{"id":76,"date":"2009-04-26T14:33:04","date_gmt":"2009-04-26T18:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=76"},"modified":"2009-04-26T14:33:04","modified_gmt":"2009-04-26T18:33:04","slug":"vikings-the-beginning-of-international-relations-in-scandinavia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/vikings-the-beginning-of-international-relations-in-scandinavia\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings-the beginning of international relations in Scandinavia"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to a comment on\u00a0a recent post about Norway’s involvment in the Sri Lankan conflict, I would like to address Norway’s relationship with the rest of the world through the lens of history.\u00a0 As most of you already know, the Vikings were a seafaring people who traveled great distances to loot, trade and colonize.\u00a0 The Vikings conquered parts of the British Isles, Iceland, and even Canada.\u00a0 They also reached as far as Russia, the Middle East, Constantinople, and North Africa.\u00a0 These are surprisingly far distances to travel by sea for people from lands far in the north.\u00a0\u00a0Quite impressive.\u00a0 They couldn’t have done it without their sophistocated ships-the longships and the knarrs<\/strong>.\u00a0 The longships were designed for speed and agility for use in warfare and exploration, while the knarr<\/strong> was primarily used to carry cargo.<\/p>\n

There are two stereotypes about the Vikings that I would like to dispel.\u00a0 The pictorial images of Vikings that we see are usually incorrect representations.\u00a0 Most pictures of Vikings you see have horned helmets, right?\u00a0 Well, historians have come to a consensus that perhaps Scandinavians wore helmets with horns for ritual purposes, but the helmets they wore in battle did not have horns.\u00a0 As is\u00a0sometimes true about historical documentation, those who write the stories are not always those\u00a0who were involved.\u00a0 Imagine one-on-one combat Viking-style with huge horns attached to your helmet.\u00a0 This seems like it would be cumbersome.\u00a0 And it would have been.\u00a0 The helmets that Vikings wore were conical and made of hard leather and wood for reinforcement.\u00a0 Chieftan Vikings wore helmets made of iron with a chain and a mask.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second stereotype about the Vikings that is untrue is a matter of hygiene.\u00a0 Images of Vikings typically present them as dirty savages.\u00a0 However, the discovery of personal grooming tools proves that the Vikings were concerned with their cleanliness.\u00a0 Combs, tweezers, razors, and ear-cleaning tools have been discovered.\u00a0 The Vikings also made soap, which they used to clean and bleach their hair.\u00a0 Vikings in Britain actually are thought to have paid excessive attention to their personal hygiene as they bathed once per week.\u00a0 In fact, l\u00f8rdag<\/strong>, the word for ‘Saturday’ in Norwegian, comes from the word ‘washing day’ in old Norse (in modern day Icelandic, which comes from Old Norse, laugardagur, <\/strong>is still the word for Saturday).<\/p>\n

Now that you know a little more about the Vikings, you can tell the next Minnesotan you see who is cheering for the Vikings to take off the horns.\u00a0 And if the person wants to talk shop about the Vikings, you can tell him\/her that the nature of the seafaring nation is probably one of the reasons why Norway is so involved internationally to this day even though it is geographically isolated from mainland Europe.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to a comment on\u00a0a recent post about Norway’s involvment in the Sri Lankan conflict, I would like to address Norway’s relationship with the rest of the world through the lens of history.\u00a0 As most of you already know, the Vikings were a seafaring people who traveled great distances to loot, trade and colonize.\u00a0…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,3668],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","category-norway-and-the-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t