1204mn+Ancient+Civ+Project


 * Ancient Norse **
 * Religion and Ritual **
 * 1204mn **
 *  Reading and Language Arts, Semester 4, Class 1 and 2 **
 * Mr. Schoch **
 * June 7, 2012 **

In a raging snowstorm you see a silver glint, then a wall of shields, and you realize your town is being attacked by Vikings. The barbaric people of the Nordic lands are known for more than just lightning attack strategies and expedition-like way of life. The Norse people, or the Vikings, expanded throughout the northern hemisphere during the years of 789-1066. They had a wild way of life, quite unlike the way we live today. The Viking warriors are gone now, but their traditions, spirit and culture still thrives in places like Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, the lands that they originated from and settled. Many everyday items and artifacts are still sold representing the people that had once lived to conquer the world around them. It is less known that Norse mythology had significant cultural influence on German **folklore**.

Some people still follow Norse rituals or religion. Like the death wish, some people still choose to be burned in a boat. In some towns there is still an **Angel Of Death**. Norse culture is still vibrant and alive, a way of life followed by many people. Norse mythology is still told today. Some rich people choose a Viking burial. Very religious people who follow the Vikings have Norse holidays.

A big part of almost any religion is the mythology (Margeson p. 52 and 53). Norse mythology wasn’t all crazy and barbaric like the people. In fact a lot of the stories Vikings told were of Gods enforcing their **codices ** like the story “A **Giant ** Takes A Bride”. In this tale a giant named Thrym takes **Freyja ** to marry, **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Thor **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">dressed up <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">as Freyja, the person to be wed, and when the giant raised the hammer to bless her Thor took his hammer and killed all the giants. Thor was popular ( <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">)among the gods. In fact many of the man made items to represent religion are Thor’s hammer. In Denmark a bronze hammer was found and in Sweden an iron one. Mythology was almost the biggest thing to the Norse.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Burial also was a big role in the life of the Vikings (Mason pg 22 and 23). Ship burials were big events. If an important person died their bodies were burned in a ship they owned with all the stuff they loved such as their horse or wolf. There were different kinds of burials, the upper class, middle class and lower class, all of these based on what the deceased owned. The Angel of Death tied in to all of this by being much ([]) like an assassin. The Angel of Death, usually an old woman, would kill slaves that wished to go to **Valhalla** with their master this usually happened for royalty.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Holidays and celebrations are one of the most important parts of a religion ([]). Vikings had many events

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and ceremonies, but holidays topped all of <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">them. One of the holidays included Jul. Jul was the most important holiday of them all. It was <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">about 12 nights and resembled our Christmas. It was the return of light during the darkest time of the year. Another well known holiday to the Norse is Lithasblot which is the harvesting festival. Freyja would fly across the sky blessing the crops. One more popular holiday was Ostara. Ostara, also known as Eostre, was much like the Easter we have today. The bunny actually originated from Norse ( <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">)Ostara symbolizing its repopulating and return. The egg would be a symbol of good luck or happiness to the holidays.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Norse Culture was an amazing and vivacious religion. Many people, though took them for barbarians, but less than half of the Norse were truly barbaric, but one thing that is true is the Vikings did trade a lot. ([]) Actually their downfall was from their trade. Trade had lost its popularity and had turned for the worst. The Vikings resulted to raiding and eventually were overpowered by England. One legacy the Norse have are their holiday themes. The lesson the Vikings teach is nothing lasts forever even a successful pillaging, trading, raiding, destructive, and war-like people called the Norse. We can also learn from them that as times change people need to reinvent themselves and change too, while preserving their history and culture. Today the Viking ancestors live in a peace and harmony with their neighbors.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Glossary

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Angel of Death- An assassin-like woman whose job is to kill slaves wanting to die with their master <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Codices- laws <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Folklore- Mythology or series of tales <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Freyja- The farming god <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Giant- A large deadly creature <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Thor- God of thunder <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Valhalla- Viking heaven

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Works Cited

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Boris-vallejo. Web. <http://tinyurl.com/7ngx6fb>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"Hurstwic: What Happened to the Vikings?" Hurstwic: What Happened to the Vikings? Web. 06 June 2012. <http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/society/text/what_happened.htm>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Margeson, Susan M. Viking. New York: Alfred KA. Knopf, 1996. Print. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Mason, Antony. Viking times. New York: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers, 1997. Print. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"Norse Mythology." Wizardrealm.com. Web. <http://www.wizardrealm.com/norse/holidays.html>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Print. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Tourhauntedamerica. Web. <http://tinyurl.com/cl3fl42>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Yule. Web. <http://tinyurl.com/7dckc95>.