Have you heard of Jorvik? If not, it’s time you should. The Jorvik Viking Festival is the largest Norse-themed festival in Europe. This year’s Jorvik will be making its home in York to honour and celebrate the area’s Viking settlers.
It’s an event that regularly draws over 40,000 attendees, and the choice of York for this year’s festival reflects the organiser’s wish to tell the story of how the Vikings first took root in the area. Fittingly enough, we’ll be looking forward to ‘Invasion: The Dawn of Viking York’. It takes as its theme the arrival and conquest of the Great Viking Army in AD 866.
The 2018 Jorvik Viking Festival will tell of how those settlers arrived to create the capital of Viking-age England. Of course, it’s going to feature many of the festival’s most celebrated signature events, including the call to battle. This year’s Call to Battle will invite the Viking hordes to march from York Minster to Coppergate, on Saturday, February 17.
An encampment will run in Parliament Street for the duration of The Dawn of Viking York. As a week-long commemoration of such an important moment in British history, any visitors will be able to learn everything from what settlers traded to what they wore to what kind of bold Scandinavian sagas they liked to tell each other around the fire.
There’s set to be an exciting programme of events, with options to suit the whole family. You’ll explore the impact of the Viking invasion on Anglo-Saxon England through impressive combat re-enactments, living history encampments, walks, talks, and even tours through the city.
If you’re an educator, consider booking one of the specially designed cross-curricular and interactive workshops. During 45-minute sessions aimed at KS1 and KS2 pupils, organisers will help spark interest in the past through fun and interesting themes. It’s a great chance to show your pupils history in a more exciting way. You can even check out the Jorvik site to find several ‘Shaking Hands with the Past’ podcasts focusing on unique artefacts and specifically aimed at primary school audiences.
There’s sure to be something for everyone, and new events and happenings are being announced all the time, so make sure you sign up at their site or follow along on social media for the latest information.