As I rode on a bus from Voss to Gudvangen in Norway, the friendly driver announced, "There's a Viking Market this weekend in Gudvangen. Some Norwegians like to amuse themselves by getting dressed up like Vikings, but it sure doesn't sound like fun to me." |
 That would have discouraged most folks, but not me ... because it's where I was headed. From the minute Georg Olafr Reydarsson Hansen contacted me on Facebook and told me he was the organizer of the annual market, I had made up my mind to go. If Norway is on your list of dream destinations, I'll venture a guess that you'll want to go as well. |
| In the bosom of a fjord, under a sky of cotton ball clouds, 500 authentically Viking-clad re-enactors from 20 nations brought the Vikings back to life. Bearded Georg, in a fur-trimmed hat, a glint in his eye and a large sword in a scabbard at his waist, sailed up in a Viking ship to oversee the event. |
I walked around, open-mouthed, as I met needle binders, blacksmiths, a fire juggler, rune crafters, a poet who uses Old Norse metric forms, sword fighters, actors, cooks, potters, candle makers, artists, furniture and blow horn artisans and leatherworkers who congregated to learn, exchange information, eat, sleep, perfect their crafts and yes, of course, have fun. In real life, whatever that means, they are scholars, miners, jewelers, traders, administrators, students, businesspeople, teachers, marine archeologists, cartoonists and musicians
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| Within half an hour of arriving, I was hooked. I changed my travel schedule and spent two days there. |
| I learned that in 1066 Harald Hardratha (Hard-Ruler) was the last of the Viking Kings. He attacked York in 1066 and when only 6 of the 200 ships that had set out returned, one of them bearing Harald's body, it was the end of the Viking Age. I found out that Vikings, indeed, sometimes wore horned helmets, but they weren't worn in battle, and that the Vikings didn't refer to themselves as Vikings. |
| They were traders who wanted wine, honey and silk, and they offered iron and grindstones. They were also reindeer hunters, farmers, craftspeople, blacksmiths, storytellers and other humans whose lives were not consumed by raiding and pillaging. Women were important in Viking society and they had democratic leanings. |
| When I met Lars Magnar Enoksen and learned that he writes books on Vikings and runes, I glued myself to his sleeve and followed him around. He said that ever since he was a little kid, he would go by himself to museums and stare at the artifacts. When he grew up, after stints as a punk rocker, a writer for Disney comics and a martial artist, he went to Iceland to track down the last people alive |
| Besides being a scholar and a Glima guy, Lars is also a Viking sorcerer. And the first night, in the silvery glow of moonlight, right there in the fjord, after quaffing mead from a horn and spitting it back on a rock, I learned how to do a Galdur, or incantation. |
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT VIKING FEST 2011:
Gudvangen or Gudvangr means: "Gods place by the water". Due to its strategic location at the end of the Nærøy Fjord, Sogn, Aurland Kommune, it is believed to have been a market place and communication center during Norway's Viking era. Nærøy valley is 30 km long including the fjord, and since 2006 it has been included as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.
As this is written, a complete reconstruction of a Viking town is being completed in Gudvangen. Under the supervision of noted archaeologists, construction is being based on evidence excavated in the merchant towns of Medieval Europe. Walking the Viking Valley of Gudvangen and the streets and alleys of its community will be a trip back in time.
In 2011, the Viking area will open every day from May 19 to September 11
The 2011 Viking Market will take place July 12-17.
The Viking Fest itself will be from July 10-24 for two full weeks of Viking life celebration when visitors will be able to explore reconstructed workshops, smell the fireplaces and tar covered walls, taste food made in iron kettles, sample the sweet old brews in authentic drinking horns and even row a Viking ship. Plans are to offer courses/lectures in Viking combat fighting, Glima wrestling, storytelling, Viking clothing, glass bead making, ceramics, embroidery, tablet weaving, Naal binding, plant dying, bow making, runes and mythology + more that may include classes/workshops in pit cooking, song & dance, Galder, sports and games, stone carving, drum making, iron making (bluestring) and iron forging / blacksmithing.
The culminating event will be a two-day Vikingrock Folk & Rock Festival !
In the 2010 Viking Fest, there were 450 Viking re-enactors from 20 nations. Big crowds are expected in 2011!
GETTING THERE:
For additional information on Getting from Oslo to Gudvangen please go to: http://gudvangen.com/where/
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For more information: Judith Fein's Website
www.globaladventure.us
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PHOTO CREDITS: Paul Ross, except as noted on final photo.
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