N-drink-ves-msg - 10/16/96 Norse drinking vessels. NOTE: See also the files: Norse-msg, horn-utn-care-msg, p-tableware-msg, ovens-msg, utensils-msg, mazers-msg, horn-msg, lea-bottles-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: gunnora at bga.com (Gunnora Hallakarva) To: ansteorra at eden.com Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 09:40:37 -0500 Subject: Viking Drinking Vessels Heilsa, all! While I've never seen costrels in the Scandinavian Viking Age documentation, in addition to skins for carrying beverages, the Vikings sometimes made actual canteens out of horn... you take a big horn, remove the solid end, cut it up one side, and boil until soft, then unroll it and press it flat with a heavy weight until dry: this becomes one side of the canteen later when cut into a disk. Do this again for the other side. A third horn is cut on a spiral pattern top give a long, 3" wide strip, boiled and then uncoiled... this strip is usually clamped around a round form of some sort. I haven't been able to disassemble one to find out how the horn edges are attached, but I'm guessing that they were sewn with sinew and glued, and then "caulked" with brewer's pitch. The joins are usually covered with glued-on rawhide, and often the sides of the canteen are lavishly scrimshawed. Another interesting note about Viking drinking vessels... most people just assume that the Vikings always drank out of horns. Actually, the archaeological record indicates that most drinking vessels were kasor (sing. kasa), a type of bowl used primarily for ale. These bowls have a handle on either side (a modern survival is the "loving cup" type of trophy), often carved as a stylized bird with a head as one handle, the tail as the other. Sometimes both handles were animal heads, or just knotwork patterns. As anyone watching a drunken SCA Viking can tell you, a horn that cannot be set down is a liability when your sobriety is gone... some scholars think that horns were used by the poor, and also in wealthier contexts for ceremonial purposes (although they might have been more prevalent during the Migration Age than they became by the actual Viking Age). A normal Viking feast would feature servers who draw ale from the brewing vat into pails or buckets. The ale was served from the bucket to the kasa by use of an "ale goose" a little dipper carved so that the curved handle represented the head of a goose or swan or duck. Finally, like any good two-fisted drinker, the Viking would grab one or both handles of the kasa and drink. Two handles increases your chances of hitting your mouth when your coordination is unsure... that's why training cups for small children are built that way! I have been noticing recently ads in the Sons of Norway's "Viking" magazine for ale bowls patterned on Viking originals. A couple of merchants carrying these include: Odden's Norsk Husflid, Inc. (Also carry many Scandinavian imports) Box 87 Barronett, WI 54813 (800) 626-4360 or (715) 822-8747 This merchant's ad suggests calling for ale bowl information. Norsk Wood Works, Ltd. 20337 County Road H Barronett WI 54813 (715) 468-2780 Also have a reference book on Norwegian-style wood-carving (text in Norwegian with English summaries) called Treskjaerer Kunsten for $49 + Tax, Ship & Handling. If you can't guess by this limited sample, the ads in "Viking" are evil... I have to retrain myself from ordering, or even from asking for full catalogs! Anyway, I hope ya'll find some of this info useful as well! Wassail, ::GUNNORA:: Gunnora Hallakarva Herskerinde From: "I. Marc Carlson" To: ansteorra at eden.com Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 10:55:56 -0500 (CDT) Subject: RE: Viking Drinking Vessels >...the Vikings sometimes made actual canteens out of horn... Please tell me where I can see these. Preferably in the original. >attached, but I'm guessing that they were sewn with sinew and glued, and >then "caulked" with brewer's pitch.... Depending on what sort of "glue" was used, caulking mightn't be needed. >kasa), a type of bowl used primarily for ale. These bowls have a handle on >either side (a modern survival is the "loving cup" type of trophy)... There's a sort of Scottish cup that is similar as well (often made of shaped horn) I. Marc Carlson, Reference Librarian |LIB_IMC at CENTUM.UTULSA.EDU Tulsa Community College, West Campus LRC|Sometimes known as: Reference Tech. McFarlin Library | Diarmuit Ui Dhuinn University of Tulsa, 2933 E. 6th St. | University of Northkeep Tulsa, OK 74104-3123 (918) 631-3794 | Northkeepshire, Ansteorra From: gunnora at bga.com (Gunnora Hallakarva) To: ansteorra at eden.com Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 11:48:48 -0500 Subject: RE: Viking Drinking Vessels > >>...the Vikings sometimes made actual canteens out of horn... Marc Carlson asked: >Please tell me where I can see these. Preferably in the original. The best pictures I've seen are in: Nylen, Anna-Maja. Swedish Handicraft. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 1977. It has a lot of photos of various types of horn and bone work, much from the 1600's or later, but with a surprising number of examples from 1100-1300, and some even earlier. ::GUNNORA:: Gunnora Hallakarva Herskerinde Edited by Mark S. Harris N-drink-ves-msg Page 3 of 3