The Viking Drinking Horn

While the Vikings did not put horns on their helmets, horns were still a large part of their culture. Heimdall will use his Gjallarhorn to signal the beginning of Ragnarök. In the earthly realms, Vikings carved, cleaned, polished, and decorated cow and goat horns to make the Viking drinking horn.

Before the Viking Drinking Horn

The Vikings didn’t invent the drinking horn. Horns for drinking appear across ancient Europe and the steppes: the Scythians and Thracians used them, and the Greeks made horn-shaped vessels called rhyta. Closer to the Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons buried magnificent horns at Sutton Hoo and Taplow.

Drinking Up

A Viking drinking horn ends in a point, so you can’t set it down until it’s empty. That made the horn a test. Accepting a horn from your host and leaving it unfinished was poor form, and draining it in one pull showed stamina. Even Thor could fail: in the Prose Edda he visits the giant Utgarda-Loki, who hands him a horn that “strong drinkers” empty in one draft. Three mighty swallows barely lower it, because, as Thor later learns, the end of the horn was sunk in the sea. His drinking had lowered the ocean and created the tides. (The whole contest is in Thor and Loki Go to Utgard, pt 4; the tale begins with pt 1, The Goat Feast.)

There have been some examples of horn stands that hold the horn. However, these likely served when the horn was empty.

What Filled the Viking Drinking Horn

Drinkers filled horns with alcohol. Mead, made from honey, was the drink of feasts and poetry. Ale was the everyday drink, brewed at different strengths. Wine, a luxury for the elite, came mostly from the Frankish Rhineland.

The Viking Drinking Horn as a Status Symbol

The first way the Viking drinking horn indicated the host’s status was by its size. A larger horn was more impressive. Owners could then outfit the horn with jewels and precious metals. They might also carve it with geometric symbols or Norse mythology scenes.

The Viking Drinking Horn and Oaths

Drinking horns were often the instrument of choice to bind two people in an oath-taking ceremony. It was important that the people involved drink alcohol from the horn to legitimize the oath.

Drink Your Full Measure

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Keep reading: Viking Hospitality and Generosity and Thorrablót, the Mid-Winter Feast.