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Kitchen Table Kibitzing, Dec. 23, 2022: Historic Vikings Weren’t White Supremacists [1]
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Date: 2022-12-23
However, the TV show’s look is a Hollywood fantasy. Furthermore, DNA evidence tells a very different story about the Vikings. They weren’t all blonde, blue eyed, giants. There are articles all over about this but here is one: ‘Viking' was a job description, not a matter of heredity, massive ancient DNA study shows Study reveals family histories of black-haired Vikings who set forth—and died—far from home
We talked about this in KTK some months ago when the BBC published a piece about Viking DNA. I believe it was jck who quipped, “Join the Vikings, see the world!” That pretty much sums it up. It was a lifestyle, not an ethnicity.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about ancient Yule traditions of late and that took me down some YouTube rabbit holes where I was delighted to discover The Welsh Viking, Jimmy. Like Max Miller of Tasting History, Jimmy started his channel during Covid lockdown and it just took off from there. Jimmy is an academic, working on his PhD in archaeology. But he is also a Viking age re-enactor. And he has very pointed things to say about white supremacists co-opting what they think are Viking symbols and styles.
First, what did Viking men actually wear? Jimmy demonstrates.
Okay, let’s get right to the fake stuff, the costumes of The Vikings:
And the hair:
But just how did white supremacists’ love affair with Vikings come about? Some history:
And lastly, an embarrassing icon of Jan. 6:
There’s a lot here, I know. But the takeaway is that today’s white supremacists get so much wrong in appropriating symbols and dress…so, so much. It’s more than ugly. And I think we can say that, in this time at least, Hollywood is partly responsible for the wrongful co-opting of Viking symbols by thugs.
There is a lot more interesting content on the Welsh Viking channel. I, for one, will be exploring it all. Jimmy, thank you!
The weekend begins now. Come in, be comfortable, and share your day, your holiday weekend plans, your menus! This is an open thread.
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