There's a lot more to Viking culture than just looting and pillaging.
In fact, over the years, historians have been able to unravel many more details of daily
Viking habits.
So here's what life was really like as a Viking in the year 800 AD.
If you were able to travel back in time to the Viking era, you wouldn't be disappointed
by the food piled on the table of a longhouse.
But there would be a catch, as it was all highly labor-intensive to make.
According to The National Museum of Denmark, most Viking families were self-sufficient
and responsible for keeping their larders filled themselves.
The cold climate and hard work that was a part of daily life meant their diets needed
to be high in fat and energy, and they certainly were.
Grains were incredibly important, as were vegetables like cabbage, peas, and beans.
Viking farmers also grew rye, oats, and millet for everyday use in bread, along with beer
and porridge.
The food wasn't bland and tasteless, either, as honey was a popular sweetener.
Honey was also used in mead, which was reserved for special occasions, as was strong beer.
Meanwhile, weak beer was more of a daily option, for children and adults alike.
And among the richest Vikings, it wouldn't be uncommon to find wine on their tables.
Vikings were also huge fans of fruit.
Gathering fruits and berries was primarily a job for the children.
Meat and fish were of the utmost importance, and Viking families often kept pigs, cattle,
sheep, goats, chicken, and ducks.
Fish and seals were hunted in the surrounding areas, and the records left behind by travelers
suggest that there were as many as 26 different kinds of fish on the menu at various times.
Vikings might have a bit of a reputation as unwashed savages, but the truth is actually
quite different.
According to contemporary writings, Vikings who settled in the areas they conquered were
incredibly popular with the ladies, in no small part due to their grooming preferences.
They bathed weekly, kept their hair neat and combed, and regularly changed their clothes.
Archaeological evidence supports this information, as tools like toothpicks, tweezers, combs,
and nail cleaners have been found throughout Viking settlements.
Vikings even kept their hair neatly cut.
Carvings suggest that the norm was a trimmed beard with a shaved neck, with a hairstyle
that was shaggy on top and short on the back and sides.
Other carvings give hints at what hygiene was like for women.
They preferred to keep their hair long, usually tied back with ribbons in elaborate braids
and knots.
Based on fragments of clothes recovered from tombs, archaeologists say that clothes were
made of linen and wool.
While they were warm and functional, they were also pretty.
Red and blue were popular, although all colors of the rainbow have been found.
Additionally, silks were sometimes imported by the wealthy and decorated with gold and
silver threads or ribbons.
Early Viking religious customs include the veneration of gods like Odin and Thor, belief
in places like Asgard and Valhalla and tales of the Valkyries, giants, and the spirits
of the Yggdrasil tree.
It was this old religion that told of Ragnarok, the epic battle between giants, gods, and
humans.
Most of what we know about early Vikings and their devotion to their gods comes through
the writings of outsiders.
Based on the significant amount of jewelry inspired by Thor and Mjolnir found in graves,
it seems as though many held the thunder god in high regard and prayed to him for their
safety.
"Team Thor, of course."
But as far back as 700 AD, Christianity had also already started to spread among the Vikings.
The earliest missionaries had little luck creating Viking converts, but over the next
200 years, more started to embrace Christianity.
Viking traders renounced the old gods, got cross tattoos, and by 1050, the majority were
church-attending Christians.
Historians even know when an official change happened, thanks to a runestone which dates
to about 965.
Inscribed on the stone is a declaration from King Harald Bluetooth that made Christianity
an official religion.
The practical transition happened more slowly, but the reality is that at the same time that
Vikings were off looting and pillaging Christian monasteries, there were plenty of Christians
back at home.
The Vikings' far-flung settlements, explorations, and trading wouldn't have happened without
the women back at home and their incredible skill in the textile industry.
Spinning and weaving was the domain of women, and it was very labor-intensive.
The process would start with shearing sheep, then cleaning and spinning the wool into yarn.
It would take thousands of hours to create enough yarn to make a medium-sized sail.
Once the yarn was made, it would take around three years for one woman to make that sail.
Processing flax was even more time-consuming, and an estimated 400 hours of labor went into
each and every linen shirt.
Cloth and textiles were so important that when it came time to set bride prices and
dowries, a woman's skill at weaving was often what decided the price.
The importance of spinning and weaving continued to a person's final days, and the sheer number
of Viking graves that contain spindles suggest that for many women, it was part of daily
life.
That was especially true of Icelandic women, who became known for producing a particularly
shaggy type of woolen coat.
They were so desirable that there were specific rules and regulations put in place around
the industry, and it ultimately led to the standardization of textile manufacturing and
measurements.
At some point in the middle of the 9th century, something odd happened in the horse world.
Somewhere in England, a few horses developed a genetic variant, and it was a huge deal.
It didn't just change color or coat type, it added the ability to maintain an entirely
different gait.
The few horses with this gene didn't just trot or gallop, they could also amble.
Riders on a horse that ambles describe it as being as comfortable as sitting in the
most comfortable comfy chair in the world.
It's tough to stress just how important a smooth-gaited horse was.
Horses were a main mode of travel at the time, after all, and when you're covering miles
and miles over rough roads and uneven ground, a steady ride is a huge deal.
Vikings thought so, too.
When they settled Iceland, they brought horses with them.
Researchers have found that around 10 out of every 13 Icelandic horses that lived between
the 9th and 11th centuries had what we now call the gaitkeeper gene.
It's likely that Vikings recognized the value in this genetic variant and selectively bred
for it and ultimately spread these luxury horses along their trade routes.
City life just wasn't for most Vikings.
According to The National Museum of Denmark, most native Viking settlements consisted of
a single common street and 6 or 7 small farms.
At the heart of the farm was a longhouse, a building with a single room that served
as everything from a kitchen and dining room to bedrooms.
There was also a fenced area that sometimes contained barns, stables, and workshops.
If there were no outbuildings, animals would be kept at one end of the longhouse with the
human family members.
If you think that smelled bad, well, it was probably even worse than you think.
Longhouses didn't have ventilation, chimneys, or windows.
But they did have fires.
Researchers from Aarhus University proved just how bad it was by building a medieval-style
longhouse, lighting some fires, using them for cooking and heating, and then measuring
the air quality.
Simply put, it wasn't great.
Inside the longhouse, the air contained levels well above what the World Health Organization
deems safe for things like carbon monoxide and fine particles.
Researchers concluded that the people who spent most of their time in the longhouses,
likely women and children, were at high risk for lung diseases and respiratory infections.
That makes those Viking-style banquets sound a lot less fun now.
"Welcome to Medieval Times.
I'll be your serving wench, Melinda.
Might I fetch you something from the barkeep?"
Religion was just one part of Viking belief systems.
They also believed that Runes had magical powers and that they were so dangerous that
even the gods had to make extreme sacrifices in order to gain the knowledge of runic magic.
Runes were thought to have many purposes.
In the wrong hands, they could be used to put a curse on someone, or cause them harm
from a distance.
But in the right hands, those curses could be removed, and people could be healed of
whatever ailed them.
It was also believed that oracles could throw stones, bones, or wood counters inscribed
with runes, and read the resulting patterns to get a glimpse into the future.
By the Middle Ages, though, runes gradually became more commonly used for fun and communication
instead of magic.
The National Museum of Denmark says that Vikings took great stock in omens, too.
Certain occurrences, like the patterns formed by a herd of horses or a flock of birds or
rare sights like eclipses were thought to contain messages from the gods.
Those Vikings who knew how to interpret them could get a valuable look at what the future
held.
The modern world loves a good rags-to-riches tale, but in Viking society, everyone knew
their place, and most of them would stay in the place they were born in.
At the top were the kings, who oversaw the magnates, who were essentially locally elected
officials who employed armies and organized celebrations.
While it's unclear just when the Vikings organized beneath a central royal family, The National
Museum of Denmark says that this happened at some point between 800 and 1050 AD.
In the center of the social hierarchy were the farmers, and at the very bottom were the
slaves and the thralls.
Slaves not only did the hardest and most unpleasant jobs, they were also very much the property
of their masters.
They had no actual rights whatsoever, but there are stories of slaves being set free
by owners.
Within the slave class, there was some variety in how they were treated.
Some slept with the animals and were regularly beaten, while others, particularly skilled
craftsmen or exceptionally beautiful women, could earn their way into decent living conditions.
A major question surrounding Viking religious beliefs and practices is whether or not they
practiced human sacrifice.
According to The National Museum of Denmark, the answer is a resounding "Yes."
It wasn't common, though.
Archaeological findings suggest that a human sacrifice is one of the most important offerings
that could be made and that it was only done in special circumstances.
Some of the best evidence comes from the sacrificial grounds at Trelleborg, where the remains of
five people were uncovered.
Just what exactly happened is unclear.
But considering that the remains were found in wells, it's hypothesized that the sacrifices
had something to do with Odin, who was believed to have sacrificed one of his own eyes to
drink from a well and be rewarded with wisdom.
But it's also believed that tales of dozens of sacrificed men and boys hanging from trees
was likely just Christian propaganda.
More common was the practice of blót sacrifice, in which animals, particularly horses, were
sacrificed to the gods in exchange for their good favor.
There were four regularly-occurring blot sacrifices that happened on the solstices and the equinoxes.
Smaller sacrifices could be organized in times of crisis.
Viking life wasn't all about hard work.
Archaeological digs have uncovered plenty of toys, from wooden ships and swords to dolls
and musical instruments.
Children were expected to work, but it appears that they were able to play as well.
Vikings developed a surprising number of board and dice games, and these were pastimes that
crossed all social classes.
One of the most important games was called hnefatafl.
It resembles chess, and it wasn't just about fun.
The game is mentioned in major Viking sagas, but it wasn't until the 20th century that
historians finally figured out it wasn't as similar to chess as they'd always assumed.
What they still don't know is just why it was so important.
But considering how many people were buried with a board in their arms, it's safe to say
that this game held a special place in the center of Viking culture.
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