hello all,
i recently began to bring my girlfriend to reenactment shows with me. she really enjoys them but theres one small issue. while im off fighting or doing things she has little to do. she has started tablet weaving but i know very little of what viking women actually did with their time. i gave her some suggestions such as tablet weaving but does anyone more learned in this are have any ideas?
thanks for your help we will both greatly appreciate it.
regards
nathan

Typically everything beyond the door of the house (outside) was the responsibility of the man, everything inside was the responsibility of the woman. Of course she would have to mind the whole farm while you are away. The woman kept the keys to all the lock boxes, the key was a symbol of her status.

Spinning thread, weaving, sewing clothes, nalbinding socks, hats, scarves, making butter, ale, mead, skyr, grinding flour, keeping the home fire burning and keeping the house in order would generally keep her quite occupied.

Check the Viking Answer Lady for lots of good information on daily Viking life, as well as the Hurstwic site.

1. Fetch the beer horn

2. Fill the beer horn

3. Refill the beer horn

4. Make dinner while keeping an eye on the beer horn

5. Run to refill the beer horn so dinner doesn't burn

6. Rush back to finish cooking dinner

7. Serve dinner to the Viking drinking beer from the beer horn

8. Refill the beer horn

9. Clean up after dinner

10. Refill the beer horn

11. Entertain the Viking drinking beer from the beer horn

Hello,

What level of society is your portrayal? I ask because roles were not as clearly divided between the sexes the lower down the ladder you go. In Medieval times women even hunted small game. Having a family member sitting around not doing much is a luxury of the rich.

There are other possibilities and they depend in part on what she enjoys doing. She could try her hand at archery, or cooking. It sounds like she may not be much into crafts so perhaps she could try music or games from the period.

Cheers,
Steven

The Scandinavian Vikings seem to have been very industrious in many aspects. I would believe in the possibility that they had extensive crafts. The excavation od Jorvik below York revealed quite a bit of interesting objects. http://historymedren.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/...tre.co.uk/

hello again
thanks for the help id get a smack if i suggested some of those ideas she is trying to portray the wife of a low ranking warrior. and yes she is learning archery but not at most shows and she can fight yes as a man but does not want to risk broken fingers. she does do cooking and so on but at shows its not always easy to do with restrictions to fires etc so other ideas of crafts and so on would be best

also i need to get her shoes any ideas on where to go and what to get her and i need warm ones she is not to hardy in the cold

Hi Nathan

For a good primer on the roles of women in Viking Age society suggest to your girlfriend to get hold of a copy of 'Women in the Viking Age' by Judith Jesch. On a living history encampment it can be restricting as to what every day activites performed by Viking Age women your girlfriend may wish to recreate,

Irrespective of status, many of the tasks would be common to the low and high born, Encourage her to lean basic textile skills, as you already seem to have done. Embroidery and naalbinding could be added to tablet weaving.

Cooking, food preservation and preparation could be considered. Butter and cheese making are good fun and you get to eat something afterwards. A simple display of the herbs and spices, their culinary and magico-medicinal use could be an interesting presentaion.


There have been found in some female graves weights and balance scales suggesting that some women may have traded.

For shoes try Anna Period Shoes here in the U.K for a good basic shoe. Naal Binded socks mits and even a cap for under her head scarf will help keep out our northern chilly days, most re-enactment groups have some one profficient in naal binding.

cheers
Dave