Image credit: alh1, Flickr
The Jorvik Viking festival returned to Parliament Street this year from the 17th to the 23rd of February for its 40th anniversary.
The festival coincided with York’s Colour and Light festival, which also highlighted York’s Viking past by illuminating the York Minster.
Jorvik is Europe’s largest Viking festival, and it created a bustling atmosphere filled with Viking themed activities. The festival attracts many visitors to York every year.
A spokesperson for the festival said, “It’s something the whole city benefits from. It makes winter vibrant.”
On Parliament Street, tipi style tents offered a respite from the cold; one tent offered Viking inspired food, and the other provided Viking games and entertainment.
The Midguard Marquee at the end of Parliament Street gave visitors the chance to try their hand at axe-throwing and using Viking swords. The festival also offered live demonstrations of wood-carving, pottery and weaving.
A few standout attractions included a new Viking longship, a sword that never misses its target, and recreations of fossilised Viking poo.
Families were able to take part in Poo Week at DIG, Jorvik’s sister attraction at Lloyds Bank Coprolite, where children were able to take part in educational activities about the medieval world. Gaming lovers were able to take part in the newly released JORVIK Viking Centre Top Trumps, a city wide trail and a workshop with illustrator Katie Smith.
From Friday – Saturday (20th-21st February), a dramatic retelling of Norse legend took place at the Eye of York.
The festival reached its climax on Saturday when over 200 vikings marched from Dean’s Park to Coppergate, which is where a Viking town was discovered beneath the ground in the 1970s.
The march culminated in the Viking Games at the Eye of York where high tensions between the two rival warriors led to an epic battle.
A Winter Adventure also gave visitors the chance to try out the new immersive ride at the Jorvik Viking Centre that explored how Vikings dealt with the cold Yorkshire months.
The Jorvik Viking festival was once again a brilliant success, and it brought many visitors to York.
Heather Gosling is an English Literature student at the University of York. She has previously written for Nouse, The C Word Mag, and she has started Circulation Magazine, a student-run music magazine. Heather is interested in music, and all things arts and culture related – she also enjoys keeping up with local events happening in York.
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