Hello and welcome , AQUILAnauts , and a merry midwinter
We all know Vikings were great at a lot of things : ship building , navigation and storytelling to name but a few . They had a god dedicated to skiing and their personal hygiene was generally on point . However , one thing Vikings weren ’ t great at , was boundaries . I think it ’ s safe to say you probably wouldn ’ t want to hang out with one . They were often unnecessarily violent , and they NEVER said ‘ thank you for having me ’. So why do they hold such a fascination for us over 1,000 years later ? Is it because they were so fighty ? to you .
Welcome to the winter camp Viking life isn ’ t all about pillaging you know . OK , you got me . It is quite a lot about pillaging , but no one can pillage all year round . Even Vikings need somewhere to chill . Check out Aquila ’ s winter encampment and learn some fascinating Viking facts .
Arctic foxes Time for something fluffy and cute to cut through all the barbarism . These magical munchkins are totes adorbs .
Vikings enslaved a lot of people , who they treated appallingly , but it may surprise you to know that they weren ’ t actually worse than other Europeans of the Middle Ages . The Anglo-Saxons , the Normans and the Rus were also enslaving , pillaging and rampaging in Europe . Life at this time was nasty , brutal and short for most people . The Vikings ’ fearsome reputation actually comes from the fact that a ) they were pretty fearsome people living in violent times , and b ) many of the people who wrote down historical records in the Middle Ages were Christian monks , who would not have been objective about their enemies .
Freya Hardy , ed
We hope you enjoy this surprisingly Christmassy issue . Don ’ t forget to sign up to our newsletter and check out our Awesome Activities online . This month you can :
1 Create a Viking ship for your Christmas tree , with Polly
2 Make an authentic Viking knitting machine
3 Prepare a giant rocky road Christmas poo
4 Debate and devise your own ethical space travel treaty
AWESOME
ACTIVITIES ALERT
SCAN ME
Make a Yule goat of yore Traditionally , julbocken ( yule goat ) is made from the last bale of straw from the summer ’ s harvest . Polly ’ s a bit short of
straw , but she ’ s willing to BAAAAAAHrter ( get it ? Because goats ?) No , you ’ re
quite right , that was terrible .
We hope you have a delightful December and a very happy festive season in general . Don ’ t forget to join us in January for something completely different . It ’ s CATS VS DOGS !