MANCHESTER, N.H.- History came to life for McDonough third grade students Thursday morning, as Vikings descended upon the school.
“People are like, ‘you guys look real!’ and it’s because we are! We make all of our clothes and we try to be as close to authentic as we can be,” says Elizabeth Perron, who goes by the Viking name “Thora.”
The group, called “Straumfjordr” is a Viking-age living history organization. Its members focus on Iron Age & Viking history, culture, combat, cooking and crafting. Two of the group’s Vikings brought traditional clothes, swords, shields, chain mail, pelts and armor to the McDonough cafeteria to support the third grade’s recent unit on Vikings. Students had the chance to touch the items and ask questions about the Viking history and lifestyle.
“I know, for me going to school, I was just such a visual person. To have show and tells and presentations and all of that was much more effective as far as the learning process goes,” says Thora. “I feel like doing this is something that’s going to stick.”
When not visiting schools or attending events, the group’s 18 members spend weekends at an encampment in Exeter, caring for the land and living the way Vikings would have in 793.
The event was organized by reading specialist Elisabeth Hood, who met the group while attending an event in Rhode Island with her family. When she took on the reading specialist role and learned the third graders would be doing an Amplify unit on Vikings, she reached out.
“The reaction from the kids is awesome, even this morning at breakfast the fourth graders were like ‘I remember that from last year!” Hood says, “Getting them excited about learning is very cool, and bringing some of the Amplify program to life.”
“Teaching kids about Vikings is so much fun, because Vikings are kind of lost to history, and it’s awesome to kind of keep it alive,” says Freya, a Straumfjordr Viking. “Especially seeing the spark of ‘Oh my gosh, I really like this!”
The group says there are a lot of misconceptions about Vikings, and being able to teach the next generation about how they actually lived and worked versus how Hollywood depicts them is something they take a lot of pride in.
“Even if they don’t remember everything, they’re going to remember the cool helmet or the furs, and it will just spark that interest,” Thora says.
To learn more about Straumfjordr, click here.
