Pastimes and Daily Routine
Life was hard work, even for wealthy Vikings and few people had much time for relaxing. When men were not away raiding and trading they were on the farm or hunting. Then there were repair jobs to be done around the house, as well as tools to be sharpened and cleaned. The land had to be ploughed using oxen or horses to pull the plough. Seed had to be planted, vegetables grown and fruit trees pruned. Then there was the most important time of the year, the harvest, when the crops had to be gathered in, firewood prepared and animals hunted and fish caught.
The women had many tasks which included cooking and preserving food for the long winter months, spinning and weaving wool, making clothes, as well as looking after children and older family members. The children did not go to school, but helped around the house and farm, gathering and chopping firewood, looking after the farm animals and preparing for their later lives. The boys would train as sailors and warriors. Up to the age of about eleven or twelve, girls would seldom be seen without a drop spindle in their hands as all the family’s clothes would be made ‘in-house’. The girls would prepare for marriage and would probably have been married by the age of twelve. They would have had their first child by thirteen. Viking boys would help in the fields until they were old enough to train as warriors. Not all made the grade though, and those not accepted would be returned to their farms. Men married around 18-19 yrs. but began raiding and sailing by fourteen.
In the few moments that Vikings found to relax, they might gather around their fires listening to a storyteller who would entertain them with one of the many legends or stories of their ancestors. The stories might last for hours and yet were not written down but remembered by the story teller, even though they may have consisted of thousands of lines of poetry.
The Vikings were also fond of drinking a strong beer called mead. They would have long drinking parties where there would be singing and dancing and boasts about their adventures and contests of strength such as arm and leg wrestling, or competitions of endurance, such as axe holding. There were games like HNEFATAFL (king's table), when two players would fight out a war game, with a white king and his warriors trying to break out from the centre to a corner of the board and the black warriors trying to prevent them.
Another more serious pastime was predicting the future by consulting RUNE STONES. Runes were the Viking alphabet. They were not spoken but carved on many Viking objects such as weapons and ships. Rune stones were clay tablets on which Runic letters were carved. These stones were then turned face down, shuffled and placed in a pattern on the table. They would then turn over the stones and, depending on the letters, make up a picture of the future.