-how-vikings-celebrated-christmas/1788632

https://image.sciencenorway.no/1789226.jpg?imageId=1789226&width=1058&height=604
The painting depicts Håkon the Good being forced to drink from a drinking horn and eat horse liver at the Christmas fest in Mære. (Painting by Peter Nicoli Arbo)

Here's how Vikings celebrated Christmas

They drank, and they ate horse meat.

https://image.sciencenorway.no/1592727.jpg?imageId=1592727&x=14.644351464435&y=3.4682080924855&cropw=58.577405857741&croph=80.924855491329&width=180&height=180
Elise Kjørstad (elisekj92@gmail.com)JOURNALIST




Thursday 24. december 2020 - 09:00





The Vikings began their Christmas celebration at home, says Herleik Baklid, a cultural historian at the University of South-Eastern Norway. Then they would begin socializing.

People came walking and riding on horses and in sledges with sheepskin rugs over their shoulders. The chieftain in the area had invited everyone to the midtvinterblot, a midwinter sacrificial feast. The guests brought barrels of beer, mead, food, and perhaps some animals to be slaughtered.

The fireplaces were lit and decorated in the long house, in the main yard. This was Christmas celebrations, Viking style.
Hökunótt

It is difficult to say exactly when Christmas was celebrated during the Viking era. But it was probably around winter solstice.


Christmas is as a tradition is far older than the Viking Age. In many old cultures it was common to have parties to celebrate the cycle of the seasons.

“The timing of the Christmas celebration probably had to do with very old ideas that you had to do something for the gods so that they would bring the sun back,” says Elise Kleivane, who does research on Old Norse philology at the University of Oslo.

The Vikings called their sacrificial celebrations “blot” and held them in honour of the Norse gods. These rituals were not only held during Christmas, but also during midsummer and in the transition from autumn to winter.

In King Håkon the Good's saga, author Snorre Sturlason wrote that Christmas was earlier held in the middle of winter on Hökunótt, which was January 13. “Christmas was celebrated for three nights," he wrote.

This worked well with the Vikings' calendar, says Baklid. The Vikings divided the year into two seasons: winter began October 14, and summer began April 14.
Not a four-hour party

Even in the middle of the harshest winter, people travelled to attend Christmas festivities. Perhaps it was a welcome event at a time of year when there was not much else to do
.
“I think that these Christmas celebrations were celebrated at the large estates,” says Jon Vidar Sigurdsson, a professor of history at the University of Oslo.

“It’s easy to imagine that the chieftains invited their friends and wives to mark the midwinter. It would have been a pretty big party,” he says.

But who paid for the festivities? Was it the chieftain alone? Or did the farmers bring food and drink?

Sigurdsson believes it was the latter. Feeding 300 to 500 people would be quite expensive.

People gathered in the longhouse. The building was perhaps tens of metres long and had a high ceiling. There would be big fires in the fireplaces so the guests wouldn’t freeze.

"This was not a four-hour party and then return home," Sigurdsson says.

The travel back and forth took time, and these were big parties that lasted three to four days.

"Paint the stables red"

In Håkon the Good's saga, Snorre writes about how a traditional blot was conducted

By pagan custom, all peasants were supposed to go to the place of worship, which was the longhouse or square. They should bring enough food for the entire blot, and beer for the feast.
He also writes that sheep and horses were killed, and the blood stored in bowls.

https://image.sciencenorway.no/1789228.jpg?imageId=1789228&x=0&y=0&cropw=100&croph=100&width=1058&height=405
A reconstructed longhouse at the Viking castle Fyrkat in Denmark. (Photo: Martin8381, Wikimedia Commons)

Then participants were supposed to take brushes, and paint the altars and the inner and outer walls of the temple red, and then sprinkle blood on the men.

The meat was cooked. There were fireplaces in the middle of the floor of the temple, and above them hung big pots. The chieftain blessed the cups and the food.

Then it was time for a toast, according to Snorre. First they blessed Odin's cup and drink for the king's victory and power. Then they drank to the gods Njord and Frøy for a good year and peace. It was also common to drink to the god Brage, to remember dead friends, Snorre wrote.
Likely similar to other parties

Jon Vidar Sigurdsson says that there’s no way to know if Snorre's descriptions of the traditional blots are correct.

“It’s obvious that they had rituals. Maybe they also threw blood on the walls and put some blood on the face of those who performed the rituals,” he says.

Probably the Christmas feast didn’t differ that much from other festivities such as the midsummer blot, Sigurdsson says.

According to Elise Kleivane, Snorre was a learned Christian man who wrote the saga of Håkon the Good more than 200 years after the events took place.

“It might well be that they toasted to the gods in a particular order. But Snorre probably also tried to make the Norse mythology fit with the gods of ancient Greece and Rome, that preceded Christianity,” she says.

She says it's important to remember that traditions may have been different from place to place. It might be that people toasted to a different god in the north than in southern Norway.
Tired of warm women's rooms

That the vikings did a lot of toasts is fairly certain.

Jon Vidar Sigurdsson laughs when asked if beer was an important part of the celebration.

“Oh yes, that was an inseparable part of the celebration. This was a society where people drank a lot of beer,” he says.

The oldest source that mentions Christmas is a skaldic poem about Harald Fairhair from the late 800s. It describes how the king was tired of Christmas time with indoor life, stews and warm women's rooms. Here you get the impression that Christmas might not have been as different as we know it today. But Harald wanted to "drink Christmas" out on the ocean. There he would play Frøy's game, which meant battle.

Beer drinking remained an important tradition when they started to celebrate the Christian Christmas. According to Snorre, Håkon the Good made it the law that "Christmas should be held at the same time as with Christian people, and every man should have a specified amount of malt beer," or risk fines. The Christmas celebration was to last as long as the beer lasted.

In the Gulating Act of 1100, it says that a farmer could lose his farm and land if he failed to brew beer three years in a row.
Mealtime between humans and gods

“A blot was a party where animals were slaughtered and eaten, and people drank a lot of beer. People might not get extremely drunk, but they were at least a little intoxicated the whole time,” says Sigurdsson.

The feast was a gesture to the gods.

“They sacrificed and gave gifts to the gods on behalf of the community. Then they drank and ate the meat that was given to the gods. In a way, it was a meal shared between humans and gods,” he says.

There was also entertainment.

“There were likely performances, with poetry and sagas. The chieftains themselves were quite well schooled in the art of storytelling,” he says.

There were stories of daring voyages at sea, of the king's unparalleled generosity, and of ravens rejoicing over the enemy's bloody limbs. Maybe there was singing and music. It’s not hard to imagine that the party got pretty lively as the hours slipped into the winter’s night.

“If you walked into the hall, you would immediately see who was the most distinguished guy at the feast. That would be the chieftain,” Sigurdsson says.
He sat in the high seat, perhaps with his wife next to him. Then his most important men sat close by.

“People who were the least respected sat farthest from the chieftain. The social hierarchy was reflected in where people sat,” he says.
Religion and politics

The Vikings were probably religious. But there’s no evidence of that in written sources from the period, Elise Kleivane says.

“They showed their religiosity in their practices rather than in doctrines and prayers. In any case, they didn’t feel the need to record this in writing, as was done in Christian times,” she says.

There was no full-time priests, but the chieftains often took on the role of leading rituals.

“People were probably religious in that they had anniversaries where they made sacrifices or celebrated in honour of and to influence gods, depending on which god fit best. I would guess that they were more religious when life was difficult, as is true today,” Kleivane says.

Odin was likely to have played a part in the Christmas celebrations. This god had many names and was sometimes called Jólnir, which meant Christmas-Odin. But records also show that the plural form, jólnar, was also used. It was likely not just Odin who was honoured.

“People drank for a good year and peace,” says Herleik Baklid.

“We must remember that the crops and peace were key factors at this time. People were dependant on good crops, because it was hard to find food if the crops failed. There was also conflict and unrest in the country,” he says.

But the celebrations were just as much about building loyalty among people, Kleivane says. The leaders depended on support and cohesion.

“The celebrations were a manifestation of the chief's power and prosperity. They invited people, gave them gifts and food, and the feasts lasted for days.
A chieftain had to be generous.
Had to eat horse meat

Sigurdsson says it is likely that a lot of horses were slaughtered and eaten.

“Horse meat is linked to Odin. People also ate other kinds of meat, but horse meat is most strongly connected to the pre-Christian cult,” he says.

The Gulating Act prohibited the eating of horses, probably because it was linked to pagan practices.

“It probably also had to do with the fact that the horse was very important for work and transport,” says Kleivane.

In Håkon the Good's story, Snorre writes about when king Håkon attended the autumn blot in Lade, in the middle of Norway. But the king refused to take part in the local traditions. He was raised in England and he was a Christian.

At the party, he drank beer from the horn, but first he crossed himself. Some of the farmers were sceptical, wondering, "Why does the king do this?" Earl Sigurd defended Håkon, and lied: "he made the mark of the hammer”.

The next day, the farmers wanted Håkon to eat horse meat, but he refused. They asked him to drink the soup, or at least eat the fat. But he wouldn't do this either. At that point, the farmers were close to "going against him".

Earl Sigurd asked the king to open his mouth over the handle of the pot to appease the guests. The handle had a coating of fat from the steam of the horse meat stew. Then Håkon went forward, put a linen cloth over the handle and opened his mouth over the pot. No one was particularly pleased, wrote Snorre.

Next year Christmas celebration were held for the king in the same area. The large landowners made a plan to force the king to make a sacrifice. Håkon had to drink everything in the cups that were served to him, without making a cross, and he had to eat horse liver. The king was "very unhappy", Snorre wrote. He was so unhappy that he made plans to return with a large army. But in the end there was a reconciliation.
Keeping the Fimbul winter away?

There are several theories as to the reason behind the Viking Christmas.

Making sacrifices to the gods in the hope of a new good year seems to have been part of the religious aspect.

The skaldic poem Ynglingatal tells of several years of crop failures in Uppsala, Sweden. King Domalde sacrificed both animals and people. Finally, he allowed himself to be sacrificed in the winter blot.

"Domald dies by bloody arms, raised not by foes in war's alarms —Raised by his Swedish liegemen's hand, To bring good seasons to the land," the skaldic ode said. Whether the story is true or invented is unknown.

“The midwinter feast might also had elements of ancestral worship or sun festival,” says Baklid.

https://image.sciencenorway.no/1789236.jpg?imageId=1789236&width=1058&height=604
This painting by Carl Larsson portrays King Domalde, who allows himself to be sacrificed in the winter after a number of crop failures in Uppsala. (Image: Painting by Carl Larsson)

Perhaps the Vikings and their ancestors feared that the sun would be devoured by the powers of chaos. Then the long Fimbul winter would come before Ragnarok, a series of events including a huge battle that ended with the destruction of the gods and the end of the world.

This may have given them reason to hold a blot to strengthen Odin in the fight, suggested Ivar Lindtvedt Hille in his master's thesis on Nordic Viking and medieval culture (https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/26676) from the University of Oslo in 2007.

Jon Vidar Sigurdsson says that the Christmas feast was also simply a celebration, and we actually know little about what they were actually celebrating. He says it’s important to emphasize that Christmas celebration was very local. The celebration was not the same all over Scandinavia.

Elise Kleivane points out that we have almost no written material from the Viking Age, and that the later sources are uncertain.

“Nevertheless, we have to look at what we have and try to see what we can make of it,” she says.

Translated by: Nancy Bazilchuk.

Reference:
Snorre Sturlasøn: “Håkon den Godes saga”, Kings Sagas, translated into Norwegian by Gustav Storm, 1900. Chapters 13 - 19. Heimskringla.no. (https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Haakon_den_godes_saga)

[Shami-Amourae]

Vinland Saga is better, and there's no "Shield Maidens".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRubJuMCUkI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx3yY_nGiVM

[JDRock]

Im guessing producer Shlomo will be having it changed soon to negro apes with the viking women for "cultural" enrichment.

[EE_]

Im guessing producer Shlomo will be having it changed soon to negro apes with the viking women for "cultural" enrichment.

http://www.xyz.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/IMG_2990.jpg

[Horn]

Funny A Six King made it to the Speaker's seat today 2021/1/6 at Election Fraud protests.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMQVLkZ1at0

2021/1 = 6

6 = 6

^ (3) 6(s) up there :)