The Vikings' burning question: some decent graveside theatre

The Times of London ^ | October 26, 2008 | Magnus Linklater

[SunkenCiv]

The average Viking lived a life in which spirituality and thoughts of immortality played a far more important part than the rape and pillage more usually associated with his violent race, according to new research. A study of thousands of excavated Viking graves suggests that rituals were performed at the graveside in which stories about life and death were presented as theatre, with live performances designed to help the passage of the deceased from this world into the next...

Detailed analysis of the burials revealed a remarkable variety of objects found alongside the bodies - from everyday items to great longships, wagons and sledges, together with animals of many different species and even human sacrifices.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Natchez Hawk]

That would be a “screaming Viking” you are referencing?

Great. Now I’m white-knuckling.

[SunkenCiv]

Haggis, the Food of Poets (Well, One Scottish Poet)
NY Times | November 19, 2002 | Warren Hoge
Posted on 11/22/2002 6:23:05 AM PST by jordan8
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/793864/posts

[snip] “Anything gushing or reeking is anathema to an agency determined to promote the idea of food as pasteurized, sanitized, sterilized, and probably savorless,” said Magnus Linklater, who writes a column from Scotland for The Times of London. “Add the word entrails, and they reach for the rule book.” [end]

[SunkenCiv]

I thought someone would recognize it, but wow! That was fast.

[Natchez Hawk]

I’m at my fastest in the morning—after lunch, different story ;^)

Great story. Got to love those Vikings.

[massgopguy]

You’re not going to beat the Colts kicking field goals.

[I still care]

A lot of people don’t know the Vikings practiced human sacrifice, and that some of these funerals were huge affairs. The guy that writes this stuff writes like it was something new, but there were accounts of this stuff around for years.

I remember reading a book eyewitness to history, or something like that, where the first article was an actual account of a viking funeral with the murder of at least one woman.

[oh8eleven]

I had to have some minor hand surgery last year for Dupuytren's Syndrome. The spread of the disease is explained as -
"It is more common in men of Scandinavian, Irish, or Eastern European ancestry. Interestingly, the spread of the disease seems to follow the same pattern as the spread of Viking culture in ancient times."
So I guess I have some Viking blood in me along with the Irish!

[SunkenCiv]

Fascinating, hadn’t heard of this.