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You will know from our timelines that most Vikings were not Christians. We call them pagans as they did not follow any main religion. They worshipped many different gods and would hold feasts and celebrations to these gods. The most powerful god was Odin, also known as Wodin, and he could change anything. In the middle of winter the Vikings believed that gods travelled through the sky bringing gifts to everyone. Now, where have I heard a story like that before? The Vikings didn't have writing but they had an alphabet called runes. This was 16 different characters drawn using only straight lines with each character having a meaning. Having no writing meant that the job of the skald, the storyteller, was very important in Viking times. He would tell the tales from the past (probably made up) and as they didn't have much else to do around the longhouse fire, everyone would listen, sometimes while weaving or making jewellery. Viking culture had laws but these were passed down by word of mouth. If someone broke a law they would be made an outlaw and forced to live in the wilderness and people could hunt them and kill them. When warriors died they were buried on a funeral pyre while the poor were put in a hole in the ground. A funeral pyre is basically a pile of wood on which the body is placed and then burned. Great warriors and chiefs might be buried on a boat and sometimes this would be set on fire and would float off to a place called Valhalla which is where the Vikings believed these warriors would eat and drink with the gods.
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