Pre-Vikings Vikings in the media. Or, stuff that influenced young me to become the Heathen I am today

Having just witnessed the phenomena that is the Vikings tv series on Amazon Prime Video, I thought I'd create a list of Viking and Heathen shows that pre-date streaming services. In some cases by quite a few years. In this list, I include shows that reference Vikings, the Viking Age or simply have some kind of aesthetic appeal to the average, modern heathen. In no particular order:

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

Hagar the Horrible was a comic strip that appeared in the newspaper when I was a kid. There were also trade paperbacks available and, if I recall correctly, I may have seen him on tv now and again.

Quite funny at times, and may be of interest to older kids. Younger kids less so, as some of the humour is quite grown up - not rude, so much as the target market for the humour seems to be young adults, parents, et cetera.

VICKY THE VIKING

Vicky the Viking was the rather androgenous star of a kids' tv cartoon show. Not sure it ever found its own slot on tv, but would appear at random times on the schedule - usually during the summer holidays. Plot was pretty simple. Vicky was a clever kid whose ideas and plans would get the mostly moronic viking friends out of trouble. Very good for kids of all ages. I enjoyed this well into my teens - although tv was a lot more limited back then.

NOGGIN THE NOG

My personal favourite (hence the emphasis), Noggin the Nog was created by Oliver Postgate who was responsible for many of my favourite childhood animations. Essentially, Noggin's tales are at first glance, stark, dreary tales of a hard life in the far north. In many ways it is as though Ingmar Bergman descided to turn his hand to children's shows. Very minimalist and reminiscent of the tales of the Eddas and Lays of which we are all familiar. But there is a childlike wonder and magic in these stories, too. I really can't oversell these and I count my love of his show as the first sign of the heathenry I'd later recognise in myself as an adult.

To quote Bladerunner, "How can it not know what it is?"

I had lived a healthy portion of my life before I started to self identify as heathen. In my youth, my friends and I were aware of paganism and actually referred to ourselves as heathen, feeling some affinity to the norse gods. However, as I left my teens behind, I began to consider myself more of a nihilist than anything. Famously engaging in good natured competition with a fellow nihilist as to who believed in less while out one night in Grimsby. I won by virtue of the fact that the guy believed in believing in nothing, while I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Such sophistry appealed to me back then, I guess.

But, in my early thirties, the quest for romance took me to Sweden. I moved in with my then-girlfriend in Boras, Sweden. It was only fated to last a year, but that was a year that taught me a lot about myself. During that time, we made a trip together to some woodland, just outside of Svaneholm. It was there that I had my spiritual awakening. A feeling of awe overcame me and felt in some ways divine. It was the first time I felt divinity to be something outside of (but connected to) myself. It was also connected to the land around me at that time and linked me and the land to my ancestors and, what I later came to refer to as wights.

That didn't exactly set me on a new path, but it caused me to think more deeply about the path I was already on and how it could be considered to be a pagan one - and, more specifically, a norse heathen path.

Now, I find myself still on that path - and travelling as often as I can to Sweden where the landscape is as awe-inspiring as ever. The train from Stockholm to Kiruna, for example, took me and my (English) wife through some amazing countryside. Forests, mountains and lakes all call to mind faerie tales, sagas and myths that have been knocking around in my brain since my childhood.

Combatting Christian influence upon pagan children

While on holiday last week, my family were staying with my sister in law and her two kids (daughter and son). My daughter near idolises her two cousins. She loves it when they are around and likes nothing better than to play with them (just like I was with my cousins). Nothing could be more natural really.

We were taking a break at the flat where we were staying, resting before heading out again in the evening for a meal. My four year old daughter had a conversation with her cousins (who were at least around twice her age) that went something like this:

Cousin 2: "Freyja, do you believe in Jesus?"

Freyja: "Sheldon does..." (Sheldon is her tortoise hand puppet)

Cousin 2: "Do you believe in god?"

Freyja: "Sheldon does..."

Cousin 2: "But, do you believe in god, Freyja?"

Freyja: "No."

Cousin 2: "How can you not believe in god? He made you..."

Freyja: "I have a god book, that Daddy gave me..."



And there the conversation ended. The books she is referring to is D'Aulaires' Book Of Norse Myths - a book I bought her when she was born so I could read her some stories from Norse mythology and, hopefully, get her interested in Vikings and, by extension, heathenry. The book is really a little too old for her, being better suited for kids say 8 - 12 years in age - but the illustrations alone make it a valuable purchase.

I really am very proud of my daughter for being able to stand up against the (unintentionally) evangelical logic of a child twice her age. I am also touched that she seems to have taken the stories I have read her to heart and that she seems to use them as a reference source for the subject of gods.

I am concerned, though, that this kinda thing might happen again. If I witness a similar scene in future, I might feel the need to mention to my sister in law that I am not comfortable with her kids passing the christian perspective they learn from the faith school they attend onto my daughter.

In turn, though, I don't want to proselytise too much about heathenry in turn. Her kids being brought up christian really is no skin off my nose. Heathenry is really the kind thing that you need to seek out for yourself, if you feel it might be right for you.