The Norse

The Norse people lived from about 200-500 AD in Northern Europe and Scandinavia. After 700 AD, they began to travel to new lands and subsequently lived in parts of Britain, Iceland, Greenland and russia. From this period on, the Norse were known as Vikings.

There were many different Norse tribes and clans who spoke a variety of languages but had a lot of things in common. Their family lives, jobs, houses and traditions were very similar and they shared the same beliefs. Most Norse people lived on small farms, each of which had a longhouse. These were from 5 to 7 metres wide and from 15 to 75 metres long. They were usually constructed with stone bases, wooden walls, and dirt floors. The Norse people lit fires in the rooms of their houses to provide light and heat and, rather than a chimney, a simple opening in the roof allowed smoke to escape. Their dwellings also had long wooden benches to sit, eat, work and sleep on. Longhouses rarely had windows as they would have been likely to let in draughts and lower the temperatures within the building.

In early Norse times, animals and people lived and worked together in the longhouses. Later, animals were housed in other buildings located on the farms. Longhouses were not always occupied by just one family, as it was quite common for several families to reside in the same longhouse and work together on the farm. Norse people mainly ate food that was produced on their own farms. Their diet consisted of meat, cereals, dairy produce, vegetables and fruits. Although they didn't have sugar to sweeten foods, they often used honey for this purpose. They used cereals to make bread and to produce ale, which was a very popular drink. The clans who lived near the sea, rivers or lakes also supplemented their diet with fish.

Norse people not only cultivated land but were keen hunters too, using spears or bows and arrows to hunt wild animals. They caught deer, bears and boars as well as smaller prey such as rabbits. In the north, they caught seals and walruses for their meat and skins. The Norse people usually took their meals in the morning and in the evening. They ate at a table, and food was served in wooden bowls and beverages were drunk from animal horns. As the Norse people were very hard-working, they needed a lot of energy so portion sizes were several times larger than those of today. But hard as these sturdy people worked, they also made time for leisure activities and celebrations, too.