This post was written for the Viking summer of 2025, but every idea in it works in any summer, wherever the reader lives.
As the Summer Solstice approaches, it’s time to start thinking about how you can make this a summer fit for a saga. Vikings didn’t do anything half-way, so neither should you. Here are some suggestions to get a little more Viking Summer style into your life.
Travel for a Viking Summer
The Vikings traveled far, and they did it in summer. Now it’s your turn. Walk the ramparts of a Danish ring fortress like Trelleborg. Stand in the reconstructed longhouses at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, row a longship at Lofotr, or explore Viking York, Dublin or Orkney. Still, where you go matters less than going with an explorer’s spirit.
Get Outdoors
Summer was the time for Vikings to be outdoors. Some traveled; many farmed. Those who lived in the north celebrated as the sun came out to warm them. Going outside connected the Vikings to nature, their ancestors, and the invisible creatures that lived around them. When you go outdoors, you’ll feel the same connections. Better still, there’s a bonus for getting on the water with a boat you’ve got to row yourself.
Axes and Arrows
Get to know the tools the Vikings used. An axe is great for splitting winter firewood, and great fun to throw. First, look for an axe-throwing venue near you and learn to throw safely before you try it in the backyard.
Archery is another great Viking Summer skill. Look for a traditional archery club and try shooting with a simple wooden bow, no sights or pulleys. Vikings hunted and fought with longbows, and there is nothing like the thrum of a string you drew by hand.
Get Together for a Viking Summer Feast
Viking celebrations were about food, friends, and stories. Invite your favorite people to a feast, and ask each of them to bring someone you haven’t met yet. Then fill the table, pass the drinking horn (mead, or cider, or something non-alcoholic), and let the stories grow bolder as the night goes on. A game of hnefatafl after dinner would not be out of place.
Make an Oath
Oaths mattered enormously in Norse culture. In fact, an oath-breaker could lose everything. In the Völuspá, oath-breakers wade through heavy streams in the afterlife. So make one this summer: vow to do one thing that brings out your inner Viking. If you’d like to make a second, join our newsletter and share that spirit with more Alaskans.
Leave a comment on how you plan to make this the best Viking Summer ever.
Sources
- The Poetic Edda, Voluspa, translated by Henry Adams Bellows (1923): the stanza on oath-breakers wading heavy streams (38–39, numbering varies by edition).
