Dressed to Kill

Last weekend, Schatz and I went to Oerlinghausen near Bielefeld, for a Viking weekend in their Archaeological Open Air Museum. It is a fairly small place, compared to what we know from Denmark, for example, but it takes you from a summer camp of ice age reindeer hunters via a stone age and a bronze age farm building all the way to an early medieval (Saxon) homestead. In addition, there are a number of buildings focusing on various aspects of daily life, such as a bake house, a brewing house, or a pottery. Mainly, visitors find period items in the buildings, and also some explanatory exhibits. In addition, the museum offers quite some workshops on things such as smithing, bow making, stone age bread baking, dyeing with plants, etc.

Last weekend, though, the museum was populated by Vikings, Saxons, Slavs, Merovingians, Ottonians, i.e. representatives of various parts of Europe from about 600 to 1050 AD. People showed crafts, there was a show kitchen informing the audience about period cooking with seasonal ingredients, there was an archery exhibit, some warriors explained early medieval weapons, armoury and warcraft, as well a small period fashion show.

The weather was good, the audience in good numbers despite a 'competing' town party - and as usual, I didn't really get to take any pictures. For those, I would like to refer you to blog entries by Kees and Marion, as well as Marion's Flickr pages.

Schatz had been working on a needle case during the weekend, which was snatched out of his hands by a greedy re-enactress almost before it was finished. Such early medieval needle cases made from bird wing bones (usually goose or swan) have been found all over Scandinavia.

needle box from upper goose wing bone

In this particular model, a piece of fabric inside the bone holds the needles. To get to them, you pull it out of the bottom of the needle case. It is typically hung from a woman's brooches or her belt.

Woman's coat based on Haithabu finds

Ute had just finished her new 2-layer coat based on finds from Haithabu. Most interesting and looking very warm indeed!

Last but not least, the garden of an Oerlinghausen local which has captivated my attention for many years.

backyard railway signal

I'm not sure whether the train ever stops here... but then maybe it's to regulate the slide traffic.

Laurel and Hardy wisely deciding NOT to climb the mountain

This actually is from the same garden. I guess it's better than having it all inside the living room...

Up-nosed and wet in Alphen aan den Rijn

The first weekend in September traditionally marks a major Viking market in Archeon, an archaeological theme park in Alphen a/d Rijn, about 45 minutes from Amsterdam. And after not being able to participate for a couple of years, Schatz and I had decided we'd really have to make it this year.

Easier said than done, as we found out. First I came down with a bad headcold a few days before but then Schatz caught some of the same, too, and so we decided to not go a day early as we had originally planned. But hey, what is a sore throat and some major coughing when you're a hardy Viking! Besides, there are pills and syrups and warm socks and shawls...

And so we packed my trusty longship...

Chests, boxes, pillows, furs, cowhides, tent, blankets - almost ready to go

It's a good thing we bought a roof box some years ago, at least we now fit everything into the car and still are able to use the rear view mirror. If we don't also take the cooking gear, that is.

We are quite experienced these days as far as packing goes but carrying everything downstairs and packing the lot still takes more time than we would like. No pain, no gain - as they say.

By the time we hit the motorway north of Hamburg, it was after 2 pm. Still no reason to worry, the weather was good and maybe the weather forecast for Archeon, according to which it started raining there just about this time, was inaccurate. Wishful thinking!

A few minutes later, we half-heartedly listened to the traffic warnings on the radio. 20 km traffic jam somewhere on the A1 near Bremen. Arrrgh! But wait, maybe it was not on 'our side' but in the other direction. The next traffic alert, 15 minutes later, told us otherwise. Although it was 'stop and go' now and only 15 km...

Schatz started checking the maps for possible detours. There was a secondary road parallel to the Autobahn but we all know what happens when traffic jams - everybody takes the detour and that is jammed, too.

So we watched the trucks. They are usually pretty well informed... but not this time. They trucked on, and so did we, and a few kilometers later, traffic jammed. It was stop and go, and then stop and go, and then it stopped again. And, of course, it unjammed a few kilometers before the next offramp, so we got our hopes up again, and then a few minutes later it jammed up again. Of course.

About an hour later than we should have, we reached an Autobahn junction near Bremen. And here we found what we think was the reason for this traffic jam: traffic arrives in two lanes, then a third lane is opened on the left. So far so good. But for construction purposes, the right lane then is closed about 1 km later. I think you can guess what happens... people race to the front, then hit the brakes to get back in line. And this is passed to the back. The odd accident and overheated engine do not help. Sometimes I do wonder about the organizational skills of traffic regulators! Just a little, mind you.

In the meantime, though, we had time to admire the landscape (flat, green, cows) and our co-jammers. One of the trucks looked a bit out of place, though.

Keep on truckin'

Coming up behind it, the truck's cab reminded me of US highways, and lo and behold, it was indeed a US truck. I wonder whether they're allowed to blow US truck horns in Europe...

Once the interesting part was over, i.e. shortly after running free from the traffic jam, we changed drivers. Which gave me the opportunity to try my hand at some pictures - most of which didn't turn out too well until I used the GIMP's artistic improvement features.

Schatz, looking decent again with short hair
(according to his aunt)

By the time we reached Archeon, it was getting dark. Partly because it was way past 20h, and partly because big bad black clouds were pulling in. At the gate, we found out where we were supposed to pitch our tent - but when we got there, the only spot left was so muddy that nobody would even walk across.

Back to Martin, the organiser. On the way, we saw a spot where our tent would fit and the people already 'living' there were okay with it but we still wanted to make sure Martin hadn't planned to put someone else there.

SIGH. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be nice and decent and considerate: by the time we got back from Martin and turned the car and were about to start to set up the tent, it started to rain. Really Rain. And it got darker. No wonder, it was close to 21h by now. What to do? Maybe the rain would stop in 15 minutes time and we could pitch the tent without getting soaked? What if the rain went on, or even got worse? Then it would be even darker...

We went for the sure thing and put the tent up in the pouring rain. My trusty Astra stationwagon's lights lit the ground for us, and at least the rain was not too cold. By the time the tent was up, the ground sheet held a few gallons of water and so did our clothes. What the heck, we pulled the groundsheet out again, shook the water off and started to build our bed of sheep skins.

Around that time, the rain stopped. I still believe that if we had waited with pitching the tent, it would have kept raining for hours... pssst - don't you dare to tell me otherwise!

It was really dark now and with our neighbour's van gone, I thought I'd move my car to use my front lights better. Uh oh. The sounds my poor little diesel engine made when I tried to get it started... it seemed that the battery held enough power to provide us with some light - but not enough to start the engine! I guess 5 years of good use take their toll on those things.

To make a long story (okay, it only took 45 minutes but it felt like hours) short: we got everything into the tent, our neighbours helped us jumpstart the car, we pulled down the front flap without completely closing the tent, put on our dry Viking clothes, had a quick drink, coughed and sneezed some, and fell asleep.

Night view from a wet tent with fancy knotwork

The next two days were filled with showing crafts to the visitors, meeting with friends and acquaintances, not having enough time to talk to everyone or seeing everything. And rain. Always rain. (I guess we used up all the good weather in May, June and July...)

But hey, who cares about rain when you have a good rainproof tent and some sideflaps that will protect you even from sideways rain! We were even able to offer a little hospitality to Danny and Marion who sat with us both days. Thank you both for your very pleasant company! And for watching the tent when Schatz and I went for a little stroll on Sunday.

Marion and Danny hard at work: needlebinding

Like always, taking pictures is the last thing you get around to when you're dressed in period clothes and basically busy explaining and demonstrating. I guess that is one of the main reasons why I have come to like going to events incognito from time to time...

But we got around to taking a few more in our cozy little tent.

Lady Marion of York - hiding in our tent from some evil Sheriff

Lady Danny, aka Sews with Wolves

The pictures are taken with a small digital camera - and as practical as it is for reasons of size and being able to hide it in a historical setting, the quality of the images leaves much to be desired. Still, with a bit of goodwill, you are able to see the rain behind Danny in the above photograph. It was raining 'strings', as they say in German... which is just the stage before raining 'blares'...

A typical Schatz picture:
Danny 'up-nosed' and I wet and miserable and not in the mood for pictures.
Our motto: Nous Maintiendrons!

When the market drew to a close at 17h on Sunday, we packed as quickly as we could and - yes, really! - we got our things into the car as dry as could be after a day filled with rain. And around 2h the next morning, we had even managed to drive all the way back to Northern Germany and unpack most of our stuff, as well.

Conclusion: a good market, good people, good company, good visitors, good organisation by Martin and Rona, a good feast on Saturday night - we will be back.

Convenience Loo and Viking Tux

Last weekend, Schatz and I went to the Kreismuseum in Syke near Bremen for a weekend Viking craftsmarket. A group of about 25 re-enactors had been put together by Lutz from the Hacheschmiede. Crafts shown included smithing, bow- and arrow-making, working with bone and antler, turning wooden bowls on a lathe, filting, card weaving silk braids with silver wire brocading, turnshoe-making, silver smithing, pottery, and last but not least, sewing, needlebinding and spinning.

When Schatz and I arrived on Friday evening during a major downpour, most other people were already there and had put up their tents. Unfortunately, the space allocated to us was not only wet but rather under water and quite muddy - and on top of that we weren't quite sure whether it was big enough. And you don't want to drag your tent about in the mud this way or that in the dark to be absolutely certain you cannot fit it in.

Fortunately, Lutz still has a flat in the same town and so we bedded down in his guestroom for the night, hoping the weather would be better the next morning. Lutz is moving to another city and so his flat is rather empty but fortunately he has not yet dismantled his loo corner.

Convenience Loo with built-in beaker holder and reading table

With a maximum load capacity of 500 kg, the reading table is perfect to hold heavy exhibition catalogues, smith hammers or possibly even anvils. A must for any smith!

Just prior to leaving the museum grounds on Friday night, we had spotted the perfect place for our tent, though: right among a few 18th and 19th century gravestones, underneath some majestic trees with extremely good foliage... had we discovered this place when we arrived, the tent would have been up in no time. On the other hand, we would have missed the Lutz' loo then.

(c) Syke Kreismuseum

Anyway, the next morning we set up our tent in the 'graveyard' (top left, between the children's museum and the vegetable patch) at 8 am, while the space originally reserved for us was taken up by two ladies whose matrasses had already submerged the night before in a little brook that had formed underneath their Viking tent. The joys of roughing it!

Torsten was roughing it, too. We discovered that his second 'good' shoe had somehow not made it to Syke and so he had to wear his worn-out Iron Age shoes with major holes in their soles. Since I had packed the shoes and not discovered the shoe's absence, I did penance by doing all the outdoor walking (and fetching) while he kept his feet dry and warm on a few pieces of wood underneath his workbench.

Even though it was still raining some, we managed rather well under the trees, and the audience quite appreciated the reprieve from the rain and mud there as well. A good 250 people actually did show up despite the cold and the drizzle. Real die-hards, hats off to you!

In the meantime, Birgitt and Michi from the Trutzhavener Feldküche worked hard to prepare the banquet which we were to enjoy on Saturday night.

The banquet was exquisite as always. The food was medieval - with a bit of Roman thrown in for good measure.

Michi is happy when we are

Some excerpts from the menu:

- chicken fillet rolls with apple
- pork carpaccio with dill and chives
- moretum
- hare and rabbit stew with coarsely ground pepper and coriander
- grilled salmon on a bed of red cabbage with ginger and mustard
- leg of moufflon with apples, sauted with tarragon and parsley
- smoked pork roast with Swiss Chard (or Mangold) and gooseberries
- plum compote with a trace of black pepper
- wheat pudding

Leg of Moufflon! Bones! Moufflon leg bone! Schatz' eyes lit up but Susanne was closer. And faster!

Susanne and the Moufflon Bone Whistle

And once she had gotten hold of the bone - under the pretense of helping Timm with carving the meat - there was no way she would let go of it again. The twinkle in her eyes did not leave any space for doubt about who our bone and antler worker was at the market.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The next day brought better weather and more than eleven hundred visitors. Schatz' dad and his aunt and uncle also came to visit and he showed them around while I demonstrated needlebinding, silver wire braiding the Vikingestrik, polished brass and bronze wire beads and explained and answered questions until my lips started to fray a little at the edges.

A little later, I was able to briefly visit the museum's permanent exhibition. If you are in the area, and like to be taken back not only to your own childhood but a bit further, do pay the museum a visit, it is most delightful. Their collection focuses on 19th and 20th century crafts, agriculture and household activities but there is also a typical 1930's classroom and a historical exhibition about the history of the area, including finds from as early as the Stone Age and right through to the Middle Ages.

Until the end of August 2008, the Kreismuseum is host to a special exhibition of quilts, under the motto "Man and Sea". Dutch and German quilters have put together an extraordinary collection that left me speechless. And without pictures of my own! Fortunately, some of the quilts can be found on the net...

One of my favourites is called Aquamarine Window by Miriam Pet-Jacobs. "Silence under water. You can open your mouth but no sound emerges. You are cocooned, as it were. Through a window you catch a glimpse of the chaotic world", she describes it. Another quilt that really caught my eye is by the same artist and is called Rhythm I. This two-sided quilt is made as a tripticon and somewhat wasted on a wall...

By 5 pm, when the museum officially closed its gates for the audience, we were worn out. The audience in Syke was just as curious as the last two times, not just asking questions but listening to replies and then asking some more... a big applause to all those who visited!

It was time to pack up and go home. When we took the tent down and lifted the ground sheet, we discovered that the voles in this part of the museum had not lazed about during the weekend: they had tunneled a penthouse addition to their extensive tunnel system right underneath our tent. Unfortunately, the cameras were already packed in our chests. And it was only when we arrived at home that we noticed that neither Schatz nor I had taken a picture of our little tent in the 'graveyard'. Wadda mistaka to maka!

At home, we also found the missing shoe in Torsten's car where it had been hiding between the backseat and the side wall since our return from Ribe a few weeks ago...

While carrying several heavy chests upstairs, we lamented the photographs we hadn't taken, the ones that didn't come out (Birgitt and Michi in their director's chairs supervising the food in the barn cooking itself), and the captions we never got to write about graveyards or voles or cooks. Until we unpacked some of the items we had acquired in Syke, that's when we started grinning broadly:

Tux goes Viking

The egg cozies are made by Anja Stolzmann from Dat Beekfolk. She made Tux from a picture we had given her, and the result is most amazing. The helmet is an egg cozy itself, of course. I'm not supposed to eat a lot of eggs but at least I'll do it in style from now on! The tux, by the way, is for a friend's birthday: kill that lobster, Jan!

Strawberry Hoard

Not far from where Schatz has his office, a farmer decided he could make easier - and possibly more - money from his strawberry field by letting people pick their own instead of taking them to the market.

His giant strawberry-on-wheels by the road, however, reminded me that I hadn't checked our own strawberry field for a while. So when we came home, I went to collect our own giant strawberries:

Such a treasure should, of course, be served in a silver bowl - which I did.


Oh, and here's a glimpse of our very own strawberry field:

Jork Viking Market, Part 2: Fight Show

Normally, Early Medieval fight shows follow one of several patterns:

• King A attacks the lands of King B. They trade insults, maybe have a fight of champions, then bash each others' heads in. Works well with large numbers of warriors (150+), especially when line fights are included such as during the Danish Moesgard market during the last weekend of July.

• Thorstein the Wild enters a village with his men with the intention of pillaging and plundering. Well, they might have some other intentions, too, but in view of all the families on their weekend outings they pretend they don't. Usually short exchange of demands and insults, followed by 48 seconds of fighting. Often used in small locations and with small groups of warriors.

• The fighters present just want to find out who the best fighter of the market is - they fight a so-called Circle, man against man, with or without honour (without or with backstabbing allowed). When the Circle is all that is shown, the audience is welcome to watch but at times is considered more of a nuisance than anything else.

• Someone explains to the audience the various weapons that existed during the Early Middle Ages, who would own what and then have two warriors demonstrate how one would fight with the weapons. Very educational, often used with very small groups of warriors. Can get tedious after a while if too much is narrated.

Often, of course, the fight show consists of a mix of events, and sometimes new, rather enjoyable bits are added, as happened in Jork on May 24.

The 30 minute fight show started with an unusual overture:

A band of wild Vikings, lead by Einar (names all fictitional), enters the village of Jork and demands silver, children and women from the locals. They try to grab a child or two, pry some rings from fingers but meet no real opposition.

When over the hill comes Sigurd, a local cobbler. He walks up to Einar as if this were the most normal thing you do under these circumstances and starts to reason with him. Alas, to no avail. So Sigurd appeals to Einar's honour. Einar is a very honourable man, of course, and thus immediately agrees to a fight between the two to settle the issue once and for all.

But wait, in a duel you should have a second and when Sigurd agrees, Einar places one of his men nearby. Oh, and a rich man should also have a second second, and a third. And since that looks strange, there should be a fourth second and so forth.

And before Sigurd can say "hey" or "wait a minute" or "what the hell do you think you are doing here with your thirds and fourths and fifths and sixths and sevenths and eighths", all of Einar's men are placed in a close circle around the two.

Einar placing his umpteenth second around Sigurd

I suppose you can see it coming just like we did: before Sigurd can draw his sword, Einar's men overwhelm him, beat him unconscious and drag him quickly to a remote corner of the field. Einar, of course, is more than happy with his band of Vikings...

Einar flashing a big grin

Just in time they turn away from poor Sigurd. For now Eric, the fisherman, approaches. He also believes in the honesty of men and falls for Einar's spiel - and ends up right next to Sigurd.

When next Thorgil, the cooper, approaches, Sigurd weakly tries to warn him by raising a hand but falls unconscious again. And once again, Einar outsmarts the local yokel.

But then little Leif appears, seemingly from nowhere. He doesn't look like much but he carries a somewhat heavy-looking leather bag.

Einar stops him and asks him whether he too wants to fight for his village. Leif shakes his head. He wouldn't dream of trying to fight such a mighty warrior, he has come to bring the invaders a bag of silver as tribute. Einar smiles and commends little Leif for his actions. When Leif announces he will now give the bag to their leader, Einar steps forward greedily but is thoroughly surprised when Leif walks right past him and turns to Bjarni who, if truth be told, looks much more fearsome than Einar.
With a flourish bow, Leif gives the bag to Bjarni, then quickly steps aside as Einar - and everyone else - tries to grab the bag from Bjarni... and while they squabble and pull and push and start to hit each other in the stomach or on the chin, little Leif raises his village neighbours and together they attack the unsuspecting invaders who have just discovered that the heavy bag of silver was filled with nothing but river stones...

Leif, Sigurd, Erik, and Thorgil celebrating their victory

The audience - not just the kids, mind you - got quite involved. They tried to warn the somewhat simple Jork villagers of Einar's treachery, and there was, of course, happy cheering when Einar and his men were outsmarted and the villagers once again gained control of their village.

And this humourous overture laid the groundstone for the audience's reactions to the rest of the show:

• Two clans fighting for the supremacy of the area - two "armies" clashing against each other.

Dragon and Raven Clans battling it out

• Then each clan fights a Circle of Honour (man against man, no backstabbing) to establish their best fighter each.

About to see Odin's face...

• And finally, the two winners fight each other to the death, to be raised by Odin to feast at his table in Valhalla.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and so did the audience. Our thanks go to Timm, the Jomsvikings and guests.

The fighters at Jork

Jork Viking Market

Last Saturday, Schatz and I went to visit the Viking Market in Jork.

No, not York in the UK but Jork. In Northern Germany, just opposite Hamburg on the other bank of the river Elbe.

The market didn't look that big and I don't think they actually had the 250 re-enactors their poster advertised but it was relaxed, spacious to cope with the visitors, and the weather was excellent - in contrast with the last two years. We were able to say hello to - and hug - many friends there, traders, artisans, camp dwellers, warriors. Some had come from as far as Belgium or Sweden.

We did enjoy the fight show - more about that later. One thing we didn't enjoy that much were the myriad of semi-authentically dressed people at the market. I mean, anyone (at least I do hope so) knows that Gothic does not equal Viking and neither do Pirates of the Caribbean or Elf-shaped Larp ears. But what about these two?

Mr. and Mrs. Wutwolf (with the big thingies in front)

Actually, they were quite happy to pose for me...

Guess this makes for a new section in the Ithrottir. Apart from "Heard in..." we should also have "Seen in...". Well, these two definitely are my first choice.

Ithrottir and Xyllomer - odd!

Admittedly, Xyllomer is odder than Ithrottir but both reflect significant parts of my life.

Ithrottir is the quarterly Viking Age magazine which Kees, Torsten, Rona and I publish. It is written for, and by, Early Medieval re-enactors, providing background information, news on archaeological finds and digs, an extensive agenda of Early Medieval markets and exhibitions, reports on shows and markets, museums, books, as well as how-to's, i.e. instructions ranging from the making of fine files to needlebinding your own socks.

Xyllomer is an English language text-based Multi User Dungeon where for the past 18 years or so, people from around the world have gathered to play a net-based adventure game. Various races populate the world, professional and religious guilds strive for dominance, and sometimes the gods do what they do best - create havoc.
The MUD is programmed by volunteers, playing is free-of-charge. So if you read books rather than watch tv, if you like to interact rather than slay, if you are willing to invest time to get to know the system and are not afraid of a rather small playerbase at present, this is the place to be.
I used to play extensively from 1996 to about 2001, then took a break. Only to return with a vengeance in late 2006. At least when I'm not too busy with RL (real life) but even then, being a hero and adventurer can soothe your mind in the face of life's adversities, and it sure beats playing some game on your own!