The Larder: Yule Special

[@MrEnaric]

The plot thickens! The stunt with yeast ring and poisoning of beer would have been cause enough for a summons to the Þing, but the cowardly act of pulling a blade on a síf, a young girl in this case was reason enough for open conflict and feud. A hard thing to settle in wergild if we look at Icelandic examples. And so much work for the Yule celebration. I truly respect all the hard daily work our ancestors had to do, all the effort to celebrate the seasons, and the local politics and hierarchy that played their roles. Respect to a (hard)way of life lost in our time and the people we once were. Very good film! Thank you and have a Happy Yule tide!

[@RavensOfAsgard]

Well filmed. Love the plot and story behind. Blessed Yule. ☀️

[@lailalivsdatter549]

Elsker disse videoer om vores historie. Tak💖

[@TheSaracen369]

i thought this series was finished. Pleasantly surprised to find a new video. Hope the farmer has his weapons ready because the other family seems well armed.

[@RibeVikingeCenterDenmark]

Yeah well, so did we, to be honest :-) But then we got the chance and funds to make a Yule Special + our colleagues from Bork Vikingehavn kindly offered to contribute to the plot :-)

[@lusolad]

Very cool...getting a glimpse of what life could be for our ancestors. I would like to be at that feast. Specifically what is the time period for this story?

[@MrEnaric]

Early Viking age, about 9th century ora little later.

[@RibeVikingeCenterDenmark]

Around 980 AD, which is late Danish Viking Age.

[@Sheepdog1314]

I read different opinions on the Nidstang. One of them was it actually frightens away the good land spirits...any thoughts?

[@MrEnaric]

It was meant to shame a cowardly man publicly but the humiliation actually fell on his entire aett if no (openly) action was undertaken against the accuser. It was the worst type of insult and could not be bought off. Sometimes, like the Egilsaga Skallagrimmsonar mentions, the níðstöng could indeed be used against the vættir as well, forcing all benevolent and fecund powers to leave the acres and cattle. This was intended to cause bad harvests, disease and hunger and destitution. In 17 century Iceland an magic sigill called 'dreprún' was recorded with this exact objective. It was the worst kind of curse.

[@RibeVikingeCenterDenmark]

The dead horse can be found in the sacrificial place in Ribe VikingeCenter. For the record: we bought it from a slaughterhouse. To the Vikings, the horse was the second largest sacrifice possible, and when it was killed, the meat was eaten at a big feast (a blót) and the hide put on a pole to let everybody know that a great sacrifice had been offered.