What’s big, burly and grunts a lot… (apart from your grandmother)? An Icelandic Viking of course! For those of you who missed the original Vikings the first time, the town of Hafnarfjörður has brought them back for a best-of reunion tour.
This year, the International Viking Festival takes over the town from 12-16 June. The festival demonstrates most aspects of Viking life and culture, including ships, “cuisine”, handcraft, storytelling, archery, games, music, and battle reenactments.
Before you get too excited, we’ve heard that they leave out all the best bits… you know, the burning, pillaging, slaughtering and stealing that the Vikings are most renowned for. Oh well, we guess it could still be fun (sigh).
The Festival is all about authenticity and re-creating Viking life in detail. We wonder, however, if their commitment to realism will include the full sensory effect. Given the primitive state of the sewage system, the tendency to keep farmyard animals in their bedrooms, and the number of un-refrigerated dead fish (and human carcasses) hanging around, one would imagine that the olfactory aspect would be an important element of the experience. And it would definitely help to build one’s appetite for that traditional Viking feast! Pass the blood sausage and a nose clip, please.
For all you wannabe maurauders out there, you might even be lucky enough to score a date with a beautiful Icelandic Viking woman! So what are you waiting for? Come along to the festival. Bring your sword, battle axe (no, not your wife) and get into the Viking spirit!
2 Comments
Sounds great fun but can’t make it this year!
ditto
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