Viking Society

The Vikings would also store food because as a result of bad weather they would not have been able to leave the house to find food or water.

Clothing

Like most men in Europe Vikings wore woollen clothes. They would also dye them with colours from minerals and salts.

Viking men wore a simple woollen shirt and long cloth trousers witch was held up by a drawstring. In battle they would were an iron helmet and a chain mail suit.

Viking women wore a long woollen dress that was either plain or pleated. Over the dress’s they wore a long wooden tunic. The dress was held up with a pair of breeches sometimes joined by a chain or string of beads. Over the tunic she may have worn a shawl. Her legs were covered with thick socks.

Both men and women wore fur or woollen hats in the cold Scandinavian weather. The cloaks were fastened at the shoulder with a brooch or pin.

Schooling

When children turned five they were expected to help their parents work around the homestead. Children were forced to learn their parent’s jobs so that they could keep the farm going when their parents were at war.

When boys turned five they would usually go and live with an uncle or a respected man within the Viking community, who would teach them the ways of the Viking man. For the next five years they would be taught the skills of farming and the way of the warrior by an uncle or community member.

On the other hand Viking girls remained home as Vikings believed that it was important to learn how to sow and tend to the farm at an early age.

Girls were taught how to cook but the room that they cooked in was often an unhealthy dark and smoky kitchen. They were expected to make yarn from flax and wool.

When Viking children turned 10 they were considered to be adults. During their childhood they did not attend school as school did not exist. Instead they were taught by their parents. Girls were taught how to work in the home, while boys were expected to learn how to tend to the farm. Before they turned fifteen both the boys and girls lives were very different.