Caitlyn Sather Viking Culture Summary

The Vikings, also known as Norseman or Northman, were Scandinavian maritime

warriors. The warriors were a collection of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish men, who raided and
colonized multiple portions of Europe during the 9th-11th centuries. The Scandinavian Viking
communities were ruled by assemblies and were split into three social classes: slaves, freemen, and a
main leader. In Scandinavia, the Vikings are individual farmers, but at sea, in their exquisite long-
ships, they did not hesitate to burn, plunder, or kill. Women and children were killed violently. The
Vikings were pagans, ones who believe in many gods, so they did not think twice about robbing a
Christian church or any other religious holy places. The churches also contained an abundant supply of
treasures, food, and cattle, which were hard for the Vikings to resist. But not all Viking long-ships
traveled to Europe to raid, families migrated in search of farmland as well. The late 700s through the
late 1000s was a time period known as the Viking Age due to the Vikings' domination of both trade
and exploration.
The language of the Vikings was Old Norse, a now extinct language of the North Germanic
group (Germanic branch and Indo-European family). The earliest writing pieces in Old Norse were in
Runes, an alphabet used to write multiple Germanic languages. With the diffusion of Christianity into
the Scandinavian region came the Latin alphabet, which was then used to write Old Norse. Much of
the literature that has survived was written in Iceland including Norse sagas, stories about ancient
history of Scandinavia, and mythological literature.
A typical day for the Vikings was full of work, mainly around the home or preparing meals.
Children also assisted in the work. The Vikings grew all of their vegetables, baked all their own bread,
and raised their own livestock. Food was most likely rather scarce during the winter so it must be
saved from the season prior. Due to this frequent scarcity of food, the Vikings tried their hardest to
keep food from going bad.
After a day of fishing or gathering of nuts and berries, the children were sent to bed, all warm under
fur, on their cots built into the wall of the home. Surrounded by the smell of curdled milk, animal
waste, and dirty clothing, the family rests for the next day of work ahead of them.
The ethnic Norse religion, the religion of the Vikings, is a subset of Germanic paganism, which
has similarities to other Indo-European religions. The Vikings were fortified by their belief in a
polytheistic religion and the Norse gods are respected for their strength and courage. An ancient text
called the Havamal, which means "Words of the High One [Odin]," is evidence of the Vikings code of
ethics. Odin, the god of war, is one of many gods that the Vikings praised. The Stave Churches of
Norway are built in the Middle Ages from wood. The Vikings would originally worship their own
gods in the exquisite buildings with statues and ceremonies, but as Christianity took over the buildings
were converted to churches. There are currently twenty-nine standing Stave Churches in Norway,
majority of them with the original structure from the early thousands. The Vikings believed in sacrifice
offering, to the gods, of both humans and animals. Every nine years, a ceremonial slaughtering and
feasting occurred in honor of the gods. The Vikings referred to this religious event as the blot. A large
feast then follows the killings with other offerings to the gods.
As the Vikings traveled to England and other Christian ruled countries, they were introduced to
the religion of Christianity. The Vikings had no issue accepting the Christians' God because they had
multiple gods they worshiped themselves. With the constant contact with Christians, it was suggested
that the Vikings convert in order to have better relationships with the other Europeans. The Viking
society itself was not just converted to Christianity, but also the region of Scandinavia. Christianity
became well established in countries such as Denmark and Norway because of the presence of German
and Anglo-Saxon missionaries.
www.scandivikings.weebly.com
Vikings Culture Bibliography
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/hrc/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=f2168ac8-0ab3-424a-bb47-
a3308b1888ff%40sessionmgr115&hid=101&bdata=JnNpdGU9aHJjLWxpdmU%3d#db=khh&AN=26
79420
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/who_were_the_vikings/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5VoO15xWMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8U240rJrQY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOYCQZH7jqc
http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/language/English-Old_Norse.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/religion_01.shtml
http://www.crystalinks.com/norsegods.html
http://www.visitnorway.com/en/about-norway/history/stave-churches/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Norse#Texts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-vikings