Spooky:
Here’s the English version:
The song My mother told me, also known as Þat mælti mín móðir in its ninth-century old Norse form, is probably most recognizable through the popular show Vikings. However, as an archaeologist, this song ignites something inside of this author’s never-ending thought experiments on this population which existed during the Iron Age. The Vikings were likely faced with several economic, political, and social pressures in Norway during the Viking Age, and started to venture abroad for various reasons. As the song goes: my mother told me, someday I would buy galleys with good oars, sails to distant shores. It was not only the spark of excitement for the new, but also the pressure from the homeland that led the Vikings to venture to distant shores. This is very important to remember! There are many examples that fit into the understanding of this hymn, and the example below serves as a great reminder of the reality to some of the Norse Viking Age people.
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