10 viking wedding traditions

1.

Viking weddings were always held on a Friday which in Norse religion is a sacred day for Frigga the goddess of marriage. The wedding would probably start on the Friday and last about a week.

2.

Before the wedding the groom would have to enter a grave. He would have to dig up and enter the grave of one of his ancestors and retrieve his ancestor's sword.

3.

The Viking bride would not wear any special dress or gown but would focus mainly on her hair and would wear a crown made out of silver covered in valuable crystals.

4.

Like the bride, the groom would not wear any special clothes but would carry a very special weapon (probably given to him by his father.)

5.

The bride and groom wouldn't just exchange rings but would also exchange their ancestors swords.

6.

At the wedding the bride and groom would sacrifice an animal for the gods: a goat for Thor, a sow for Freyja, and a boar or a horse for Freyr. The blood of the animal would be put in a bowl and a bundle of fir-twigs would be dropped in and would be used to sprinkle the blood on the couple.

7.

At the wedding feast a replica of Thor's hammer would be placed on the brides lap while she said her prayers to him.

8.

It was a tradition that the bride and groom would get drunk on bridal ale during the feast. Bridal ale is a special beer brewed especially for the bride and groom.

9.

At least six witnesses would walk the bride and groom to their bed by torchlight after partying.

10.

It was tradition for the bridal party and the groom party to race to the feast and the team that lost would have to serve the ale and beer for the rest of the evening.

viking foods

Today as my blog I am going to write about viking foods.

What did they eat?

The vikings ate pretty much anything they could get their hands on but their main specielty was farming. Vikings were very good farmers they would make flour out of dried corn which they would then make into bread to eat with the cheese they made out of their cows milk. Vikings would usually send their kids out to find nuts and berries in the woods and if they were lucky they would find some geese or chickens wandering around the farm to collect eggs from. While the girls were at home making flour, collecting nuts and berries and doing house chores the boys would go out and hunt for meat or go and do some fishing.

Did they have feasts and celebrations?

Vikings had many many feasts to celebrate. Some of the main reasons where for weddings, solstices, and festivals. Depending on how wealthy the host was a major feast would usually last 12 days! at feasts vikings would usually eat meat, bread, nuts, berries, fish, and cheese and drink mead, beer, weak ale and if they were at a major feast strong fruit wines.

How did they cook their food?

Their were three ways the vikings used to cook their food:

1. boiling, method 1: Vikings usually boiled their meat which they would do by digging a pit and lining it with wood which they would then put water and meat in and drop in hot stones to boil the water and add any herbs or spices they had to flavour the meat.

2. boiling, method 2: the other way vikings would boil their meat (and veggies) is by digging a hole making a fire in it and dangling a metal pot over it with water and either meat or veggies and a bit of seasoning.

3. over the fire: to cook fish or meat the vikings would make a fire and roast meat or fish over it on a spit.

viking games and entertainment

Today I am going to be writing about what the vikings would do for entertainment and whether or not they had any board games.

 Did they have any board games?

The answer is yes. they did have many board games but the most popular one was Hnefatafl, no one actually knows the rules to this game but we know that there would be two players one much stronger than the other who would have many more tokens than the weaker person and would have to get to the opponents king that wasn't guarded very well. this game was very popular until 12th century when it was replaced with chess.

What indoor games did they play?

The vikings had many indoor games but my personal favourite is one that the vikings would usually play after a feast or a meal. this is how the game goes, there would be two teams men in one team women in the other and they would throw a dice to see what team goes first. The team that throws the bigger number goes first and will drink as much as possible and try to insult the other team then the other team would try to out-drink and out-insult the other team the winning team is the team stays the wittiest and drinks the most.

What outdoor games did they play?

The vikings played lots of outdoor games including archery, stone throwing, wrestling, a type of tug of war called toga-hönk, and a ball game using a stick and ball. it wasn't uncommon for someone to get hurt or killed in some of these games. The women would not compete in these games but would sometimes gather round to watch. Family games were usually stuff like swimming and ice skating. did you know that the vikings invented ice skating? of course the vikings didn't have nice shiny ice skating shoes on a nice indoor skating rink but they did have a bit of horse or cow bone attached to their shoes with leather straps on a frozen lake or river.

Did they have any competitions?

Vikings did have lots of competitions they would have swimming races, archery competitions, wrestling competitions and toga-hönk (tug of war).

What toys did kids and babies have?

Viking children would usually play with wooden toys there parents carved for them or play ball and child size games of the ones there father would play.

Did they have any stories?

The vikings had two different types of stories fairy tales and sagas. sagas were like poems a viking would recite a saga to his or her children talking about their time in the war or one of their voyages. sagas where very, very, very long. Prepare yourself because viking fairy tales aren't a single bit like what your used to. viking fairy tales are very gruesome the person to live happily ever after  and be the hero was always the meanest tricksiest person in the story. one of the stories are about where the first man and woman came from and guess where they came from? the armpit sweat of a giant! If the giants used deodorant none of us would be here.
 

Viking names and what they mean

Today as my first blog for my new topic, vikings, I am going to write about viking names and what they mean.


Girls names:

Name                       Meaning

Astrid                      ás - Word for god in old norse / frid - beautiful (woman.)

Brynhild                Bryn - chain mail / Hild - fighter.

Freydis                  Freyr - fertility goddess /  Dis - low rank goddess.

Gudrun                  Gud - god / run - secret knowledge.

Gunnhild               Gunnr - fight / Hild - fighter.

Gunnvor                Gunnr - fight / Vor - defend.

Hilde                     Hild - fighter.

Ingrid                    Ing - viking god / Frid - beautiful (woman.)

Ragnhild              Regin - council / Hild - fighter.

Ranveig               Rann - house / Veig - Unknown, Perhaps Víg - fight.

Sigrid                  Sigr - victory / Frid - beautiful (woman.)

Sigrunn               Sigr - victory / Secret - Knowledge.

Siv                      Sif - a relation or an inlaw.

Solveig               Sól - house, hall / Veig - Unknown perhaps Víg - fight.

Svanhild             Svan - swan / Hild fighter.

Torhild               Tor - The mighty thor / Hild - fighter.

Torunn               Tor - the mighty thor / Unn - love.

Turid                  Tor - the mighty thor / frid - beautiful (woman.)

Vigdis                Vig - fight / Dis - low rank goddess.

Yngvild             Yng - viking god / Hild - fight.



Boys names:

Names               Meaning

Arne                  Orn - Eagle.

Bjørn                 Bjørn - bear.

Eirik                  Ei - the unique one / Rik - prince.

Geir                   Geirr - javlin.

Gisle                 Gísl - Hostage, the handle of the javlin.

Gunnar             Gunnr - fight / ar - warrior.

Harald             Har - army / Vald - Prince.

Hákon             Hár - A prominent person/ Konr - family.

Inge                Inge - The viking god Yngve.

Ivar                yr - A coniferous tree / Ar - worrier.

Knut              Knutr - A knot

Leif               Leif -  Property, inheritence.

Magnus        Magnus - Mighty, big.

Olav             Anu - ancestor / LaibaR - inheritence.

Rolf             Rod - Honour / Ulfr - wolf.

Sigurd         Sigr - victory / Vard - guardian.

Snorre         Snurre - The unruly one.

Steinar        Stienn - stone / Ar - worrier.

Torstein      Tor - The mighty thor / Steinn - stone.

Trygve       Tryggr - the trustworthy one.

Ulf            Ulfr - wolf.

Valdemar  Valr - Might / Mar - famous.

Vidar        The viking god Vidar.

Yngve      The viking god yngve.