Photos From The 2018 Viking Festival In Spain

1. During the 58th Viking Festival in Catoira, Spain, people dressed as Vikings and villagers re-enact the Viking invasion of Galicia's coast. The residents participate in the historical defeat of King Ulfo's Viking invaders by Bishops Cresconio's troops.

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3. Erik was extremely hot-tempered and killed several people in disputes. Killings like this were common in Viking times, but were illegal. Exile and outlawry was a common punishment in Viking times. Only exiled for three years, a common occurrence in Iceland. After his three year banishment he returned and led hundreds of Icelanders to settle Greenland. Hardly uber-violent or rejected from Viking society. Erik wasn't sentenced to be outside of the Viking community forever, rather he was punished for crimes and later became the first permanent settler of Greenland, and later the foundation of the Greenland colonies.

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6. The Vikings were seen by many they raided as a punishment from God, especially in the first years of the Viking attacks. However they were really no more brutal than any other group of the time. The Vikings were feared by monks as they were heathen and looted monasteries, a taboo among Christians.

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9. Sigurd, a Viking who conquered in Scotland, challenged Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed to duel with forty men each. Sigurd betrayed the terms of the duel and brought eighty men, and the Scots were killed with ease. Sigurd cut off his head and hung it from the saddle, but the famous bucktooth scratched Sigurd's leg and the infection killed him.

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12. The carving of an eagle on a captive's back is possibly described in two sagas very briefly. From historical evidence and cross referencing sources, there is only one person who it was possibly done to. There is significant debate about the "blood eagle" in the scholarly community. The evidence for what is described above is very slight.

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15. Detailed written sources from the Viking era and extensive archeological finds of grooming artifacts show that cleanliness and a well-groomed appearance were an important part of Viking life.

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18. The Vikings played a wide variety of games, some of them very physical in nature. They loved strategic board games, drinking games, and even their own version of rap battles. However, they also loved some rough physical activity. They played some games similar to football and baseball, which where indeed quite rowdy.