A Walk Through The Village
It's a misty morning with the morning dew still lingering on the grass and a few people are up in the village. Before long, other sleepy bodies come out of their tents and soon there is a smell of woodsmoke and bacon cooking over the fire. Traders are busy setting up their craft shops and wooden plates are being washed ready for the meal to be served later in the day. The children start to run around, playing with wooden swords and fleece or leather balls. A woman shouts, telling a child to go and play away from the fire .
In the end tent, Ulf Karrissson is setting up his nets for repairing. He is the fisherman and hunter and there are always things to be done, such as new arrows to be made. His wife Asa is preparing the food that is to be cooked throughout the day before she starts to help Ragnhild set up the textile tent where they will be weaving, dyeing and spinning for most of the day.
Opposite to the weaving tent Elswith is setting up a small forge to make her glass beads whilst Wolfric prepares his clay before throwing some pots.
Further along, we come across Rolf the leatherworker who is already tapping away at the tooled scabbard that he has been working on for the last three weeks. Roenna his wife is sorting plant material, ready to dye some of the hanks of wool that she has prepared.
Asa and Ulf's son Leif is playing with Beorn in the middle of the avenue with a broom and Fearn is sitting by her tent sewing while talking to Ragnhild who is tablet weaving, her work tied to the tent pole.
The next tent is occupied by Thorfinn Gunnarsson, a Viking Mercenary, and sea captain, who is always on the lookout for someone to tell a tall story to. These stories tell of trips and adventures that happened long ago and are made more interesting by Thorfinn having many interesting artifacts on show.
At the forge Jarl Olaf Haroldson looks at a knife that Sigurd the blacksmith has just crafted.
The last tent in our street is where Ranvig is standing with Brother Stephan She has some embroidery for the church and they are haggling over a fair price to be paid for the item.
With all of the noise and the smells, it is very easy
to get into the atmospheric feel of the village. Sudden outbursts of play
acting by the characters in the street make it sometimes difficult to
remember that we are in a field, on a castle site or even in a park with
a fair ground at the other end.
Roz Sheard is a member of Dahrg de Belne, The Vikings Craft Training
Officer and a Special Needs Teacher in the Birmingham area