Why were the vikings so deadly? Why do we not know enough about the culture of such a fascinating era?
This is the truth about VIKINGS.
*1. Vikings didn’t wear horned helmets
You're probably thinking this is a joke, but I assure it is not. Defiant to most popular beliefs, the vikings never actually wore the famous 'horned helmets'. From ancient scriptures and artefacts there was obvious use of headgear, but none of which had a horn like instrument attached. Although Thor (Norse god of thunder) wore a helmet with wings, perhaps the origin of this confusion came from replicas made by the worshippers, found by archaeologists, could've been worn down and stripped off making horned helmets a decent educated guess.
*2. Vikings used wood and urine to create fires
Yup, you heard it here first ladies and gents. Well not actually wood but a fungus that would grow on tree bark called 'touchwood'. This touchwood fungus was boiled in their urine for several days before being pounded into a felt like substance. The sodium nitrate found in urine would allow the material to smolder rather than burn, so Vikings could take fire with them on the go. Crazy but amazing.
*3. Vikings were crazy about Skiing. Literally
Scandinavians developed primitive skis at least 6,000 years ago, though ancient Russians may have invented them even earlier. By the Viking Age, Norsemen regarded skiing as an efficient way to get around and a popular form of recreation. They even worshipped a god of skiing, Ullr.
*4. Brunette viking men would bleach their hair blonde
To conform to their culture’s beauty ideals, brunette Vikings—usually men—would use a strong soap with a high lye content to bleach their hair. In some regions, beards were lightened as well. It’s likely these treatments also helped Vikings with a problem far more prickly and rampant than mousy manes: head lice.
*5. Odin has suicidal tendencies...
Odin being the all-father leader of all the Nordic gods of old was believed to be incredibly powerful. Odin was crazy about knowledge, so much as to walk to deaths gate to find out and expand his wisdom. Odin had discovered 'runes' ancient Nordic power. However he could not decipher or make these runes appear. So in a desperate attempt to find these runes Odin hung himself from a branch of Yggdrasil(believed to be the great tree that held all the worlds), pierced himself with his spear, and peered downward into the shadowy waters below. He forbade any of the other gods to grant him the slightest aid, not even a sip of water. He survived in this state, teetering on the precipice that separates the living from the dead, for no less than nine days and nights. At the end of the ninth night, he at last perceived shapes in the depths: the runes! They had accepted his sacrifice and shown themselves to him, revealing to him not only their forms, but also the secrets that lie within them. Some popular belief was that Odin actually died there, and the runes brought him back to life giving him more power than he ever had. The most interesting thing about this is that this made the god Odin a mortal, different to modern day beliefs of Gods being eternal and undying. Odin was a man, a man with suicidal tendencies out to figure out the universe. Props to him.
Well that's it for this post, feel free to give me criticism or anything else you wish to tell me. Upvote for a part 2 if this does well I will take intensive time to create a much better Viking post. Skål!