The Stockbonäs Battle

The visit to the Viking Village at Stockbonäs ended with an epic battle. All of a sudden the village was attacked by a group of Viking warriors. The newcomers badmouthed the villagers and they answered in the same way before the fighting began. It was brutal. Just look at that last photo if you don't believe me!

In Ancestors Footsteps

Five more photos from the re-enactment event I Förfäders Spår at Stockbonäs in Nynäshamn, where you could visit a very authentic Viking village last weekend. It was interesting to see how the "Vikings" went about their business ignoring the modern day people with mobile phones and cameras, most of the time that is, I did talk to a few people to get some details.

The Viking Carpenter

David Wåhlander is the Viking Carpenter. I met him during the Viking Festival in Handen. He told me the story about the lathe. It origins from ancient Egypt. 5000 years ago it took two people to operate the tool. An Emperor and his slave! David does it all on his own. He really loves his handicraft, and if you check out his web site you will find a photo gallery showing many of his works. www.snickarvikingen.com/

Fierce Viking Warriors

The Vikings were a fun bunch of people. They enjoyed drinking and raiding. At least the ones we have heard about. They were fierce warriors and sailed the world on their impressive ships. These days it's a bit different. I met a bunch of friendly (but scary looking), Vikings on Saturday when I visited the annual Viking/Medieval festival in Handen. They put on a great show and fought hard against each other during the day. The Viking on the top photo enjoying a glass of mead is Fredrik whom I met last year as well. His new battle dress was custom made for him and imported from Poland. It costed him a few thousand kronor, but as he is a good fighter (he beat me in a few Viking games last year), I'm sure he will get the money back on some raid. More Viking and Medieval photos to come this week.

Miss Honey Tongue

This is Lotta Honey Tongue and her friend Ragnar. They were at the Viking market in Handen selling their Viking handicraft. Ragnar was more the creative type he said, making some decorative fasteners for clothing. Lotta is a natural born sales person, so they should work well together. In the future Lotta is hoping to design some bags to sell at the different markets, including the Medieval Week in Visby. As you all know a true Viking will enjoy the occasional fight to the death. Followed by some serious eating ( and even drinking), and that's what you can see on the second and third photo. The somewhat heavyset Viking wannabe in blue gave the helmet protected Viking warrior a real fight. And if one of them managed to survive, I'm sure he limped over to the food stall which was operated by the shy Vikingess and her friend.They served two dishes, Meat on a stick and something called Bone of Bird.

The Vikings Are Coming!

Are you ready for some Vikings? I visited a Viking Market last weekend, and over the next week or so I will bombard you with photos and portraits from that fun event. The Viking with the beard on these two photos is called Fredrik. The red-headed Viking Babe answers to the name Helena. Both are into the whole Viking /Medieval thing and have been to several markets around Sweden. Like the Medieval Week on Gotland. Fredrik has also been to the market in Poland and the one on Åland. During this market they displayed some historical games. I tried the game Släppkäpp where I lost twice to Fredrik, who probably had been in hard training for the last few years. On the second photo Fredrik is leaping back in time! Or at least showing how to successfully beat Helena in backward leaping!