The Viking Influence Around the World - Russia

I want to acknowledge and thank all of my readers and followers. I have been so excited to see so many from Russia, United Kingdom and the Netherlands. I found a cool article that deals with Vikings in Russia that I thought you all might enjoy, especially my readers from that region. Let me know what you think!

You can read it here: THE VIKING INFLUENCE IN RUSSIA

-Brad

Is This Summer Job For You??

Have you ever wanted to be the captain of a Viking Ship? I found a cool job posting on ThorNews.com where the Viking Ship "Lofotr" is looking for a Hovedsmann/Captain!

"Apply for an exciting and challenging summer job as Høvedsmann in the main season 15 June – 15 August 2015. The Høvedsmann is responsible for preparing and carrying out daily rowing trips with a Viking ship for our guests. It is an advantage if you have experience using a square sail or a boating license. You should master at least two languages."

http://thornews.com/2015/01/08/unique-opportunity-summer-job-as-viking-ship-hovedsmann-captain/?

If you get the job, let me know :)

-Brad

"The Viking Age in Denmark"

I found a great video titled, "The Viking Age in Denmark" that I wanted to share with my readers. Check it out and let me know what you think!

-Brad

ANCIENT VIKINGS IN THE NEW WORLD Article

An article published on December 16th on Sci-News.com titled, "Scientists Find Evidence of Viking Presence in Artic Canada" caught my eye! This article is very interesting and in keeping with the theme of Odin's Light of THE ZEKE PROPER CHRONICLES. Check it out and let me know what you think!

(c) wallpaper-kid.com

http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/science-viking-presence-arctic-canada-02349.html

Happy Holidays -
Brad

A Season of Celebration: How the Vikings Have Perfected It

Several months back (June of 2013) I wrote an article called, “The Warrior Within: Lessons from the Valkyrie”. In it, I discussed the importance of the Valkyrie to the legends and myths of the Norse. The Valkyrie are simply described as twelve beautiful maidens. They are choosers of the slain and they follow the direction of their God and their leader: the Father of Battle - Odin. Their task is vital to the Viking way of life, stressing the need of every warrior to fight with vigor and energy; giving every ounce of strength they possess to prove themselves worthy of an afterlife in the halls of Vahalla. If the Valkyrie deem them worthy and the warrior dies on the field of battle, his soul will be lifted up and carried to a location that is easily recognized, especially if you are a Viking warrior. Its roof is made of shields and its rafters are spears. Breast-plates litter the benches. A wolf lurks at the western door and an eagle hovers over it. Moreover, Vahalla has five hundred and forty doors, and when the time comes to fight against Fenrir the wolf, son of the bound Loki, eight hundred warriors will march out of each door, shoulder to shoulder. But that time has yet to come. In the meantime, the fallen warriors celebrate. And what a celebration it is.

(c): theskyrimblog.ning.com

Every morning the fallen Viking warriors rise from a gentle slumber and arm themselves with spear and sword. They travel to the great courtyard to fight, killing one another anew, only to rise again in the evening, travel back to the hall, and feast. Andhrimnir the cook, who is always smutty with soot, roasts a giant boar, which is said to be the finest of all foods. The warriors devour the meat which is accompanied by copious amount of mead and wine. They drink and they eat until they’ve had their fill. Then, with their stomachs full and their minds swirling with the potent drink, the warriors fall asleep resting their heads upon the tables with the happy thought that tomorrow’s adventures will be just as satisfying.

As we enter a new celebratory season and as I embark upon the enhanced sales of my books Odin’s Light and The Serpent’s Ship, Book One and Book Two of The Zeke Proper Chronicles, I urge you, dear reader, to consider the celebration of reading. Lose yourself in a good book and raise a glass to Odin, the Father of Battle.

Water Dragons

I recently came across a quote that was rescued from an 8^th century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Its implications provide a terrifying undertone that borders the fine line of fairytale and reality, invoking an image of horror that might cause a pragmatist to reconsider the truth surrounding the myths.

In this year dire portents appeared over Northumbria and sorely frightened the people. They consisted of immense whirlwinds and flashes of lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. A great famine immediately followed those signs, and a little after that in the same year, on 8 June, the ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God’s church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter.

The year was 793. The place was Northumbria in the great monastery at Lindisfarne. The attackers were the Vikings.

The writer of the chronicle, probably a Christian monk, must have watched the actions of the assailants that day with a detached sense of reality, suddenly feeling forsaken by his God. Nevertheless, one cannot be too hard on the witness. His peaceful understanding of the world and the sanctity of his religion had just been shattered right in front of him by a foe whose likes had never been seen before.

We’re told by Ken Crossley-Holland, in his book The Norse Myths, that the literal meaning of the word Viking is ‘fighting men’. The word berserk, in fact, was coined by the fighting methods of these warriors. Imagine a horde of men storming over a hill toward your stronghold, perfect in physique, tall, with a reddish hue to their long braided hair, their faces covered in thick beard. They are partially clothed in furs that are draped over one side of their body, leaving one hand free to wield a weapon. Their battle cry is like that of a ferocious animal that sends a shuddering chill up the spines of their enemies. If you are a peasant farmer or a peaceful monk sitting in his cell copying lines of the Bible, a scene like this would be nothing short of horrifying. But then add to that the Viking’s unique mode of transportation.

The Norsemen were superb ship builders. Crossley-Holland reminds us that the ships were “one of the great practical and artistic achievements of pre-Conquest Europe…they were both beautiful in line and very pliable in rough waters.” Again, imagine you are a peasant who has woken early to fish from the nearby river. You walk the short distance from your village and see a large wooden ship skimming smoothly over the shallow water, its overlapping planks sweeping up at either end. It is propelled by oarsmen, perhaps fifteen or sixteen on either side and a square sail. It has an enclosed deck with the warrior’s colored shields hanging in a row over the railings. But the thing that really terrifies you is the elaborately carved prow. A figurehead in the shape of a dragon. It’s no wonder our chronicler warned of “fiery dragons…flying in the air”. No doubt his first impression of this new breed of attacker was that the gates of hell had been unbolted and that the dragons had been released, both to sail through the air and to float on the water.

-Brad

Guest Author-Tonya Macalino

Tonya Macalino is my guest blogger today.  She is the author of The Shades of Venice series.  These novels are urban fantasy thrillers featuring folklore and folk history from the collapsing canals and alleyways of Venice.

Leda and the Swan: From the End of The Age of Heroes Rises a New Legend

Once upon a time…

Once upon time, a single moment, a typical moment of amorous indiscretion brought about the end of The Age of Heroes. For in that moment, the leader of the Greek gods, the almighty Zeus, took the form of a swan to mask from his ever-jealous wife Hera another of his endless pursuits. With Leda, Queen of Sparta, he begat that ending in the shining form of Helen.

 

Helen of Sparta, who was to become Helen of Troy, received the gift of beauty, but was denied the gifts of honest love and deepest friendship. Twice kidnapped—once by Theseus and once by Paris—because of her beauty and divine heritage, she lived ultimately to become the downfall of Troy. The face that launched a thousand ships.

A generation of heroes died on the plains of Troy not to see her liberated or even truly to see her husband’s pride avenged, but simply because, as her former suitors, these kings and heroes had been made to swear an oath to defend the marriage lest the losers in the bid for her hand slaughter one another.

An oath to prevent a slaughter.

An oath culminating in ten years of bloody war. Ten years that would leave Helen friendless on either side of the ramparts and throughout the civilized world long after the war was over. Passed along from the burning ruins of a once great city, she would continue to be a pawn in the plots of gods and kings until her life was ultimately ended by them.

But something else passed along from those burning ruins, something arose, slowly from the end of The Age of Heroes. Antenor, advisor to the royal Trojan family, escaped the flames with his Veneti. They fled the Aegean and emerged into the Adriatic, settling Pavatium in 1183 B.C.

Near noble Pavatium, or Padua as it was to become known, were a chain of islands in the lagoon, a place to flee to during the relentless sieges and raids of the Huns and Romans. Rife with mosquitoes and diseases, the islands became a refuge for the descendants of these Veneti.

A lagoon, a scattering of islands.

The legendary empire of The Most Serene Republic…of Venice.

Helen and her tragedy would live on in thousands of years of myth built up into the romantic, decaying city of Venice we know today. Myths of mermaids, sea creatures, doomed monks, vengeful Doges…and of fairy-witches known as fate. Yes, fate. Whether because the Veneti brought Leda, Helen, and their capricious gods with them, or because of a Roman influence, the three sister Fates found their reincarnation in the stories of the lagoon.

Stories that continue to lurk in our psyches on into the modern day.

But now I invite you to come a little further forward, one hundred years—a mere moment in the time of myth—and watch a new woman, Alyse Kate Bryant, struggle to become disentangled from those fated, flooded ruins…as the legends of Venice rise again.

 

Here are some links to keep up on the words and works of Tonya:

 

Website: www.tonyamacalino.com

The Story of Place Blog: http://www.tonyamacalino.com/Blog.html

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TonyaMacalino

The Myth Makers Newsletter: www.facebook.com/TheMythMakers

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Tonya-Macalino/e/B0058U4TJA/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/tonyamacalino

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/TonyaMacalino

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/tonyamacalino/

 

FACES IN THE WATER - Book Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Faces-Water-Shades-Venice-Episode/dp/098363033X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1332452714&sr=8-3

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/faces-in-the-water-tonya-macalino/1107970376?ean=2940013883406&itm=1&usri=macalino

SPECTRE OF INTENTION - Book Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Spectre-Intention-Tonya-Macalino/dp/0983630305/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312914650&sr=8-1

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/spectre-of-intention-tonya-macalino/1100481815?ean=9780983630302&itm=1&usri=macalino