What is a Viking? Viking facts for kids

Horned Helmets

Vikings wore helmets in battle (of course – it would be a bit silly not to). In pictures of what we think they looked like, we often include horned helmets. However, this idea was invented by costume designer Carl Emil Doepler when he was making the costumes for an opera by Wagner, in 1876. Around that time, the Vikings were having a bit of a Renaissance in Britain (people became really interested in them all over again). The costumes were so popular that people kept the designs in mind when imagining Vikings and they’ve lasted until today!

Long Locks

This one’s half true. Most Viking men had shoulder-length hair and beards, but not all. If you were a thrall your hair was probably quite short. Jarls used their well-groomed hair to show off their wealth, and would combine their neat hair with lots of jewellery. How men styled their hair therefore depended on their social status, but it also depended on the region they lived in. Sometimes warriors had different styles to make it easier to fight. Women had long hair too, but if you were married this would probably be tied up in a bun.

Bleach Blonde

While we often think of Vikings as having very fair hair, this also depended on where you lived. Lots of hair was dark, and lots was ginger. Some men (and a few women) bleached their hair to make it lighter, using a strong soap with lots of lye in it (an alkali). Some even bleached their beard hair too!

Varying Vocabulary

Vikings spoke a language we refer to as ‘Old Norse’. We know this because of a few old manuscripts that have survived. Lots of words from this language still exist in modern Scandinavian languages, but that’s not where the Old Norse influence ends! Many common English words come from Viking culture too, like leg, dirt, egg, skin, husband, happy, root, both, want, law, give and take. Next time you hear a friend using one of these words, let them know they have the Vikings to thank for it!

Dirty Dogs

Vikings actually had very good personal hygiene. Their hair was well-styled and they had all sorts of items for grooming themselves, like tweezers, ear spoons for wax, toothpicks, nail cleaners and razors. Combs were made of various materials, including antlers, wood, whalebone and walrus tusks. They washed once a week, which by the rest of Europe’s standards was a lot! So in actual fact they were a lot less smelly than we might think.