Wonderful piece. This is something I feel strongly about. My great grandfather was from Denmark. His family goes back much further in that country and Sweden, Norway, and Frisia. While they may not been Viking, per se, the idea is the same. Vikings blended seamlessly and easily with others. Some converted to Islam and lived amongst those that treated them as guests throughout Byzantium and the middle east. Racist isolationists would have never been so easily moved by the cultures of others. I attribute much of this to their religion. Each cultures gods were simply a part of a great universe. Their gods did not meddle in the affairs of humans and expected nothing but ones personal best in all endeavors. They accepted all, and treated all the same.
Wonderful piece. This is something I feel strongly about. My great grandfather was from Denmark. His family goes back much further in that country and Sweden, Norway, and Frisia. While they may not been Viking, per se, the idea is the same. Vikings blended seamlessly and easily with others. Some converted to Islam and lived amongst those that treated them as guests throughout Byzantium and the middle east. Racist isolationists would have never been so easily moved by the cultures of others. I attribute much of this to their religion. Each cultures gods were simply a part of a great universe. Their gods did not meddle in the affairs of humans and expected nothing but ones personal best in all endeavors. They accepted all, and treated all the same.