The myth of the Vikings has long been associated with the image of large, belligerent warriors, ready to fight and plunder everything in their path, brutal pirates.

Vikings lived between the late 8th and mid 11th centuries. A lot of things about the Vikings were misunderstood. They are a group of intelligent, civilized and hardworking people. They are the worry of the majority of residents scattered along the coast.

However, the warlike Viking warriors also made their mark in human history with their own Scandinavian civilization.

And there is no denying that Viking culture still plays an important role in the lives of people in many territories today.

Here are little-known facts about the ancient Viking “pirates”, the most talented, fierce and belligerent warriors in human history.

Vikings never wore horned hats

One of the biggest misconceptions about the Vikings is that they wore horned hats. The image of a Viking warrior wearing a helmet with horns often appears in movies but this has been proven to be completely inaccurate.

In battles, warriors will wear protective helmets but certainly no horns. No artifacts of horned hats have yet been found. The idea behind horned hats comes from the Victorian era to romanticize the image of the Vikings. The horned hats add to the brave, scary part.

The Vikings named the days of the week after the god

The Vikings worshiped Norse gods and were part of their daily lives. The days of the week are named after the gods.

The great god Odin, also known as Woden, is the name given to the 4th day and literally means Woden’s Day. Similarly, Tuesdays and Fridays are named after the god of war Tyr and the goddess of marriage Frigg. The most famous is the god Thor, god of thunder and strength, set for the fifth day.

Vikings did not have a large, giant physique

Vikings are often depicted as large, muscular men with the ability to kill enemies with a swing of an ax, however, that is an exaggeration, increasing fear, like the depiction. they wear horned hats.

The Viking was about 1.7 meters tall and thin. Their physique was explained because the summer time was short, the food resources were few, they often had to invade other lands to plunder food and resources.

After life

The Vikings had a completely different view of the afterlife. They believe that how you live in the present moment determines where you will go after you die.

For the Vikings, the best destination after death was Valhalla. This is a place for warriors to fight bravely as well as bravely sacrifice in battle. Next up is Helgafjell, another place for those who have lived an admirable life.

In contrast, Hellheim is an undesirable place for the Vikings. It’s a place for “bad people”.

The Vikings arrived in America before the explorer Columbus

Nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, a group of Vikings led by Leif Eriksson arrived here.

Vikings liked blond hair

The Vikings liked to have blond hair. Even those born without this hair will find a way to change. They use a strong soap with a high alkaline concentration to bleach the hair color.

Vikings don’t tattoo

Tattoos on people are proven to have existed since before the Vikings. Many movies depict Viking warriors with many tattoos on their bodies, but in reality there is no physical evidence that they actually have tattoos.

Moreover, the Vikings prided themselves on their cleanliness, even obsessing about it, so it was unlikely that they would cover their skin with an indelible tattoo.

The Vikings had a unique justice system

In fact, they already have an established justice system to settle any dispute or deal with any crime that comes up. Norse cultures know this system as Al Althing, which in English translates to “The Thing”.

As a rule, they will resolve disputes by peaceful means, with the help of an objective third party, like our court system today. However, in some cases, justice is resolved through violence.

Vikings buried the dead in boats

In the Norse religion, it was believed that great warriors would need a ship to reach the afterlife, to Valhalla. So the Vikings were often buried in boats with weapons, food, treasure and whatever else they needed in the afterlife. In some cases, there are slaves accompanying them to serve their masters in the afterlife

Vikings love skiing

In the Scandinavian peninsula, the earliest evidence of skiing dates back to nearly 6,000 years ago. In the Viking age, skiing was a means of transportation during the winter when much of the land was covered with snow and ice.

However, it was later discovered that the Vikings used skiing not only as a means of transportation, but also for recreation.

Vikings had a slave trade

The slave trade was one of the most important commodities traded between the Vikings and was extremely lucrative. Slaves would be exchanged for goods or other slaves depending on the needs of the Vikings.

Vikings used onion soup to diagnose diseases

Wounded Viking warriors returning from battle will eat onion soup along with other spices. After a few minutes, people will smell their wounds. If they can smell onions from inside the wound, it means there are serious abdominal wounds.

Vikings inspired to name Bluetooth technology

Harald Bluetooth is a legendary Viking king of Denmark and Norway. During his reign, he merged many of the surrounding Viking tribes together and created an extremely complex and stable infrastructure for all to coexist. So Jim Kardach, the inventor of Bluetooth named his invention after the Viking king.

The Vikings held a wedding for a week

The Viking wedding is one of the most lavish events celebrated in culture. Before a couple gets married, they hold an engagement ceremony, after 3 years they hold a weeklong wedding.

Vikings are sloppy and don’t take care of themselves

Archaeologists have discovered many different hygiene items of the Vikings such as tweezers, combs, ear cleaners, toothpicks, etc. John of Wallingford – British chronicler said that Vikings took care of themselves. . Viking men will comb their hair daily, wash their hair every Saturday and change their clothes regularly. Viking beard is also very neat.

They also like bright clothes with decorations. Blue and red are the most popular Viking colors. In addition, they appreciate exclusive fabrics like silk.

Braided hair

The fact is that Viking men would wear their bangs long and cut their hair short at the back. They also update the latest hairstyles. Black-haired Vikings would bleach their hair and even beards with lye.

Sailing on ships with dragon heads

The only proof of this is the Scandinavian graffiti on the walls of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which depicts a fleet of small ships with dragon heads. The archaeological evidence is very vague.

The only ship decorated with a dragon’s head has been found in Denmark. It is not completely preserved but the “dragon mane”, made of iron curls, still exists.

They were the only inhabitants of medieval Scandinavia

Scandinavia is also inhabited by the Sámi – semi-nomadic peoples living in the Far North, in Norway, Sweden, Finland and parts of Russia. Norwegians call these people Finns. The two groups actively traded with each other and married people of high status.