I'm always looking for new websites on
Vikings, Runes, and related subjects. If you know of any I've missed,
please send me the URLs! sunnyway@aol.com
The Smithsonian Institution's
traveling exhibit Vikings:The
North Atlantic Saga.
will be seen at museums across North America for the next
two years.
EXHIBIT TOUR
SCHEDULE
Washington, DC. National
Museum of Natural History, April 29-August 13, 2000
New York City, American
Museum of Natural History, October 21, 2000-January 20, 2001
Denver, Denver Museum of
Nature and Science, March 2, 2001 - May 31, 2001
Houston, Houston Museum of
Natural Science, July 13-October 14, 2001
Los Angeles, Natural History
Museum of Los Angeles County, November 23, 2001-March
16, 2002
Ottawa/Hull, Canadian Museum
of Civilization, May 16-October 14, 2002
Q: How
dad the Vikings communicate with one another?
A: By
Norse code.
NASA
Procedure for Viking Raids
This is a hoot!
Since the decline of the Carolingian Empire in the 10th
century, Building 245 of the NASA Ames Research Center has
been subject to periodic raids by Viking marauders. These
marauders generally attack in search of gold, religious
icons, and other forms of plunder. The NASA Ames Barbarian
Affairs Office has established the following procedures for
defense against Viking raids...more
A famous
Viking explorer returned home from a voyage and
found his name missing from the town register. His
wife insisted on complaining to the local civic
official who apologized profusely saying, "I must
have taken Leif off my census."
My
ancestor, the Viking, was terrible at plundering
and pillaging. He blundered his plundering, and he
was stupid with his pillaging. They called him the
pillage idiot.
This is from the Miami Herald on
Mon. Dec. 27, 1999:
The Vikings Are Coming!
If you haven't heard much about
Vikings, lately, be prepared to. When the craziness of New
Year's Eve 1999 has come and gone, the significance of the
millennium for North Americans will focus on two events
1,000 years apart that changed our history.
1. The first one 2,000 years ago is
manifest.
2. The second one-the discovery and
temporary settlement of North America by Vikings 1,000 years
ago (five centuries before Columbus visited)--is soon due to
jump off the pages of dusty history books right into our
mass media. It's an official jump, too. The United States,
Canada, Greenland, Iceland,the Faroe Islands and Norway have
been busy preparing for a slew of government sponsored
commemorative events. A newly built Viking ship and crew
again will sail the rout of Leif Eriksson and his men to the
shores of North America. Major TV specials and countless
newspaper and magazine articles about this renowned
Icelander and his feats are in the works. This newest Viking
invasion will be pervasive. But if you're not a historian or
a Scandinavian American, why should you really get
excited?
Well, first, we should all be in awe
of Leif's having pulled off such navigation and discovery,
especially in light of all the Y1K problems.
Second, what makes you so sure
you're not a Scandinavian American? Odds actually favor you
being one--or at least partially being one--if your
ancestors are from Ireland, Scotland, Normandy, Russia or
England. Vikings first raided but later settled in all those
places, altering the ndigenous gene pools
forever.
Don't count yourself out either if
your ancestors were from Finland, the Baltic or Sicily.
Vikings, Scandinavians. The Norse. Nordic people, Norsemen.
Northmen. They all mean the same people. They had lived in
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany for 5,000 years--after
presumably wandering in from central Asia, like most other
European tribes. Scandinavians are usually thought of as
blonde, tall, blue eyed and good looking. The stereotype is
often accurate. You'll find no dearth of brunette, short,
and unlovely Scandinavians.
FIGHT OR GO TO HEL
Vikings were Scandinavian seafarers,
soldiers and merchants who grew particularly rambunctious in
the Eighth Century when they added sails to their already
brilliantly designed water vessels. This new breed of ship
was the first anywhere that could boldly navigate the high
sea and very shallow inlet alike. The Vikings were looking
for new territory and booty. In addition, their religion
taught them that people who didn't die in battle faced an
afterlife under the tyranny of the queen of the underworld,
Hel, daughter of the devious and terrible "Dragon of
Midgardur." [Hel
was actually the daughter of Loki, and sibling of the world
serpent. Sunny] There was no
shortage of Viking recruits. And the world was unprepared
for the cargo of plundering and savagery that their ships
carried. The Viking Period lasted 300 years, coming to an
end in 1066. Europe had been drastically altered. Lots of
blood had been spilt. And replaced! In other words, if your
ancestors were from any of the countries listed above, you
probably aren't the same physically as you would have been
had it not been for the Vikings and their "adventures." For
a detailed brief on the country-by-country blood
transfusion, go to www.vikingcenter.com.
It can hardly be doubted that if the
same number of invaders and settlers of England had come
from sub-Saharan Africa--instead of Scandinavia--those of us
of English descent would easily qualify as "black" under
current US standards.
So, as this Leif Eriksson guy
becomes a media star in 2000, all Americans should follow
his story. It's a good one, giving many of us reason to
brush up on our genealogies and add another ethnic group in
which to take pride while celebrating the
millennium.
October 9, 2000 will mark the
millennium, or 1000 year anniversary of the first documented
European to set foot in North America. Leif Ericson,
according to the Icelandic sagas, led this party of
adventurers. Recent archeological findings by Helge and Anne
Stine Ingstad confirm a Viking settlement in L'Anse aux
Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada dating to approximately 1000
CE.
As a centerpiece of the Leif Ericson
Millennium Celebration, Viking ships from all nations are
invited to set sail for North America in the summer of 2000
to join in commemorating the voyage of Leif Ericson to North
America. Viking ships and their crews will assemble by
various routes at L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada,
by the first week in August, 2000. There they will take part
in a Viking Grand Encampment and Viking Village program
called "VINLAND 1000". They will then set sail in company
down the East Coast of Canada and the US in a voyage whose
theme is "In Search of Vinland". Each weekend will bring
them to a major city en route where the dramatic impact of
the Viking ships and their story will drive home the
discovery of North America by Vikings one thousand years
ago.
One of the visitors to the website has a dissenting view on
the Leif story:
"Ok, You have it partly correct.
Vikings were indeed, the FIRST Europeans to discover the
North America but it was not Leif Ericsson! He did establish
the first settlement, that much is correct but it was Biarni
Heriulfson (sometimes Bjarni Herjulfson). "
Biarni is
said to have discovered America by accident. According to
Norse sagas, Biarni sighted what is now known to be North
America A.D. 985 (or thereabouts), when he was sailing
from Iceland to Greenland and was blown off course. After
Biarni, other Norsemen made voyages to America. Most
notable was the famous Leif Ericsson (son of Eric the
Red), who, some fifteen years later, established a little
community called Vinland or Newfoundland. The Vinland
settlement is said to have lasted about a dozen years
until the Norsemen were finally driven off by hostile
Indians."
Source: Legends,
Lies & Cherished Myths of American
History
Author: Richard Shenkman
"He lists his sources for this
information in the book. It is very interesting and fun
reading. As a Viking descendent myself (traced lineage back
to William the Conqueror) I am also big on letting people
know that Vikings were here long before that slave trader,
native killer, Columbus even thought of making a voyage to
find a shorter route to India.
"Just thought you might like to have
the correct information though :) Keep up the good work
though, your site is great! There aren't nearly enough
Viking related sites that also have the history or links to
it."
Thanks Ava! I'd never heard of
Bjarni before. For those interested, Shenkman's book can be
ordered from Amazon.com by clicking on the hyperlinked title
above.
CBSunny
