International Vikingmarket at the Archeon

With the leaves on the trees slowly changing color. The international vikingmarket at the Archeon for us always marks the end of summer and the end of our re-enactment season.

Picture taken in the morning. I tried wearing my woollen apron dress for as long as possible during the day. Just to be able to show of my nice viking jewellery!

Warning my husband collects the shrunken heads of his enemies. His wood carved heads always attrack a lot of attention.

Our son his recurve bow isn't correct for the viking age. It was a gift from a friend and he really loves it. So we let him use it after closing time. Doesn't he look cool?!

Unfortunately we couldn't stand in the same spot as the group of friends we usually stand with but we got a really good spot in the shade. Near a path so we had a lot of contact with the public and with wonderful neighbours. So we weren't complaining.

Some of our friendly neighbours.

This is one of my favorite spots in the Archeon.

A friendly game of throwing dice.

I think one of the best things of our hobby is meeting al those really talented people.

This lady was working on Birka posaments. Why do the Swedes always get the nice bling!

Photo by Korsjan Punt

Photo made by Korsjan Punt  

On of my rounds with a good friend. I didn't have time to speak with all my friends. A weekend just isn't long enough to talk with everyone I'd like to talk to!

Vikingmarket Schothorst Amersfoort

The early medieval has been really growing the last couple of years. This year it had almost doubled in size compared to last year. Still it manages to keep the relaxed and friendly atmosphere it is famous for.

It was really warm about 26C, which is warm for Dutch standards. So most of us, including me, choose to wear only our linens during the warm hours of the days. While others frowned upon it and wore a woollen layer as well.

I am not from the early middle ages so I can't tell which option is the most authentic. For me it was common sense to wear only a (sleeveless) linen tunic during the warmest hours of the day. I have been sick from the heat before and I was trying to avoid getting sick again. In my humble opinion our ancestors would have been just as practical.

I did however miss my apron dress because al my nice vikingbling is attached to it and without it I did feel kind of boring and plain looking. I am a peacock, I can't help it.

Usually I forget my straw sunhat. We have many more wet events during a year than warm and sunny ones but I was really happy that I did bring it. It really helps keeping a cool head.

We had such a good time that we didn't get around to making a lot of pictures.