I'm watching a documentary called the Viking Age. After centuries of raids and conquests that extended their territory from Freezeland to Iceland, Greenland, and eventually Newfoundland, Viking traditions dominated most of the northern hemisphere by the end of the first millennium. They would have brought their traditions to Baffin Island, too, if they knew about it. Vikings lived in huts. If you didn't want to live in a hut, they made a hut out of your family and forced you to live in that. Viking meals were cooked in ovens carved out of the dirt. If you objected to the crunch of sand particles as you bit down on your food, they came and pinned you down on your back and held your mouth open as your dirt floor was shoveled into it. If you bumped into a Viking in the street, you were in serious trouble. He was well within his rights not only to sever your arm but to challenge you to an arm wrestle afterwards. Vikings feasted on pies, taking them in one hand as great cookies and chewing their tin plates right along with the crust. Their favorite beverage was mead.
The Vikings were pagan. The church managed to survive by adjusting our calendar to devote five of seven days of the week to Norse gods. It was the only way Jesus could hold onto Sunday. Thanks to the Vikings, we only have to go to church once a week instead of every day.
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