What is a viking market, and how is it different from a festival?

This is a question that we got a bit of last year, especially being the first year of the event. “Viking market” and “viking festival” are both terms used in reenactment and living history events that focus on 9th-11th century Northern Europe, especially in Europe itself, and both of them are essentially festivals to some degree. Both also include merchants selling historical replica or historically inspired wares, which can add to the confusion. There are a few factors, though, which differ between the two.

The first of these, and the easiest to see, is size. Viking festivals are generally large events which may draw thousands of people, participants and public, from multiple countries. Viking markets, on the other hand, tend to be smaller events by design, though size can still vary from one market to the next and they can still have people traveling longer distances to participate.

A second factor along with size is scope. Viking festivals tend to have a broad focus which may include general history, heritage, battles, music, etc. Some such as Midgardsblot in Norway even combine reenactment and metal music into one large event. Certain festivals may also have a central theme such as the Battle of Hastings or the Viking Period history of York. Viking markets generally aim to recreate the atmosphere of a historical marketplace, focusing primarily on merchants and crafts. They do often also incorporate things such as historical music and combat, though with less of a central focus.

A third factor, and one which is often more difficult for the public to spot, is authenticity. Viking festivals, partly due to their size and scope, tend to have looser requirements for participants and allow a greater number of things in personal kits and wares which may not be completely accurate to what we know of the period. Being larger events, it’s both more difficult for organizers to enforce strict requirements and can also negatively impact how many participants they have. Viking markets, being smaller in size and narrower in focus, generally have stricter authenticity requirements for participants in their kits, camps and wares. In both cases, this generally does not apply to the public who come as guests for the day.

In creating our event, we decided that we wanted to focus on putting together an immersive experience that especially highlights historical crafts and the people reproducing them, rounded out with demonstrations of combat, music, games and other aspects of Early Medieval life. We hope that if you join us as a guest or a participant you can clearly see this in the presentation!

The Northwest Viking Market will take place October 11-12 at Dragon’s Gate Brewery in Milton-Freewater, OR.

Photography by Dena Cowlishaw / Wicked DD Photography