York will be raided by blood thirsty Vikings as the busy Viking Festival returns from today until the 18th of February.
Jorvik Viking Centre is bringing a week of Viking crafts, parades and history talks. There are plenty of activities to get the whole family involved and excited about Vikings. Today’s events include nalebinding and tablet weaving which will take place in Barely Hall from 1-4pm.
Welcoming over 40,000 spectators each year, the Jorvik Festival is the largest Viking celebration in Europe.
Jay Commins, from the festival told BBC Radio York that: “The city’s Parliament Street will be taken over by the festival with tents end to end.” Traditional 10th century Viking trading markets are set up along Parliament Street and another can be found in the Merchant Adventures Hall, these markets sell replicas of the products which were sold at the time.
There will be shows to watch on Parliament Street throughout each day, including themed storytelling, live music and battle re-enactments.
Jorvik Viking Centre is hosting competitions for the best beard in York and for the best dressed Viking, there is a dress up competition for pets to get involved in too. These competitions will take place down Coppergate and will be judged by the public.
The penultimate day of the festival will see a “spectacular procession of hundreds of Vikings” marching through the city.
The festival will come to a close through the realms of Valhalla (the land of the fallen Vikings ruled by Norse God Odin). This will be a lit night walk around York city centre displaying the spectacles of the Nordic underworld. Finally, to conclude the celebrations, torches will be thrown into a Viking Longship on the river Ooze. To honour a fallen warrior, the Vikings would burn their body on a galley ship and watch it sail to the ‘new land’.
The Vikings are seen as a huge part of York’s history. Arriving in 865 AD, the Vikings took over the Saxon ruled “Eoforwick” and made it their own home, renaming it “Jorvik”.
