Having missed last year due to COVID, this year's Viking Festival in Sheringham (the name of which is derived from Viking "Home of Scira's People") returned at a new location on a new date.
In 2020 the event took place in the main town near the beach, this year it was on Beeston Common which gave plenty of space to spread out. There were lots of interesting craft tents demonstrating working with horn, bone, antler, textiles and more. There were also plenty of weapons for the kids to hold (only the blunted combat blades, not the "sharps"!).
Because the event is taking place after the move to British Summer Time (and also due to needing to be on an incoming tide), the boat-burning on the beach took place after bed-time for the youngsters btu hopefully we'll get to see it again next year.
We had a particularly interesting conversation with a Viking maiden about the dyes she used with her wool. We already knew most of the substances she used (onion skins etc.) but one interesting fact we hadn't come across before is how water hardness affects the colours. The same substance used in Norfolk (extremely hard water) can produce a different colour to the same thing used in a very soft water area. We also found out that knopper galls can be used in dying. We've made ink using marble galls and there are plenty of both types on the Oak trees round our village, so I think we might need to try a few experiments during the summer holidays.
| Wool dyes. |
Of course, in battle there are always casualties...
| Hnefatafl. |