How Vikings Killed Time
Life in the Viking Age was tough and
hard, and physical work filled much of their days, but their lives were not
without leisure.
In a new study, Leszek Gardela uses
archaeological findings and careful reading of Viking sagas to describe how
Vikings killed time when they were in mood for entertainment.
The archaeologist paints a
vivid picture of Viking life, but the familiarity of many of the activities
suggests that while Vikings had shorter lives and arguably vented their
frustrations in more violent ways than what most people do today, leisure time
in the Viking Age was not too different from leisure time in 2012.
Violence and tests of strength
Many of the physical games which
entertained Vikings were violent and served as ways of demonstrating masculine
qualities.
According to written accounts, an
ideal man had to be strong and skillful, and games were a part of the training.
“The games were very physical and often
brutal, sometimes even ending in serious wounds or deaths of the participants,”
says Gardela, adding that the games seems to have been about showing off
masculine skills such as strength, dexterity and cunning tricks.
An excerpt from the Viking saga of
Grettis Asmundarson suggests that wrestling was one popular activity in
Iceland:
Then fell certain
young men to talking how that the day was fair and good, and that it were well,
belike, for the young men to betake them to wrestling and merrymaking. ... Now
the sons of Thord, Hialti and Thorbiorn Angle, were the chief men in this
sport; Thorbiorn Angle was boisterous beyond measure, and drove men hard and
fast to the place of the sports, and every man must needs go whereas his will
was; and he would take this man and that by the hands and drag him forth unto
the playing-ground. Now first those wrestled who were weakest, and then each
man in his turn, and therewith the game and glee waxed great. (1900, English,
transl. William Morris & Eirikr Magnusson, from the original 'Grettis saga)
Male strength was also tested in
stone lifting competitions, which might be fundamentally the same as today's
weight lifting competitions.
Playing ball
Gardela also found that ball games
were popular in the Viking Age. In saga literature the games, called knattleikr,
involved full body contact, and sometimes included a wooden bat, much like
baseball and cricket.
Little is known of the ball games'
rules, but sagas suggests that they, too, often ended violently.
An account taken
from the saga of Egill Skallagrımsson describes how 12-year-old Egill competed
with a boy who was stronger and better than him, despite being a year younger.
At one point Egill apparently lost his temper and attacked his younger opponent
with a bat, and when he was fought off he went away, only to return with an ax.
The younger boy was hit in the head and died.
“This was a violent period and
people could get very emotional about the games,” says Gardela, who works at
the Snorrastofa Medieval and Cultural Centre in Iceland.
Board games
While muscle power, physical skills
and aptitude for violence appeared to be important qualities in the Viking Age,
there was also a place for intellectual prowess. Board games were popular.
Many boards and pieces of the Viking
era have been found by archaeologists. They have been found in boat graves, and
game boards have been carved into chests which were brought on board ships,
suggesting that Vikings at sea sometimes killed time with such games.
Board games also play a prominent
part in sagas and Old Norse poetry. People who play board games are often
described as nobles, and Gardela argues that being skillful in board games was
a prerequisite for high-ranking Vikings.
These types of games demonstrated
thinking capacity, that they were intelligent people, capable of solving
strategic problems.
“Skills acquired in board games
could also be used in real life, in the hall or on the battlefield,” says
Gardela.
Women participated in drinking games
Vikings also liked partying, and
drinking competitions were not uncommon, usually with beer or mead on the menu,
and sometimes wine.
Adult women were common participants
in the drinking games, but in other games they were less active.
“They mostly acted as the
observers,” says Gardela.
People of the Viking age also used
miming, mummery and musical performances to entertain themselves.
A pinch of salt, a grain of truth
Asked how trustworthy the sagas are,
Gardela says the usual pinch of salt should be applied to the stories.
“But just because the sagas usually
date from the 13th century does not mean they should be dismissed,” says
Gardela. “There may be a grain of truth in every story, and a good idea is to
confront the saga evidence with the archaeological findings.”
The two data sources combined
suggest that Vikings knew not only how to kill their enemies, but also time.
By: Isak
Ladegaard
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