A Letter from Jorvik

With this second of my correspondence-themed pieces for January 2022, we travel back to the 10^th century. You will have to imagine that the writer and recipient of the letter were both literate, though that is highly unlikely, and I have tried to reflect a chatty rather than pedantic style. Within the words, I hope I have portrayed an impression of life for the Viking people who settled in the town they called Jorvik, which we know today as York.

The audio version is on Anchor: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e1k5adn

A Letter from Jorvik

                                                                                                              Jorvik

                                                                                                    New Year 946

Dear Norvi,

It is so long since we saw each other, and I can hardly wait to see you again, but I know I will have to. The winters here in Jorvik are not as cold as back home, and we have had no snow yet this winter, so I think you will find it pleasant when you move to live with us. Writing to each other is nice but nowhere near as good as being together, talking and sharing as twin sisters do, and in the four years since we arrived here, I have missed you every day. Of course, when you, Erik and the boys do make the journey across the sea to us, we will be able to share so much again. By then we should have another addition to the family! Yes, I am expecting for the third time. I haven’t told anyone else but Sven, because I wasn’t sure, but I am getting quite big now, bigger than I was with either Gunnar or Thorhild, and Sven thinks I may be having twins. Wouldn’t that be lovely? More work of course but I feel more confident around babies now than I did when I was a new mother. I am very excited and just hope everything will go well. Sven is being so good to me and won’t let me go out if it is frosty or icy, in case I fall. Not many women are so lucky to have such a caring husband, yet many people in the local families viewed us as uncivilised when we first arrived. However, as they get to know us they seem to be more accepting of our presence and some are actually quite friendly and stop and speak. Though my knowledge of their language is still not very good, I make myself understood, and they speak slowly to me.

We have just had over a week of celebrations which we all enjoyed, especially the children who got so excited with two lots of presents! It has been strange this year as, now we have converted to Christianity, we are supposed to be celebrating their festival of Christmas instead of our Yuletide. Like me, Sven is not convinced that we should abandon our gods, so we celebrated Yuletide as usual at the winter solstice, then Christmas a few days later. However, Sven says we should embrace this new religion to ensure we have no trouble from the Christians here. It helps us to fit in, so we will see how it goes, but we still revere our gods and goddesses and believe we will eventually all go to our Norse paradise for eternity.

Let me update you a little on life here. Now that Sven has given up travelling, he has settled down to family life really well, better than I had expected, and doesn’t seem to miss the high seas, strange lands or farming. As you know, he finished his apprenticeship nearly a year ago so is now a fully qualified cup maker, able to work in bone and horn, and I am really proud of him. He and three others, who have become his friends, still work for the nice man called Hagal in a street a short walk from here. Hagal has a very good reputation, and the cups and various utensils he and his staff produce are considered the best in Jorvik, so Sven feels he has a lot to live up to. However, my conscientious husband is now hoping to add to his skills with plate and spoon making and under Hagal’s guidance is learning fast. Hagal allowed Sven to take home the first wooden plate he made, as a bonus for his hard work, and I use it every day. Sven is ashamed that it’s not perfect, but it’s fine and does the job I want it for – usually holding bread at mealtimes. As you know, he has always been a good woodworker making large items, but he is finding that adapting to smaller items for cooking and eating is quite easy. Sven earns good money, especially when he works extra hours, and Hagal is a good man and pays him every week without fail for six days’ work. Hagal is also a Christian and gives his workers Sundays off so they can go to church and be with their families, and it is lovely to spend a whole day together every week, when we can relax and play with the children who are growing up fast – like your boys.

As the winter solstice was on a Sunday this year, there was no question of Sven having to work and we gave presents to each other, so we still follow Odin’s example. Sven had made a wooden cart for our little Gunnar, who thinks it’s the best toy ever as it is so big he can get into it and either propel himself along with his feet or be pulled by someone (usually Sven, though our neighbours have come along and joined in the fun of it with us). I made Gunnar a blanket to go inside, and at five years old he thinks he’s an adult Viking with his own transport and talks about sailing to foreign lands as “Daddy did”. We’ll see! Thorhild is still a sweet little girl, as three-year-olds are, as blonde as her brother and loves to help me in the house. Sven made her a wooden doll which she carries with her everywhere and I made some clothes for it, so she has spent so much time dressing and undressing Astrid, as she calls her and that’s because she is beautiful and loved. However, I fear the clothes will fall apart! Gunnar enjoys giving Thorhild and Astrid a ride in the cart, and she sits there, doll on her lap, as if she were the chief’s wife! Sven bought me a beautiful necklace, made by a friend of ours who is a skilled silversmith and even gave him discount, and I made Sven a warm robe for the winter.

The Yuletide celebrations got off to a good start with a feast in the hall, with nearly all the Vikings in Jorvik calling in for food, drink and a chat with friends – just like in the Old Country. Everyone was welcome, even those of us who have taken on the new religion, which is most of us as we all know it is best to be part of the community and not seem like outsiders. The children travelled there in the new cart with Sven pulling them. They laughed and chatted all the way there! We all took food for the feast, as well as an offering for Odin and the gods as we don’t want them to think we have forgotten them in favour of the new god and his saints. So when you are here next year, you will find it very similar to the way we celebrated the start of Yuletide when we were children.

Because Hagal is a Christian he gave his workers Christmas Day off and paid them. He is very generous and gave each of them a set of cups as a Christmas present. They look lovely on our table, and Sven tells me he made the whole set, so they are extra-special to me. I made a big cake for Hagal and his wife, and they seemed so pleased with it. We all went to Mass on Christmas Day in the local church, as is the custom for Christians, though we didn’t enjoy it very much, as with all the Masses we attend on Sundays. There are a lot of strange rituals during the service, and it is always spoken in a language called Latin which we don’t understand. It is all very solemn with a lot of singing of what they call hymns. We don’t join in, but the local people do, even though they don’t speak Latin! However, on Christmas Day the crib, with the wooden models of the baby called Jesus Christ and his parents Mary and Joseph, was nice and Thorhild loved it and wanted to take the baby home as a friend for Astrid! Gunnar liked the sheep and cows in the background but told her they must stay there with the baby as they are not ours to take. Outside the church we saw so many people we know, and there was a good feeling of joy and hope among everyone. I think Jesus Christ who lived long ago, and whose birthday we were celebrating, grew up to be a good man who started this religion called Christianity. Not all Christians are good, I have found, but most seem to be kind and honest.

After Mass we went home where I cooked a big meal and we gave the children some more presents, this time for Christmas. I had made them both new clothes, Sven had carved Gunnar a wooden sword so no one will get hurt, and a wooden pan for Thorhild so she can pretend to be cooking when I am! Of course, the children played with their toys all afternoon – I had so many pretend meals it’s a wonder I could move at all! Meanwhile, Sven and Gunnar had fun outside with the sword, pretending to be warriors. The children were so tired by early evening that we had no trouble getting them to bed!

Next year the Yuletide/Christmas season will be even more enjoyable because we will have our new baby (or babies) and you and Erik will be here with Ivar and Olaf. Gunnar and Thorhild are looking forward to getting to know their cousins, and Sven says that if Erik wants to become a cup maker, Hagal will be happy to train him and give him a job when he knows the trade well. You will find it so much better with Erik no longer spending time away, travelling to far-flung countries in the longships, and I’m sure he will settle down to family life here in Jorvik, as Sven has.

Well, my dear Norvi, I shall have to finish this letter now to cook the evening meal. Sven and the children will be home soon. He has taken them to watch a sword fight game in the centre of Jorvik – as long as no one has got hurt it will have been a fun afternoon for them. I hope you are all well and had an enjoyable Yuletide season – the twelve days of celebrations will be over in a day or two, but the memories will live on with us.

I look forward to hearing from you with your news and, most of all, seeing you, Erik and the boys in the summer.

All my love,

Freya (Sven, Gunnar, Thorhild and the expected one(s))

© Chasqui Penguin 2022

Twitter: @ChasquiPenguin