VIKINGS TODAY

THE YEAR OF THE VIKING

The year 2000 was named The Year of the Viking, commemorating Leif Eriksson's voyage to America 1000 years earlier.

A Viking Exhibit toured American museums. The exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History is still alive online. 

VIKING SHIP REPLICAS SET SAIL

Several Viking ship replicas have been built in recent years. In Roskilde, Denmark, there's a whole fleet of them. One, the Sea Stallion, sailed from Roskilde to Dublin and back in 2007, retracing the Viking route from more than a millennium ago.

In 1998, writer and adventurer Hodding Carter followed Leif Eriksson's route to Vinland in a Viking ship replica. Read a day- to-day account of the venture on the website of crew member Doug Cabot. 

VIKING RE-ENACTMENT SOCIETES

Viking re-enactments are staged not only in Scandinavia but in other countries as well.

In the town of Catoira, in Galicia, Spain, an annual Viking festival, Romería Vikinga, is held in August. Jomsvikings is a re-enactment society with chapters in several countries. Other examples are the Glasgowvikings (UK) The British Society of Reenactors -  Fröjel Gotlandica, Sweden - Vikingsna, US reenactment groups - ; and DARC - Dark Ages Recreation Company, Canada

VIKING VILLAGES

Reenactments are often staged in reconstructed Viking villages.

There are many such villages, especially in Scandinavia, England and North America, for example: the Jörvik Centre and the Wychurst Project in England - L'Anse aux Meadows in Canada -   Foteviken, Sweden - Frederikssund, Denmark - and Lofotr, Norway.

ASATRU

The followers of the Asatru religion seek to revive and preserve the ancient beliefs that existed in Northern Europe before the arrival of Christianity. There are groups of Asatruers in Europe, United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

In Denmark an official Asatru cemetery will be part of a cemetery in Odense (the name of the town means "a holy place of Odin").

Asatru is recognized as an official religion in Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, the first being Iceland, where Asatru gained official status in 1973. Some other countries have also recognized Ásatrú as an official religion.

Other links:  ReligiousTolerance (an excellent, exhaustive article) Ásatrú in Iceland - Ásatrúfellowship Bifrost (Norway) - Ásatrúfellowship in Denmark - Swedish Ásatrú Assembly - Ásatrú Alliance (US) - Ásatrú Canada