Little Almanac

Norse

Where
Scandinavia and the Norse settlements of the North Atlantic
When
roughly 700 to 1100, described mostly in writings of 1200 and later
What survives
Runic inscriptions and dated objects are contemporary; the prose accounts are post-conversion and were written by Christians.

2 entries

Every entry here carries an evidence grade, because the distance between the evidence and the subject is the first thing to know about this material.

  • The Old Icelandic Misseri CalendarConceptEvidence grade A of five, A strongest, E weakest: Contemporary insider document, or a dated object

    A week-based two-season year with a leap week instead of a leap day, described by the people who used it and computable to the day for any year.

  • YuleFestivalEvidence grade B of five, A strongest, E weakest: Near-contemporary outsider report

    A midwinter season rather than a solstice-day festival, and the reason the Christmas and Sol Invictus story is weaker than it is usually told.