My first Viking event

Two years ago I went to my first Viking event. It was hosted by the Viking information center in Den Oever, the Netherlands. And we came as a plus one with the Bloodaxes, I was not fully prepared for this: my clothing was still on the fantasy side, with laces on my pants and shoes from a much later time period. But boy was I happy to be included!

A baby Viking stirring in her pot of soup.

We did make our Oseberg inspired tents so that was that! The first day we made dinner above a fire. I did have a tripod (handmade by one of us) and a kettle so we made a soup. No fancy recipe just a simple chicken soup. Later that evening we joined the Bloodaxes at their fireplace. Sadly I did not stay long cause I was way to exhausted from that day. The next day we spend playing boardgames, seeing friends who came to visit and also hiding from the sun, cause we did not have a form of shade back then. And I was too awkward to ask others if we could join theirs.

First time setting it all up.

After that event I got a taste for more, learned about clothing, what I could improve and such. I had someone make a good pair of pants for me, made one myself as well. Got rid of all the fantasy type stuff, like my laced pants and overdress from cotton, and got working on my first tunic. It was made from felted wool, and inspired by the Skjoldehamn tunic find (more on that in a later post.) but it was ill fitted, and needed some retouches after making some mistakes. But is was a good start!

Much improved setup.

Fast forward a while and there's already some improvement: I made a flag (which has been improved on since this picture), got a fancy bedframe, a pan stand so I could bake a breakfast egg, or some flat bread. We even have a canopy now, but I still need to find the time to set it up. The tent needs some updates still: hiding the base of the closures with some leather for example. And I'm planning on making some form of painting on the front beams. This would all be so much easier if I got some more space. But alas, I'll have to wait for better weather so I can do stuff outside. Plenty of space there!

On to more Viking events!