Legend said they had a large body build, and they would act brutally. We knew that they would kill or destroy everything in their way. That was the knowledge that our current culture wanted us to think. However, the real Vikings were not brutish. They were a group of people who were wise, hardworking, and civilized in their way. Their culture was different from the rest, and that was the reason why they always been misinterpreted. Other people did not know anything about them. We only thought that they were a barbarian who did not care for anyone and would only destroy everything to achieve their self-fulfillment if you read the reality of the Viking way of life. You would find the truth about them and what was only a legend. Nowadays, Vikings was still a part of our everyday routine.
Vikings Are Not Careless
We knew that the Vikings were an astronomical body that had a long-hair and bearded group of barbarians, which was right because the appearance of the Vikings was like the ones we knew on the books. The only mistake that we thought about the theme was that Vikings were not dirty, smelly, and careless. Vikings cared for their hygiene the most. Even though they lived in a terrible state of the climate that they were experiencing in that era, and they would still take care of themselves. It was used both women and men at that time. Those tools were combs, razors, and ear swabs. However, they could not avoid getting dirty because of their daily life. We could think that they were giving some effort to groom themselves more than the other culture in that era.
Vikings Are Not Careless
They NEVER Wore Horned Helmets
There was one most significant misunderstanding when it comes to Vikings. That mistake was, they did not wear horn helmets during their battle. It was proven that there were no artifacts discovered by the people in the current era that showed that the Vikings were using that kind of helmet. The people thought that the Vikings were wearing a horned helmet. Their battle was because of the image that exaggerated the Victorian era. In that era, the image would show us that the Vikings were wearing a helmet that would scare us. The reason was to make them more brutish and as terrifying as possible as they could.
They NEVER Wore Horned Helmets
The Days Of The Week Are Named After Viking GODS
There were only a few people who knew about the Norse gods that the Vikings worshipped was a part of our daily lives. On the calendar, we knew the name of the days that was Monday to Sunday. However, it was a reference to the names of the specific Norse gods like the great raven god Odin or was also known as Woden. Still, on this day, it was now Wednesday. If we compared the two words, we could see that Wednesday was Woden’s Day. Not only Wednesday that had been used on the name of the Norse god. There was also Tuesday, and Friday was named after Tyr and Frigg, these two were the god and goddesses of the Norse. Also, the famous Thor, the god of thunder, was used in the calendar. The mighty god had become Thursday in our era. We knew that the Vikings culture was lost in time, but it was interesting to say that some of their belief was carried over in our current age.
The Days Of The Week Are Named After Viking GODS
Vikings Are Not As Giant As We Assumed
Many people thought that Vikings had a large and robust build that could kill and destroy everything on its path. They could carry a giant ax, and with one swing, it could kill enemies. It was an exaggerated story that other people thought it was true. If we believed that Vikings look like Rollo from the History Channel show Vikings Or Chris Hemsworth in Thor, it was a piece of false information. The truth was Vikings were shorter than we thought, their average height was 5 feet and 7 inches while they were slimmer than the actors on the movie. There was an explanation of why they had a shorter size and lesser weight than we knew. It was because of the summer season in their era. In their year, they lack good weather that affected their resources. That was the reason why Vikings were raiding different villages to get some food, clothes, and other more resources to use in their daily life. On the images that we saw, they exaggerated the painting were Vikings were wearing a horned helmet, large and bulky build, and a barbarian, to make them look terrifying as they were scaring other people.
Vikings Are Not As Giant As We Assumed
The Viking Afterlife
On this day, some religions believed in different forms of heaven and hell. However, Vikings had a different perception whey they go to the afterlife. The Vikings were thinking that what they were doing while they would dictate what would happen in their afterlife. The Vikings did not believe that there was heaven and hell. Only they think on the Valhalla. It was the best place that they were hoping to go into that place when their life would end. Valhalla was the place for the warriors that faced different battles and died on the battlefield. While the Helgafiell was another place that the Vikings wanted to be. It was the place where an honorable people died while living with a satisfying life. However, Helheim was the place for a dishonorable people who died in vain. It includes that they would die contented when they grow old.
The Viking Afterlife
The Vikings Reached North America Even Before Columbus
In the last 500 years, Christopher Columbus tried to sail the ocean blue to travel to different places. The first time that European had come in North America was a group of Vikings that Leif Eriksson was leading. Lief Eriksson’s father, who named Erik the Red, was a well-known traveler who came across different places. Before Lief had established the first European settlement of Greenland. Erik had traveled Iceland to Canada. He pushed his son to go to different locations as well. He knew that there were many undiscovered places for them to find. It became the inspiration of Leif that led him to discover North America. However, Leif decided that he would not move to attack or take over the land where the Native Americans were living. The story of the Vikings that discovered the North Americans was unknown to the people in this current age. It was not long ago that Christopher Columbus came into North America and claimed that he was the first European to have stepped on those land. The Vikings had their unique justice system that almost similar in our age.
The Vikings Reached North America Even Before Columbus
Vikings Preferred Blonde Hair
The most famous Vikings tradition was they wanted to have blonde hair. This one was right for all those movies that we watched or lessons that we learned about them. Vikings did prefer to have blonde hair and would make them a beautiful person if someone had those colors on them. Some of them who did not bear to have blonde hair made a process to make their hair blonde. The Vikings used a strong soap that had high lye concentrating on bleaching their hair and shaping their desired color. Sometimes, Men would try to change the color of their beards just by bleaching them.
Vikings Preferred Blonde Hair
Not All Vikings Had Tattoos
Tattoos had existed in the era before the Vikings. However, it did not mean that all Vikings had tattoos. Some people wanted to show their Viking culture by getting their own “traditional” Vikings tattoos. We were not sure if this was a real Vikings tattoos or just a Norse symbol. In the movie or the Vikings had different tattoos that were covering their body. However, there was no evidence that they were practicing this kind of art. Also, Vikings have their pride to make themselves clean as possible as they could. That was the reason that we did not believe that Viking had many tattoos in their body.
Not All Vikings Had Tattoos
Vikings Have Their Own Justice System
On our belief, we thought that Vikings would settle things on their own. However, they had their justice system to solve any problem or crimes happening in their kin. In their culture, they had a method called “Althing,” which means “The thing.” “The thing” was the one who held and the law speaker of the people who had any concerns. They would try to settle their fears peacefully with the help of a third party. It had a similarity in our era’s court system. There were times that their justice was decided through violence, and if that person were notorious enough, they would sentence that person into execution. We could tell that the Vikings were civilized and not a barbarian.
Vikings Have Their Own Justice System
Vikings Had Developed An interesting Way In Starting A Fire
We knew that Vikings was anxious about their body when it comes to hygiene. They wanted to make their body clean as possible as they could. However, they had different plans when lighting fires. It was the most hygienic way we could ever think. Their process of making fire was they would start collecting touchwood fungus from tree bark. After receiving enough materials, they would boil it for a few days in human urine. They would pound and soak the item the felt-like substance to make them transport the materials more manageable and sturdily. Vikings also discovered that sodium nitrate in human urine would the object smolder. That would allow them to travel far more distance and would start a fire wherever they want. It was not the first thing that we could think of, but the Vikings had known it all along.
Vikings Had Developed An interesting Way In Starting A Fire
The Deads Were Buried In Boats
On the ocean, a lot of people were raiding other boats or fishers who did their job and a seafarer who travels in different places. However, it was not every day that you could see a burial on the boats in the ocean. Norse religion believed that an honorable warrior should have a vessel to reach the Valhalla. There were some critical Vikings who died that placed on the traditional Viking shop that was sailed into the ocean. However, women were the exception on this tradition. The ship would be filled with resources like weapons, food, treasure, and many more as long they thought that it would be needed in the afterlife. In some cases, slaves were sacrificed and put on the boat to provide service to their masters in the afterlife.
The Deads Were Buried In Boats
Vikings Spent Most Of Their Time Farming
We thought that Vikings had a reputation of being a violent group of warriors who raids different villages to find some resources. However, it was not their only profession in that era because they could not make a complicated society whenever they would sail to find a treasure or a fight. Most of the time, farming and maintaining their settlement was the primary job of a Vikings. In history, there was a well-known Viking who’s named Ragnar Lothbrok, who started as a farmer and climbed his way into the position of power. In their culture, farmers were being respected in their community. However, many of them were raiders when they were needed.
Vikings Spent Most Of Their Time Farming
Vikings Were Not A Single Group
We knew that Vikings had a large settlement of unified people. However, in the Viking culture, they were not related to each other. A lot of them that lived in their community did not consider themselves as a Vikings. To them, the word Vikings mean Scandinavians who were going out of the ocean to explore different places, but in our knowledge, they were all just a group of Vikings. During the days of the Viking culture, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden were a place where chieftain, who was leading their tribe, were not united and fought with each other. Even though they sometimes raid together with the other party, but they were not fond of sharing their rewards.
Vikings Were Not A Single Group
Vikings Love Skiing
Their earliest evidence of skiing was the last 6,000 years ago in the Scandinavian Peninsula. In the era of the Vikings, one of their transportation was skiing. They used theses method of shipping during winter because most of the land was covered in snow. There was some evidence telling us that Vikings had used skiing not only for their traffic but also for their hobbies. There was a god of skiing named Ullr in Norse mythology, and there were times that skiing was used in the conflict. They would use skiing to scout their enemies and moved into the wilderness across different armies to pass them.
Vikings Love Skiing
Slave Trading Is Common For Vikings
Viking got their slaved in their raids throughout Eastern Europe and the British Isles. However, when the Vikings became a slave, there would be a punishment in their justice system. Slave trading was common among the Vikings. It was their most significant merchandise, and they were gaining a lot of money from it. They would trade their slaves for other resources like food and materials or exchange it for a different slave. It would depend on the Viking’s needs. They could use their slaves to help them in ways like farming, doing household chores, or other community requirements. However, slaves were treated as livestock or lived without any rights. They did not have any will to do what they want. They could be free if they earned their freedom given by their owners or could buy their freedom.
Slave Trading Is Common For Vikings
Onion Soup For Wounds
it might sound a little disgusting, but when the Vikings had a deep wound because of the battle, they would feed the wounded Viking with a very potent onion soup along with other spices. A couple of minutes after being fed, a person would come to check the wound. That person would smell the injury that came from the battle, and if the wound smelled like an onion, it means that the wound was a severe one. This kind of hurt would usually go on the stomach, and death was inevitable on that person. In our current era, there was still a small chance to survive that kind of wound. However, in the year where the Vikings were still living, they could not sustain that kind of injury.
Onion Soup For Wounds
The Name Bluetooth Was Taken From Them
There was a legendary Viking king in Denmark and Norway. The name of that Viking was Harald Bluetooth. During his era, he managed to unite different tribes of Vikings and created a system that would make all the Vikings co-exist in that area. It was the inspiration of Kim Karachi. He was the founder of Bluetooth that was named on the Viking King. He thought that using his name would make people together with his invention. Did we wonder why what was the symbol of the Bluetooth was? It was “B” and “H,” which means Harald Bluetooth. If only the king of the Vikings knew about this invention, he might be able to unify every person in the world.
The Name Bluetooth Was Taken From Them
They Abandon Their Weak Children
Vikings had a similarity with the Spartan of Greece. Vikings appreciated strength and wellness when we were talking about their children. If their child were born weak and unhealthy and could not fight or contribute anything in their community, they would be branded a burden or useless being. That was the time, and they would abandon their children in the woods or throw them into the ocean because, without them, they could save a lot of resources and time focusing on their job. In the Viking era, life was hard. They could not even take care of their child. There were only 80% of children who would live as Vikings at the age of five. At that age, they would be expected to work, fight, and contribute to society like an adult.
They Abandon Their Weak Children
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy Was Inspired By Viking Culture
Vikings mythology inspired the author of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy named J.R.R. Tolkien. In the Norse legend, there was a ring that would curse the person who would wear it. Also, the place where the movie Lord of the ring was named Midgard means “Middle-Earth.” However, Lord of the Rings trilogy was not always based on the Norse legends, but the Norsemen thousands of years ago inspired some of it.
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy Was Inspired By Viking Culture
Comic Books Are Inspired By Viking Culture
Vikings also inspired the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Almost all of us knew about this, and the comic was standard in our era. Some characters had been used by Marvel like Thor, Odin, Loki, and Freyja. They were from the period of the Vikings and were used in our modern life. The comic was about Thor, the god of thunder. He traveled far away from his homeland called Asgard, to save the Earth and the human being that living in that world. Even video games liked to adopt the culture of the Vikings. Many people wanted to bring the life of the Vikings into the modern era.
Comic Books Are Inspired By Viking Culture
Vikings Wear “Grills”, They Don’t Have Tattoos
We thought that “grills” was an object that the rappers and athletes were wearing on their teeth to made them look wealthy. However, we were wrong. Last 2009, there was an archeologist that some area and discovered a Viking skull. The skull had a filing that was carved on their teeth. Archeologists did not know that was the meaning behind those grills, but they have many theories. The first theory, The Vikings, used that kind of modification to know their status symbol. The more filings they had, the richer the Viking was. We just glad we did not do their culture anymore when it comes to “grill.”
Vikings Wear “Grills”, They Don’t Have Tattoos
Board Games Are Their Thing
When the Vikings were not busy pillaging resources and farming, their favorite hobby was playing board games. Vikings love the popular board game called Hnefetafl. It was the game that the player could choose the role of a king or the attacker. If the person decided to be a king, he could use the “defender” pieces to protect the player. However, if the person picked the role of an attacker, he should overthrow the king by letting his part get into the other side of the board. We might be sure that this game resulted in fistfights.
Board Games Are Their Thing
“Blood Eagle” Is A Made-Up Story
One of the well-known myths in the Viking culture was the concept of “Blood Eagle” execution. It was all made-up stories by other people. Vikings performed blood Eagle with the procedure of breaking the person’s rib, opening their back, and pouring salt inside their body to keep them alive and would not pass out. We could not know why they wanted to make a story out of it. However, we did not understand why they made a horrifying story that could ruin their reputation. We assured everyone that Vikings was not as brutal as we thought they would be. There were not the same people that we watched in the movies. However, Norse did come up with their execution, but it was not portrayed in the literature.
“Blood Eagle” Is A Made-Up Story
Eating “Magic Mushroom” Before Every Battle
Before the Vikings would go into the battle, they would eat a mushroom that would make them crazy. They would believe that they were possessed otherworldly force that would give them the strength to defeat their enemies in their long battles. We thought that they were taking high “magic mushroom” and the Vikings liked eating this food. However, some historians believed that the mushroom was the reason why the Vikings became “berserk,” and they do think that other Vikings had suffered from PTSD. When they were experiencing PTSD, they could see themselves as an image before battles.
Eating “Magic Mushroom” Before Every Battle
Martha Stewart And The Vikings Would Make A Perfect Best Friend
We knew that Vikings loved their weapons. They cherish their weapon so much that they even decorated their swords, shields, and ships the way they wanted it to be. They would not use it for killing or fighting. They wanted everything to be decorated. We should call Martha Stewart because Ragthor needed some jewel to improve the decoration on his hilt. Vikings liked to decorate their property. They wanted stuff like some pictures of animals that you could find in the wilderness like snakes, horses, and wolves. They were also good at carving mythical creatures into their equipment.
Martha Stewart And The Vikings Would Make A Perfect Best Friend
Drinking Ale In A Skull Is A Myth
There was some myth that was not real. One of those myths was they did not drink ale in the skull of their enemies that they fought. We were confident that the Vikings did not drink their enemy’s blood. Vikings were civilized in most ways. All those disgusting was not a fact because they prioritized cleanliness the most. Vikings were drinking on the glasses called horns. It was call horns because the appearance of their glass could be compared to a trumpet. We also knew that Vikings loved decorating their property, and their glasses that was called horn was not an exemption. They would decorate them with different gold or materials that they could find.
Drinking Ale In A Skull Is A Myth
Rap Battles Were Originated From The Vikings
We thought that the first person who created an insulting rap battle was the Grandmaster Flash, then we were wrong about the knowledge that we knew. Centuries ago, there were traditional rap battles that were happening in the era of Vikings. “Flyting” was a verbal battle using poems to insult their opponents. Just like the rap battles in the modern era, there was no limit to the subject that they could tackle. They could insult their loved ones or their past achievements. Most of the time, flyting would start on the dining table, and the person who wanted to be the winner must get the most significant reaction of the crowd.
Rap Battles Were Originated From The Vikings
They Did Not Care Too Much With Fashion
Even though we knew that Viking prioritize their cleanliness too much, but they did not care too much fashion. If they existed in the current era, some clothing stores like Hollister and Express would go out of business. They were producing their clothes for themselves rather than someone would make something for them. For them, the most important meaning in their clothing was practical. At a young age, they started to learn how to produce their garment. They knew how to make different kinds of apparel that could be used on different climates like slim layers for the warm season and heavier garments for the winter season.
They Did Not Care Too Much With Fashion
The Wedding Celebration Lasts For One Week
Vikings also knew how to celebrate their occasion like the wedding day. The wedding day was the most exaggerated events that would happen in a Viking community. Before the couple could marry each other, they needed an engagement that would last for three years. After those requirements, their marriage would last for an entire week. If they would plan a wedding ceremony, then they should be prepared as well. The couple should plan their seven days of the wedding with tons of food and drinks for their guest. They should also plan for their fun activities during that day.
The Wedding Celebration Lasts For One Week
Non-Traditional Wedding Vows
We could not compare our traditional wedding vow to the Vikings. They would announce their love for each other by some rituals. The bride should take off any items that could make them look single. It includes clothes, jewelry, and any other stuff and store it away and would change her life as a bride. While the groom would walk pass a grave and recur with a sword meant to symbolize death and rebirth. After they finished the ritual, that was the time that the couple would be required to indulge a drink before they could go upstairs into the wedding chamber.
Non-Traditional Wedding Vows
They Could Sail Through The Roughest Water
Vikings were veterans when it comes to sailing. They could sail through the roughest water to reach their destination. Vikings had a supernatural ability that could detect the sun. With the sunstone, they could track the sun to find the right direction towards their goal. In our current era, sunstone was now called Icelandic spar, where it would react when we would hold the object to the sun. The reaction of the item was called “Haidinger’s Brush.”
They Could Sail Through The Roughest Water
Magnetite As A Compass
Aside from sunstone or the so-called Icelandic spar, there was another object the Vikings were using when they were sailing. It was an object that could help them in the fog. When the Valkyrie had traded some good in China, they had bought a mineral called magnetite. With the use of magnetite, the Vikings created a compass. Using our world’s magnetic pull when they could pass the thickest fog that they could encounter. It means they could go anywhere they where they wanted to be.
Magnetite As A Compass
Vikings Are Also Master Builders
If we were a great carpenter in this era, then we might be a Viking’s carpenter in our past life. Even they could produce their garment every season, and they were also a master builder. Their homes were created by interweaving the sticks then covered in mud to make durable along with different material to make it stronger. Inside their house, it has a big room for their fire pit for cooking. It was not fancy and exaggerated because privacy was not a concern in their era. However, we were sure that the couple who would raise a kid had found a way to keep their life private.
Vikings Are Also Master Builders
Vikings’ History And Culture Were Passed Down Verbally
We did not know if the Viking was uneducated or were busy writing their history in some object. However, Viking’s history and culture were verbally passed down to their new generation of their people. It might be the reason that our generation misunderstood the Vikings because one person passed the wrong information to the newer generation of their kin. It would bring false information until in our current era. Most of the written history and culture of the Vikings were coming from their enemy. They were pictured as a terrifying human being because of how it was written. We understand how they acted on war, but we did not know what they did when they were at peace. When we watch Vikings on the History Channel, we could see that Vikings was interacting with their family.
Vikings’ History And Culture Were Passed Down Verbally
They’re Not Really Meat Eaters
We could never deny that Vikings would eat a lot of meat in their meal. However, they were not only consumed meat because almost all of them were farmers that provide them grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables. It means Vikings had a balance towards their meals. They also had some animals like chicken, cows, sheep, and others that could provide their needs. It did not mean that they could raise an animal. They could slaughter and eat them.
They’re Not Really Meat Eaters
They Have Different Names
We people thought that Vikings would refer themselves as Vikings. However, we were wrong. For them, “Vikings” was used Scandinavian means. They were the people who participated in the overseas voyages. What would they call themselves? We could say they were named “Ostmen” or “Astmen,” which means “East-men.” Ostmen had settled their place on the Eastern coast of Ireland.
They Have Different Names
They Also Have “Power Couples”
The power couple was not only for well-known celebrities because back on the Vikings era, but there were also high-status people that were paired and been considered as “power couples” in their age. There was a discovery in a Viking tomb in Harup, Denmark, last 2012. That the bodies they had found were a pair of keys on the woman, it may be the sign that the person on the tomb came from a noble family. While on the man was a deadliest ax that the Vikings had ever produced. It made them realized that they were Vikings who has a higher status in the community.
They Also Have “Power Couples”
They Were Not Pure Vikings
We already knew that the Vikings was the first one who discovered America before Christopher Columbus. However, it was not the only story in that place. When they did some DNA analysis of a Viking family that was found in Iceland, something amazing happened in the results. They discovered in the DNA that they had the genes of a Native American with the combination of Scandinavian. DNA was found in the last three centuries. It could only mean that one Vikings did not pair with his kin. He loved someone from another race and bought it with him to Iceland to make a family.
They Were Not Pure Vikings
Breakfast Is The Most Important Meal Of Their Day
Viking’s most important meal of the day was breakfast. We knew how hard being an adult was. They needed those big meals of breakfast to get some energy for their tiring day. However, kids would eat their porridge, while the adult would consume a massive amount of leftover stew, fruit, and bread for their breakfast. We did not know if they could fill their stomach with just those meals. However, there was still dessert on the list. Their dessert was usually ale, buttermilk, bread, and dried fruit with honey. It might not be our modern-day breakfast, and we could imagine how tasty it was.
Breakfast Is The Most Important Meal Of Their Day
Viking Women Had More Rights Than The Others
The men and women of the Vikings did not have the same rights toward their gender. Vikings women had more rights than other than the rest of the women around the world. However, they could be married at the age of 12 and do the duty to be a mother and wife. They had their rights and freedom. They could inherit property, file a divorce, and could reclaim the settlements when the marriage had failed. Even the Viking man was the “man of the house” while the women had the right of the entire property. If her husband dies, she could inherit all the wealth and responsibilities of her husband. There was also a story about a Vikings female warrior called “shieldmaiden” who fought on the battlefield alongside Viking men.
Viking Women Had More Rights Than The Others