Vikings, history of the Northman at the ROM in Toronto

In our city of Toronto, we have The Royal Ontario Museum that happens to present some historical exhibitions regularly. I couldn't miss this one about Vikings as they are my favourite subject in history.

The Vikings

Some of my previous posts were about Vikings, their villages or their church (Stavkirk) But who were those people, this is something we are going to discover today. There is no real Viking population. Indeed any Northmen could be considered as a Vikings when they go on one. The word Viking was more describing an activity rather than a group of people as anyone could go on "a Viking." "a Viking" mainly considered going on a raid for either commerce or pillage or both. Vikings were feared by everyone in Europe during their time, even in their homeland.

Culture

Even if the Scandinavian shared similar language, myths or Gods, their culture and religion could vary greatly between tribes. It was because the Scandinavian tribes rarely united under one common king and they were generally living on their own. Due to this,  the main divinity worship could vary, but it was mainly shared between Odin and Thor. Furthermore, Northmen were also great treaders and in addition to this the most adventurous navigator of their time. This result in many confrontations with the foreign cultures. It was not uncommon to find none Scandinave objects among wealthy families like Egyptian Coptic Scoop or Indian Buddha. It increased in commerce will increase the contact between Scandinavia and the continent and their cultures.

Religion

When it comes to religion, Northmen were quite diversified in this topic. The Scandinavian religion was polytheism, and the various clan would worship different gods from one another, but the major one remains Thor and Odin. Those divinities were extremely present as religion was view as part of the daily life of the Northmen. For example, some of the days of the weeks are taken from Gods like Tuesday, the day of the god Tyr or Wednesday is the day of Odin, who is also known as Wotan.

Burial

Burial is exceptionally diverse among the Northman as rich and poor had their specific ceremony when they died. The rich were the ones that were buried; the ceremonies were long to prepare, taking around 10 days, and generally were also used as a last sign of power from the deceased. Indeed, Scandinavian graves were incredibly elaborate, as if they were competing with one another. They generally contain furniture like if it was a regular room, the buried man was put in a boat, a sleight or a wagon. Then its people lighten on fire the material as cremation fire. When it comes to the ordinary people, things were much more straightforward.

Just like the aristocrats, the cremation fire was also used, but they were no ceremony prepared. The deceased burial also included some of his belonging and animal sacrifices were performed in favour of the God Thor. Finally, amulet representing his hammer was also everyday artifacts in Scandinavian graves. Speaking of Thor hammer, we can notice that it looks like the Christian cross.

Myth beyond Burial

Ships were an important part of the burial process since they are part of the cremation of Baldr. Lokie, god of mischief manipulated him and killed him. He went to the Hellhiem after his burial in a boat. His death was hard for all in Asgard since he was like by all the Aesir. Similar relations between divinity and activities performed by the Northmen regularly. An example is that they viewed the gods as smiths that craft the world, so their smith must control "mystical" powers not to alter the world foundations.The most famous aspect of the Viking and the afterlife was the Valhalla. It was the house of Odin, a gigantic all where all warriors who had fallen in combat go. However, there is a second aspect that is less famous, which is  Hell. The Scandinavian's vision of Hell differs a lot from the one of the Christians. Rather than a land made of fire and magma, it is a  dessert of ice. Anyone who died elsewhere than on a battlefield was doomed to go to hell.

Daily life

Most people in Scandinavia were farmers. The ones in the south were generally living in small communities while in the isolated north settlement was more common. The basic structure of those farms followed a longhouse in the middle of the property surrounded by smaller structures and the filed. The longhouse was extremely important for the Vikings as out of representing ownership of a land; it symbolized the Valhalla, discussed earlier. Daily life was extremely harsh in those territories, bacteria and parasite were extremely common as well as physical injuries. Deforestation was also a significant problem as they had a very high demand for wood to build boat and houses or maintain fires. It will change after the colonization of Island and Greenland after realizing the dramatic impact it creates on the environment. At home the Vikings were not always working, they had also free time in which they were spending it doing different activities like music. Music mainly rely on the voices as the Northmen didn't have a lot of instruments. The rare one used by the Vikings were flutes or Hornes.

Good manners in daily life

 Manners was also present among the Northmen. For example, when eating meals, they were using spoons, forks or claw-spoons to served and eat. The old cliche that they were eating with their hand in Bersheck mode is, like the Horns on helmets, absolutely false. They also know how to stay clean, they were washing their hands before they eat with soaps and time to time takes a bath. It is all the main things from the expositions That I can present. I hope that you now know more about the world of the Vikings. That now you can put a line between their reality and the many cliches and myth created on them.