Hello everyone,
I know it's been a while since my last blog post but I hope this one reaches you well and in good health. It was requested by one of my readers to give an outline to help people interested in living history, create their first persona for participating in living history groups.
One of the first and funnest steps of the process of creating a persona is picking out a name. Once your name is picked out it can help get into the feelings and thoughts of your persona. Often the peoples of the Viking Age would name their children after heroes and heroines of their time. The Vikings were no exception. If you want to learn more about how Vikings decided on names and how to pick yours I recommend checking out the Vikings Answers Lady's article at this link. You can also check out Norse baby names here.
Once you have a name picked out you have to begin thinking about the Who, What and How. Who does your persona associate with? What is your personas roll in that society? Finally, How does your persona contribute to the group as a whole?
Who does you persona associate with? What country are you from? What king do you serve? What is the name of your clan or family? A lot of this information should be easily available if you are attempting to join an existing living history group. The group you are joining should have resources to help inform your decisions. Also you can check out two valuable articles by the people at Hurstwic, here to learn about the hierarchy and here for more on women's roles.
What is your personas roll in society? What is your profession? What is your station in your clan? what kind of tools or equipment would your profession or station require? Are you married? To learn more about Viking society worked check out this great article.
How does your persona contribute to the group? When joining a living history group, it is always wise to consider your skills. Can weave baskets? Can you speak well to groups of people? By figuring out what your good at and what you like to do, you will better learn how you can be of help to your living history group and how you can help fill in the gaps.
I hope this has helped those of you who were still struggling with starting out. To learn more about vikings in general (how they lived and their system of beliefs), I do have a recommended reading list. If you can, pick up a copy of The Prose Edda and The Story of the Volsungs (The Volsunga Saga). These two books are very useful in learning how and why the viking lived the way they did.
That is all for now. Thanks again for reading and feel free to offer comments and suggestions for future articles.
Skol!
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Friday, November 20, 2015
How to creat a persona
Hello readers,
I'm thrilled that all of you are enjoying the the new blog series. I'd still love more feedback on what you guys would like to see next. Till then, I'll continue to expound about living history. In this article I'll be going into more detail on how to go about creating a persona for a living history group.
The steps I'll be writing about are very basic and from a base for starting out. Once these are done, you'll need to flesh things out more as you go but hopefully this will help get you started.
I'm thrilled that all of you are enjoying the the new blog series. I'd still love more feedback on what you guys would like to see next. Till then, I'll continue to expound about living history. In this article I'll be going into more detail on how to go about creating a persona for a living history group.
The steps I'll be writing about are very basic and from a base for starting out. Once these are done, you'll need to flesh things out more as you go but hopefully this will help get you started.
The first step to creating a persona is choosing a name. for many people who are not familiar with Norse names here's a link for Norse baby names and their meanings. Norse baby names.
Once you've chosen a name, you'll want to decide what you personas lot in life is. Are you a noble? A shield-maiden? Perhaps a Merchant or Farmer? There were three primary class tiers for Norsemen. At the base were slaves and Bondsmen. These were both referred to as þræll. This is an older Icelandic word for slave. The next tier were the Karls. Karls were the land owners, soldiers, raiders, farmers and traders. The third class is considered the ruling class known as Jarls. A Jarl was the head man of the local community or of several communities. Ranging in power from an Earl to a King. A Jarl often made rulings on disputes, funded raiding parties and was often viewed as the strongest in battle.
Once you've completed these steps, your well on your way. Once you've fleshed who you will be, you'll want to begin to figure out what you should wear and determine what type of weapons. tools and accessories would be appropriate for your personas life. You can acquire all these things either purchasing them online are by making them with the help of other members of your Living History Group.
The final steps are learning and practicing the skills that your persona would possess. Whether that be basket weaving, swordplay, cooking etc. That way once you go to your first Living History event your able to not only participate but educate others and perhaps even generate an income if you become skilled enough to make products that others will want.
As far as education goes you should study. Learn more about vikings and how they lived. You'll know more about how your persona lived and you'll be able to educate others about a very important time in history. The Viking Age ranges between about the years 700-1100 AD. The best way to learn more is to talk to your other group members. They'll be able to point to the best resources for expanding your knowledge.
I hope all of this has helped you get started and if you'd like to learn more feel free to leave a comment about what you would like to learn about next.
Phil
Viking Living History, Viking Clan Drengskapr
Viking Living History, Viking Clan Drengskapr
Monday, October 5, 2015
What is living history?
Hello readers!
Many of you may have read my previous post and asked yourselves, "what's living history?" I'll do my best to answer that question in here.
Most of you are probably aware of what historical reenacting is. This is where a group of people dress in period accurate clothing and perform the events of some historical event. This an many ways us very similar to living history.
what a living history group does, is instead of selecting a particular event or day in history, they select a group of people during a period in history with a max range of a few hundred years. The members of the group create personas or characters. This process involves several steps. First they select a name, a station in life and a profession. The next step is making or purchasing clothing and equipment appropriate for the persona they've created. The next step is to learn the skills and responsibilities associated with the persona created. The last step in the process is for the group to hold events where the members spend time living as though they were their personas. operating as real members of the selected historical period and place. These events are usually open to to the public to walk around, talk to participants and observe a "day in the life". This can be very worth while, entertaining and educational for the public and very fun, entertaining and enriching for the members involved. Although many events are public, others are often only for the members. somewhat like themed celebrations but with allot more sharp objects and fire.
These are just the basics but I hope it has help to enlighten you as to what I am working towards thit my Vikings Living History group. If you are interested in being a living history student and want to learn more, feel free to let me know and I will expand even more in the future.
~Phil
Many of you may have read my previous post and asked yourselves, "what's living history?" I'll do my best to answer that question in here.
Most of you are probably aware of what historical reenacting is. This is where a group of people dress in period accurate clothing and perform the events of some historical event. This an many ways us very similar to living history.
what a living history group does, is instead of selecting a particular event or day in history, they select a group of people during a period in history with a max range of a few hundred years. The members of the group create personas or characters. This process involves several steps. First they select a name, a station in life and a profession. The next step is making or purchasing clothing and equipment appropriate for the persona they've created. The next step is to learn the skills and responsibilities associated with the persona created. The last step in the process is for the group to hold events where the members spend time living as though they were their personas. operating as real members of the selected historical period and place. These events are usually open to to the public to walk around, talk to participants and observe a "day in the life". This can be very worth while, entertaining and educational for the public and very fun, entertaining and enriching for the members involved. Although many events are public, others are often only for the members. somewhat like themed celebrations but with allot more sharp objects and fire.
These are just the basics but I hope it has help to enlighten you as to what I am working towards thit my Vikings Living History group. If you are interested in being a living history student and want to learn more, feel free to let me know and I will expand even more in the future.
~Phil
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Looking for Kindred Spirits
Calling all Nordophiles! I am Phillip Dahlager, I can also be known by my persona, Thorvaldr Egilson. I am currently trying to start up a Viking living history group here in MN. The reason I'm starting one is a result of an attempt to find one to join. Unfortunately I could not find a proper option. I found a couple of old time clubs that cost allot of money to join and do little to enrich and educate it's members. I am aware of the "Viking Encampment" group over an Ren Fest and familiar with some of the members. They a great bunch and do an excellent job of what they do.
That all being said, I want to start a free/very low cost group, that meets year round that helps educate and enrich the lives it's members with a community. Where members with specific skills and knowledge help other members to learn new skills, make better gear and round out their historical personas.
So here is my official call to arms. I have started a group (temporarily only on Facebook) called "Viking Clan Drengskapr." It can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/255004581353866/
This group will be for members only. If you would like to join you can request to on the page.
I also started a community page:
https://www.facebook.com/Viking-Living-History-356362597813283/timeline/
For those interested in a more casual sense and to connect with people interested in event's put on by the group. It is also the companion page to this blog which will hopefully help spread the word and garner interest.
I will hopefully be able to put up at least one blog post a month, maybe two. I look forward to what lies in store for the future and to finding others interested in being a part of this community.
That all being said, I want to start a free/very low cost group, that meets year round that helps educate and enrich the lives it's members with a community. Where members with specific skills and knowledge help other members to learn new skills, make better gear and round out their historical personas.
So here is my official call to arms. I have started a group (temporarily only on Facebook) called "Viking Clan Drengskapr." It can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/255004581353866/
This group will be for members only. If you would like to join you can request to on the page.
I also started a community page:
https://www.facebook.com/Viking-Living-History-356362597813283/timeline/
For those interested in a more casual sense and to connect with people interested in event's put on by the group. It is also the companion page to this blog which will hopefully help spread the word and garner interest.
I will hopefully be able to put up at least one blog post a month, maybe two. I look forward to what lies in store for the future and to finding others interested in being a part of this community.
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