Humor is inherent to humanity, but the fact is that understanding it can sometimes be a problem even between generations, let alone different cultures. If you bring another culture together, and even a few hundred years in time, do you think you’d understand the jokes the Vikings were slouching over? Let’s take a humorous excursion into the past.
The Vikings are said to have had a dark sense of humor and were not afraid to joke even during deadly battles, as historical studies of the Icelandic sagas have revealed. According to them, Viking humor is a mixture of sarcasm, irony and unusual jokes, the subject of which is often death. Another big theme of the Icelandic sagas written in the Middle Ages are the Viking stories, which usually focus on various kinds of disputes that eventually ended in battles between the Vikings themselves. It could often be a blood feud between two or more families that lasted decades or entire generations.
The Vikings’ approach was that if you know you’re going to die anyway, why not do it with a laugh. The passage of time cannot be stopped, so it is better to face your own end with humor.
Folk literature and runes
According to the historian Trine Buhlov from Århus University in Denmark were the most popular darkly humorous sagas that were passed down by oral tradition. From about 900 to 1000 AD, sagas were told by storytellers and passed down from generation to generation. Around 1200 AD, literate people, monks and other educated people began to write down sagas. Gradually, the sagas spread to other Nordic countries, where the stories became more colorful through folk literature. They were embellished and often seemed slightly exaggerated, although some of the stories can indeed be confirmed as the same verses have been found on runestones from the Viking Age.
If you want to hear a serious lecture in English about Viking humor, including an analysis of the sagas, watch this video:
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Source: Youtube
Jokes about death
The Vikings were never afraid of death, just like most religious people. For the Vikings, however, it was a mixture of faith and legends that were a completely natural part of their lives. They believed that a warrior who dies in battle is rewarded. However, this reward was the afterlife. Life in Valhalla meant joining all the other great warriors. Valhalla, the majestic great hall located in Asgard, ruled by the great god Odin, was thus the almost certain dream of every true Viking.
But even the sacred Valhalla was seasoned with dark humor by Viking jokes.
According to historian Trine Buhlová, the authors of the Icelandic sagas deliberately added dark humor and sarcasm to their stories because they believed that the stories would be boring without them.
Will you laugh? The humor of Icelandic sagas
Let’s look at some typical Viking jokes that are mentioned in the sagas. For example, the 13th century Droplaugarson Saga tells of the Vikings Grímr and Helgi, Droplaug’s two sons. Helgi’s lower lip is cut off in battle. He just turns to his opponent and says: “I’ve never been particularly handsome, and you didn’t exactly add to my attractiveness.” This remark is a typical example of Viking humor, showing that the Viking Helgi had not only self-awareness, but also self-deprecating humor.
In another famous saga, the Saga of Gunnlaug Ormstungas, over 1000 years old, we meet the Viking Gunnlaug who falls in love with a young woman named Helga. He embarks on a long and adventurous journey. However, upon his return, he finds that his beloved Helga has been forced to marry Hrafn, Gunnlaug’s enemy. The men therefore engage in combat, and Gunnlaug ends up cutting off Hrafn’s leg with his sword. Gunnlaug happily wins and feels very good about his victory until his crippled enemy Hrafn shouts: “It’s true that things aren’t going my way, but I can probably keep going for a while if I just drink!” So the battle continues, eventually ending in the death of both Vikings.
What was the love life of the Vikings: Surprisingly beautiful, today’s women might envy
reading for 4 minutes
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Viking Royal Sagas
In addition to the Icelandic sagas, the same kind of humor, i.e. sarcasm, irony and black humor, is also found in the famous Royal Sagas. Here, too, it is often associated with death. For example, one saga tells of the Danish king Hseparate Bluetoothov, who refuses to accept Sweyn Forkbeard as his son. Hence the boy Palnatoke, the legendary Danish hero, chief of the island of Fyn and founder of the Jomsviking brotherhood. However, Sweyn later learns that King Bluetooth calls him a bastard. He is furious and decides to take revenge. Therefore, he gathers his followers and goes to war against King Harald Bluetooth. As the king leans forward while resting by the fire, one of Forkbeard’s assassins fires an arrow. According to the testimony of those who knew and witnessed the event, the arrow flew directly into the king’s lowest point, continued through his body and exited his mouth. Then the king collapsed and died.
Did you get the viking humor?
Resources:
www.ancientpages.com, www.medievalists.net
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