Though the Vikings lived long ago, their culture and traditions are alive and well in modern-day Norway and beyond. For anyone interested in Viking customs and symbols, there are plenty of opportunities for exploring this fascinating culture on your next trip to Norway.
Are the Vikings still alive? The short answer to this question is no. Vikings, as a distinct ethnic group or society, no longer exist. Nonetheless, the descendants of Vikings can still be found in many parts of the world, especially in the countries where they settled during their expansion.
Modern-day Vikings range from reenactors and archaeology enthusiasts to people who ethnically self-identify as descending from the 11th-century Scandinavian population.
Vikings is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and settled throughout parts of Europe.
Early research said the exodus was due to many problems, including climate change, a lack of management, economic collapse and social stratification. Temperature change has often been cited as an explanation for the end of the Vikings, so let's take a closer look.
By stopping the Viking advance and consolidating his territorial gains, Alfred had started the process by which his successors eventually extended their power over the other Anglo-Saxon kings; the ultimate unification of Anglo-Saxon England was to be led by Wessex.
The purpose of the Vikings' violence was to acquire wealth, which fed into the political economy of northern Europe, notably in the form of gift-giving. Viking warriors were motivated by a warrior ideology of violence that praised bravery, toughness, and loyalty.
Who was a Viking? If we are speaking ethnically, the closest people to a Viking in modern-day terms would be the Danish, Norwegians, Swedish, and Icelandic people. Interestingly though, it was common for their male Viking ancestors to intermarry with other nationalities, and so there is a lot of mixed heritage.
Thor and Odin are still going strong 1000 years after the Viking Age. Many think that the old Nordic religion - the belief in the Norse gods – disappeared with the introduction of Christianity. However, it did not, but was instead practised secretly or under a Christian cloak.
The events of 1066 in England effectively marked the end of the Viking Age. By that time, all of the Scandinavian kingdoms were Christian, and what remained of Viking “culture” was being absorbed into the culture of Christian Europe.
Old Norse: the Viking language
Although Old Norse is recognized as a single language, there were discernible dialects that varied between regions such as Denmark and Iceland. Nonetheless, individuals from these regions could presumably still comprehend one another.
The average height of Vikings as found by researchers and scholars, varied depending on a number of factors, including their age and gender. Typically, the average male Viking would usually be between 5 foot 7 and 5 foot 9, while the average female would be between 5 foot 1 and 5 foot 3.
Surnames ending in -son or -sen are an obvious sign of Scandinavian ancestry – but other names such as 'Linklater', 'Flett', 'Scarth', 'Heddle', 'McIvor', 'MacAulay' and 'McLeod', 'Roger/s' and 'Rogerson' and 'Rendall' could also be a sign.
The faces of men and women in the Viking Age were more alike than they are today. The women's faces were more masculine than women's today, with prominent brow ridges. On the other hand, the Viking man's appearance was more feminine than that of men today, with a less prominent jaw and brow ridges.
The Vikings' original religion was the pagan and polytheistic Old Norse religion, which can be traced back to about 500 BCE in what is now Denmark. As Christianity took hold in Scandinavia, beginning in the 8th century CE, its followers dwindled in numbers. However, this older tradition continued Viking culture.
The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit.
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is the hall of slain warriors, who live there blissfully under the leadership of the god Odin.
The historians believed that ever since the 13th century, Odin has been transformed into a kind of Christian god. To be specific, Odin was a Norse god with many Christian traits. During that time, Christianity became the most popular religion in Europe.
The genetic legacy of the Viking Age lives on today with six per cent of people of the UK population predicted to have Viking DNA in their genes compared to 10 per cent in Sweden.
The DNA test shows that there is a strong Viking heritage on few countries in Europe from England, Ireland, and Iceland to Greenland.
No, Vikings aren't a Germanic tribe. The fact of the matter is that Germanic tribes consisted of an umbrella of various tribes that speak different languages commonly grouped together. Moreover, Vikings were only a subgroup of different peoples that included the Germans.
Perhaps the epitome of the archetypal bloodthirsty Viking, Erik the Red violently murdered his way through life. Born in Norway, Erik gained his nickname most likely due to the colour of his hair and beard but it could also reflect upon his violent nature.
Most scholars today believe that Viking attacks on Christian churches had nothing to do with religion, but more to do with the fact that monasteries were typically both wealthy and poorly defended, making them an easy target for plunder.
The Brutal Nature of the Vikings
Vikings murdered slaves and prisoners at will and historians say that they did not even regard non-vikings as humans. Every male was also expected to prove themselves on the battlefield and so entire wars were started just so leaders could demonstrate their worth.