Vikings And Their Lifestyle
When we hear the word “Vikings,” the picture comes to our mind is big men and women wearing weird orange or brown color clothes, sword in their hands, riding horses, and fighting wars. Well, this is not true. Yes, they were brutal in their practices, but also they were amazing sailors and sailed worldwide in their longships. As they traveled through different countries, they also adapt their culture and traditions and represented a very unique and modern culture lifestyle.
Vikings were Scandinavians, Danes, and Sweden, men and women who were also blacksmiths, farmers, craftsmen and traders other than fighters who raided and plundered for no reason. They were fast, sharp, and wise people. Some of the aspects of their modern lifestyle are:
- Occupation: Most of the Vikings men were excellent farmers of their time. They grew different types of crops, vegetables and fruits. They tamed different livestock animals like hens, pigs, horses, sheep and goats. Others were good traders, merchants, blacksmiths, and fighters. Every one of them was amazing in their own special way.
- Clothing: The clothes of Vikings men and women were simple, practical and easy to wear. Their clothes were made of wool and animal skin. Viking men wore long trousers and shirts and Vikings women wore long woolen dresses. The Vikings loved decking themselves with jewelry, i.e. beads, rings, necklaces and much more. Both men and women were fond of the jewelry. The clothes didnt remained for a long time but jewelry did. The jewelry was made of gold, silver, copper and bronze. The most common material used was bronze, gold was rarely used.
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- Homes: The materials used to build up their houses was timber, wood, mud and stones. Their houses were in rectangular and the roof was made of straws thatch. A small chimney was also built to let the smoke out. The interiors of the house were dark and gloomy as the source of the light was a simple oil lamp.Their houses were designed small, simple and beautiful.
Food: Fish was the most loved and the mostly eaten item by Vikings. Other than Fish they ate bread made from multi grains picked up from their farms, pork and horse meat. Fruits and Vegetables also covered a large portion of their diet.
- Games: According to the researchers, Vikings had great taste creating music and poetry. They also loved to tell magical stories of god and goddess, they were very fond of their stories. They invented different board games like nitaval, hnefatafl and kvatrutfal. They played so many differwnt instruments like harpes, lyers, fiddlers, and flutes.
It is also assumed that Isle Of Law Chessmen were created in Vikings, long before thy appearedin Scotland.
Towns: Just as in the normal countries we have towns, Vikings also had small towns across Scandinavia. The harbor was a important place in the Viking town to unload and load ggods and animals. and the other hardworking people like farmers and blacksmiths were busy in their work. Viking women was also hard working and took care of clothing, washing, preparing food and cleaning the house.
- Religion: The Vikings worshipped many gods and goddesses like Thor, Odin, loki, freya, Baldur each one of them representing different aspect of life i.e. fertility, wisdom, good luck. They practiced brutal methods like human sacrifices and had unique wedding ceremonies, infant ceremonies and ceremation ceremony.
No matter how brutal or fearless warriors they were, buth they had a very enjoyable lives, each and every moment full of fun. Now they remains of their lives are found in history books or museums.