Norse News

Viking boats on a cold Greenland fjord shore with a cloaked figure at the waterline

Leif Erikson: The First European in North America

Leif Erikson (Old Norse Leifr Eiríksson, c. 970 to c. 1020) was a Norse explorer from Greenland, son of Erik the Red, and the first European known to set foot...

Leif Erikson: The First European in North America

Leif Erikson (Old Norse Leifr Eiríksson, c. 970 to c. 1020) was a Norse explorer from Greenland, son of Erik the Red, and the first European known to set foot...

A lone carrion bird circling over a misty early medieval battlefield at dawn

The Blood Eagle: Viking Ritual or Poetic Misrea...

The blood eagle is a Viking execution described in a handful of medieval texts: ribs severed from the spine, lungs drawn out to form "wings." Whether it ever happened is...

The Blood Eagle: Viking Ritual or Poetic Misrea...

The blood eagle is a Viking execution described in a handful of medieval texts: ribs severed from the spine, lungs drawn out to form "wings." Whether it ever happened is...

Two Viking drinking horns clashed in a toast over a feast table

Skål: What It Means and How to Say It

Skål, spelled skol in English, is the Scandinavian toast for "cheers." It comes from the Old Norse word skál, meaning a bowl or drinking cup, not from the skulls of...

Skål: What It Means and How to Say It

Skål, spelled skol in English, is the Scandinavian toast for "cheers." It comes from the Old Norse word skál, meaning a bowl or drinking cup, not from the skulls of...

Sol driving the blazing sun chariot and Mani guiding the pale moon across one twilight sky, wolves running below the clouds

Sol and Mani: The Sun and Moon Siblings Hunted ...

Sól and Máni are the Norse sun goddess and moon god: a sister and brother placed in the sky by the gods and chased across it by wolves. Gylfaginning chapter...

Sol and Mani: The Sun and Moon Siblings Hunted ...

Sól and Máni are the Norse sun goddess and moon god: a sister and brother placed in the sky by the gods and chased across it by wolves. Gylfaginning chapter...

Njord the Norse sea god standing on a harbor pier at Noatun with wind filling the sails of longships behind him

Njord: The Hostage God of Sea, Wind, and Wealth

Njörðr (anglicized Njord) is the Norse god of the sea, wind, seafaring, and wealth. One of the Vanir, he came to Asgard as a hostage after the war between the...

Njord: The Hostage God of Sea, Wind, and Wealth

Njörðr (anglicized Njord) is the Norse god of the sea, wind, seafaring, and wealth. One of the Vanir, he came to Asgard as a hostage after the war between the...

Aegir the Norse sea giant rising from a storm-dark ocean holding a great ale cauldron, waves curling around him

Aegir: The Sea Giant Who Brewed Ale for the Gods

Ægir is the Norse personification of the ocean: a sea giant, master brewer, and host of the gods' feasts. He appears in the Poetic Edda (the prose frame of Lokasenna,...

Aegir: The Sea Giant Who Brewed Ale for the Gods

Ægir is the Norse personification of the ocean: a sea giant, master brewer, and host of the gods' feasts. He appears in the Poetic Edda (the prose frame of Lokasenna,...