You must be living under the rocks if you never heard about Vikings, especially since various Hollywood movies and web series are made on them.
Vikings is the name given to seafaring people and were active from the 8th century to the 11th century in the modern-day Scandinavia region which at present are Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Vikings were mainly active in things like raiding, pirating, and trading. They were called Norse, Norsemen, and Danes by others. Here are four amazing facts about them which you will find interesting for sure.
Vikings worshiped Norse Gods and it is an interesting thing to know that the names of days we use today are taken from these Gods only. From Odin also known as Woden, we got the name Wednesday while Thursday came from Thor, the God of Thunder in Norse mythology. Tuesday and Friday came from Gods named Tyr and Figg, the God of War.
The Vikings are not equals among themselves and they were divided into three different classes which were Jarls, Karls, and Thralls. Jarls were at the top of the hierarchy and they were the rulers of their community. After them comes Karls, mostly the workers and soldiers, and at last the Thralls who were the slaves and servants of both the upper classes. Most of them were captured soldiers whom the Vikings defeated in battles.
In all the modern-day movies, web series, and pictures of Vikings, it’s shown that they wear helmets with horns on them. But in reality, they didn’t have such helmets but normal helmets which were common in those days.
The Vikings mostly didn’t bury the dead like other parts of Europe in that era. Known today as ‘Viking Funeral’, the body is set afloat in a boat. Mostly this type of funeral is done when someone prominent among them dies. Another type of funeral they used is known as ‘ship burials’ where the body of the dead is kept on a boat with things for the dead to use in the underworld and bury the boat underground.
