Another market we visited for the first time was the Viking Week at the Land of Legends in Lejre. The Land of Legends has what the Archeon doesn't: A lot of space. The different time periods are embedded in a vast area shaped by the last Ice Age. At some places, Heck cattle, horses and Gute sheep keep the landscape open and provide it with a variety of structures from which the local flora and fauna profits. At other places, a lush forest and even some wetlands create even more diverse microhabitats. Within this idyllic piece of nature one can spot the occasional Stone Age hut, Iron Age village, ship stone setting, or - soon coming - a great Viking Age feasting hall. And just in case you didn't know: Beowulf did not kill Grendel... it lives on, by the sacrificial bog deep in the forest... Yes, we heard strange sounds during the night...

Even though we didn't know that many people when we came there and basically everything was being done in Danish (since even the other Germans understood and spoke Danish - we don't (yet?)), we felt more than welcome there. In a way, it was like taking a deep breath before going to the great fighting markets.

We started this year's summer tour during Pentecost in the Netherlands at the multi-period park Archeon. A very quiet and atmospheric start. Unfortunately, the park lacked a pair of nice wool combs for demonstrating this part of textile work, but we were able to change that :-) - It was the first time we were at the Archeon (Vil being there once as a child doesn't really count...) and we liked that place, but could not help noticing that everything is quite crowded. That's because the park could not expand area-wise as much as they once wanted to, so they had to put too many periods in too little space. It's still worth the visit, though.

This list of links is a loose, incomplete, and colourful collection of sources that have helped us in one way or another. May this growing list be of help to anyone who is interested in one of the listed topics.

From time to time (but admittedly, not often enough), we update this list since some links might not work anymore or we no longer think that they are as useful as we once thought they were. Also, we decided to include free information only - that is, if you would have to create an account or, worse, pay money to get the information, we won't include it in the list.

There are tunics and there are tunics. Some tunic remains from the Swedish trading metropolis of Birka show a certain, characteristic kind of decoration which might reflect its influences from foreign countries. In this article, some archaeological evidence from the "Birka tunics" has been collected. The content has been structured according to the questions: What kind of fabrics do we have? What kind of decoration has been used on the tunics? Where on the body where the decorations located?

A fleece might be washed, but it is not entirely free of straw and other tiny sorts of dirt. Also, the fibers are all entangled and knotty, which makes it impossible to spin a fine and even thread. In order to get rid of these hindrances, the wool has to be combed. Most of the dirt drops out, knots are being removed and the fibers lie parallel to each other.

If you acquired a pair of Víl's wool combs, you might be interested in some tips and tricks regarding their proper handling in order for them to enjoy a long working life.

The spring market during Easter in Hedeby was our first market in 2019. 2017 rain and mud, 2018 icy wind and snow - 2019 warm temperatures and sunshine. The visitors were large in number, their motivation to buy stuff so great that no merchant had any reason to complain. The entire atmosphere was just fantastic. We could not have wished for a better start of our Viking market season. Now we're looking forward to our great summer tour even more - with less products than be had before. Vil puts every free moment into making more wool combs while Ása is busy making yarns and digging into research.