Almost all Viking tribes have similar wedding ceremonies. For the Ross tribe, in addition to those they share in common, they also have their own characteristics.
All thirty couples, before the wedding, had learned the simple vows they needed to say during the ceremony.
They were asked by Villa to hold hands and kneel on the ground, take away their fur coats to keep out the cold, hold their heads high and look at Aurora in the sky in a rather thin and simple image.
The north wind blew up the mountain forest, and the tall pine trees were rustled.
The oil lamps also trembled in the wind, and these newlyweds in simple clothes felt the biting cold.
According to Villa's explanation, the cold is also a test for Odin. A warrior who can enter Valhalla dares to swim in winter!
They held their heads high and devoutly told their vows to the Valkyrie of Tianyu.
Their voices were loud, as if the louder they were, the more courage they showed.
Peravina didn't understand why the Varangians had to come up with so many strange rituals. For example, in her hometown, worshiping the gods of woods, mountains and fields was basically the job of the priests.
Only when welcoming the God of Spring and the God of Sowing, the people of the manor will wear flower crowns and perform rituals at the altar to pray for good weather.
Unlike tonight, Peravina felt that if she stayed dressed like this for a little longer, her whole body would freeze!
No! His hands and feet were already cold from the cold.
All the newlyweds shouted their oaths, and after the ceremony, the most critical "sword gift ceremony" officially began.
Almost all the above oaths are for this moment.
Priest Vilia, who was leaning on crutches, ordered: "You all stand up. The Valkyrie has sent down the oracle. You can proceed to the next item."
It is believed that the most senior priests can communicate with the Valkyries.
The newlyweds and all the onlookers stood up, and all the torches were held high.
"Boys! You have passed the adult ceremony, and now it is the wedding! Now, kneel on one knee in front of your new wife and hand the sword you inherited from your ancestors into her hands!"
Rurik, who had already stood up, ignored the soreness in his legs and saw his cousin kneel down again.
The scene he saw now seemed familiar.
"It's really interesting. It would be interesting to kneel down and put a wedding ring on the wife, but they actually handed the sword to the wife."
Rurik continued to observe, and he understood that there was something interesting here.
Peravina, who was standing, saw her husband's smiling face.
No one has ever knelt down to her in her life, only she has knelt down to other honorable people.
Have I become a noble person?
She didn't have time to think too much, she stretched out her hands and picked up her husband's heavy sword.
Vilia looked around and saw that all the women were already carrying swords.
"Now, hold your swords high and show them to the Valkyrie!"
They obeyed and raised their swords, and Vilia instantly read out the next oath.
One by one, they repeated what Vilia said.
"Odin, Brünnhilde, and the heroic spirits of Valhalla witness! I am a woman from Rus and the wife of a warrior. I hold the sword of the warrior in my hand. I will give birth to a new warrior and I will personally hand over the sword to In the hands of the next generation.”
The meaning is this, because they are all from Novgorod, they are best at speaking ancient Slavic, and they only understand part of the meaning of the entire Norse oath.
We can't expect them to be able to speak the retelling of Norse very well. To put it bluntly, their retelling is quite bad.
Vilia's wrinkled face hid her discomfort, but they had made their oaths and presented their swords to the heavens.
She continued her order: "Now, stick the sword in the ground!"
"Woman! Take off your necklace and hang it around your husband's neck!
man! Take off your necklace and hang it around your wife's neck! "
If the wedding of the Ross tribe has any local characteristics, this exchange of necklaces is it.
In many tribes, the sword gift ceremony also includes the ceremony of a wife giving a short sword to her husband.
The Ross tribe deleted this item and replaced it with a necklace to show that "the lover's token is always with you."
Female residents of Novgorod have the habit of wearing necklaces. They all naturally love beauty. The Ross tribe particularly likes necklaces made of amber and shells, and Novgorod women like turquoise.
Turquoise is not a very valuable gemstone, and its texture is not very hard. What makes it better is that it has a brighter color.
Priest Vilia always recited that the so-called husband's gift is from now on the wife's wealth, and vice versa.
Peravina was so excited that she had forgotten about the cold!
She knew very well the value of the heavy amber that was polished into smooth balls around her neck.
To be honest, compared to the betrothal gift given by the tribal leader to his biological parents, which was only four pieces of unpolished amber, the new necklace he got actually cost ten pieces!
Through this gift, Peravina fully trusted her husband's trust and love for her. Similarly, because of this string of amber, she also felt that her status had made a huge leap.
In fact, for Arik, wearing his wife's necklace around his neck, his inner excitement cannot be described in words.
Giving each other a necklace is a token of exchange, just to let both parties remember each other.
Next comes the equally important and final project - drinking a glass of wine.
Good wine, any nation that can make wine needs to prepare hard to get this delicious food, and has been waiting for a long time.
It is always the spice of various lively occasions, and it is perfect for important events such as weddings.
Quite a few ethnic groups have the tradition of drinking wine from each other, and the Russians do the same.
They ferment the purchased wheat into lees and add some sun-dried flower petals to increase the aroma. Finally, the low-alcohol turbid original beer is poured into the wooden wine glass, and then mixed with a little precious honey, and the mead loved by the Ross tribe is completed.
Arik, Peravina, and even the newcomers, encouraged by all the onlookers, all took out their wine glasses. The newlyweds looked at each other and drank the wine in one gulp.
At this point, there are no complicated projects, only people's carnival.
Aurora is still shining in the sky. In Roseburg in the fjord, people forget their sleepiness. Taking advantage of the festive atmosphere tonight, each small family does not hesitate to take out their own wine barrels and drink happily.
Originally, quite a lot of wine was meant to be consumed during the days of complete darkness, that is, the short period of pure polar night that Roseburg would encounter, and to be enjoyed at that time.
Because it’s Hanukkah for the Ross Tribe!
I'm afraid today's event means more to them than Hanukkah, and they need more wine and roasted meat sprinkled with sea salt to enhance their joy.
Ordinary residents know basically nothing about the calendar. Only the priest Vilia has relevant knowledge. The most important thing is that she understands the Jesus calendar, which is practiced by those people in the south of the Danish-controlled area and people in more distant countries. A method of chronology. In fact, this calendar became the Gregorian calendar, the Gregorian calendar of the world.
It was the birthday of another group of people, their Apostle of God, and that was how it all started. Vilia is very knowledgeable about current affairs. The priest group knows the people in the far south. Their calendar can also be applied to the Rus tribe in the far north. Good things can be used naturally.
Before migrating to Rossburg, the ancient priests of the Ross tribe had encountered the Roman black robes who worked tirelessly to spread their faith in the north. The Ross tribe still believes in Odin until now. They have not made trouble for the black-robed people. Instead, they have obtained certain knowledge from the black-robed people through trade.
For example, those men in black robes came up with a chronology system that was even accurate to every day. The priests who knew its importance immediately learned it. Later, in the eyes of the general public of the tribe, the priests simply "gained the knowledge of Valhalla" because they could always accurately predict climate changes.
The most important thing is that the priests predict the time of Hanukkah extremely accurately and have never been wrong for decades!
Late at night on today's wedding day, when the moon left the middle of the sky, it was already November 7, 828.
