Reykjavík Grapevine - jun. 2023, Qupperneq 6

The Reykjavík Grapevine 7 / 23 6
THE #1 BEST THING
TO DO IN THE WORLD
- by TimeOut Magazine
N A T U R A L H O T S P R I N G S
S I N C E 1 1 8 7
HVAMMSVIK.COM
ONLY 45 MINUTES
FROM REYKJAVÍK
WORDS Catherine Magnúsdóttir
IMAGE Art Bicnick
Vikings are cool. They
are rough and tough, the epitome
of badass-itude and fearlessness,
banging their shields and scream-
ing at their enemies. And that’s not
even to mention those fabulously
big, bushy beards many of them
rock. Despite being historically not
very nice, our axe-swinging faves
reappear not just on ads for trips
to Iceland but in real life when it’s
time for the annual Viking Festival
in Hafnarfjörður each June. For the
downlow on how Vikings fought, we
turned to Jökull Tandri Ámundason,
one of the Jarls of the Viking Club
Rimmugýgur.
“Well, they mostly used
weaponry,” Jökull Tandri leads in
with a chuckle. “We are a Viking
reenactment group and base our
combat style around what is known
as Western style reenactment
fighting” he continues. “There are a
couple of variations of Viking com-
bat around the world, most notably
Western style, Eastern style, Húskarl
and SCA armoured combat.”
The general rule of thumb is that in
Western style fighting, the head is
out and you don’t get any points for
striking below the knee or below the
elbow, whereas Eastern style targets
the entire body and is known for
more intense strikes – and, conse-
quently, more armour.
“They’re based in different combat
schools,” Jökull Tandri says. “West-
ern style fighting is perhaps more
performative – for show fights, fes-
tivals or movie fighting where we do
the big swings and the grunts and
the screams along with it.”
Viking reenactments like those
done by Viking Club Rimmugýgur
are based on historical accounts of
fights and battles, such as records
of Örlygsstaðabardagi (the Battle at
Örlygsstaðir), which took place up
North in 1238 and is considered one
of the biggest and bloodiest battle
in Iceland’s history.
“We have a set of rules that we work
with, but Viking combat was a short
and brutal affair in general,” Jökull
Tandri points out, elaborating on the
different weapons Vikings could use
to hack, slash and bang into each
other.
“There are swords, axes, spears,
Dane Axes, as well as shields and
sets of armour,” the Jarl rhymes off
what would have been available to
Viking fighters. “Generally, you would
find a person with a shield and an
axe. That was a very common weap-
on because it was easy to find wood
and then a little bit of metal to make
a weapon, whereas a sword would
be more of a status symbol. The axe
was generally accessible by anyone
because it was also used as a tool
for the home and the difference in
the ratio of metal to whatever other
material you had sort of dictated
how well you were perceived as a
fighter.” Image and accessibility of
resources – important factors, even
on the Viking job market.
“There’s of course some cases
where Jarls or Húskarls rallied
up the peasantry to make a lot of
weapons, so in quick time you would
have spears and or axes distributed
and being thrown at the enemy until
one of you crumbles,” Jökull Tandri
explains.
Then there are records of so-called
hólmganga, a duel to the death be-
tween two people, each carrying one
weapon and having a shield assis-
tant. The shield itself is also signif-
icant, Jökull Tandri points out. “It
is mostly used for defence but can
also be used aggressively, opening
your opponent’s shield, pushing
your opponent’s weapon out of the
way and then you would go in for
another strike, following up or coun-
tering that.” Until the last Viking has
fallen or it’s time for a snack break.
Learn more about all things Viking at
the Viking Festival in Hafnarfjörður,
running June 14 to 18. Learn more
about Viking reenactment at
facebook.com/rimmugygur
Ask An Expert How Did Vikings
Fight?
We found out from a real life Jarl
Do Shit The Útlend-
ingur’s Guide
To Getting Shit
Done
Renew your rafræn skilríki
WORDS Catharine Fulton
IMAGE Stock
You know what I hate? Re-
membering passwords. I know, my
trusty Apple products store all my
login details safely in a keychain, but
I still inevitably mange in too many
cases to fuck that up and then the
password saved in my keychain is
incorrect, so I go through the pro-
cess of resetting said password.
That’s why the rafræn skilríki, or
electronic ID, system is so great. It
lets us password averse individuals
log in to all the important stuff like
banking and government services,
and confirm online payments with a
push notification to our phones and
a four-digit pin.
To be honest, it can be easy to
forget just how important that little
push and pin combination can be
until you lazily let it run out. Sure,
Auðkenni (the service provided
powering the rafræn skilríki system)
sends you two-week warning that
your electronic ID is expiring. And
yes, they’ll send you another warn-
ing a week later. But you may still put
off taking the steps to renew, think-
ing it’s going to be a whole thing and
ugh, you just can’t deal with it right
now.
Let me tell you, fellow procrastinator,
it’s not a whole thing. It’s stupidly
easy.
You just have to go in to your bank
branch or the main hub of your
mobile provider and say “hey, I need
to renew my electronic ID.” Some
helpful individual will say, “cool, got
some id?” You’ll present your ID,
they’ll send a push notification to
your phone prompting you to enter
a four-digit pin, you’ll tap “Accept”
about a dozen times as the renewal
calibrates or something, and then
you’re free to go on with you life, log-
ging in with abandon and verifying
so many online purchases your bank
accounts will weep.