By Andy Spearman
The avenues through the beautiful wooded grounds of Slane Castle were packed on Sunday afternoon with people heading for the Viking Festival which turned out to be one of the best afternoons for quite some time and included “dead” men walking.
Unlike the warriors who arrived hundreds of years ago in longboats, these modern Vikings came in cars and vans and the car park was full.
As people passed, excited chatter in many different languages could be heard and the garb on show was, eh, different, to say the least.
Many of them wore robes, had long hair and were armed to the teeth with axes, swords and bows and arrows – and that was just the children. Others wore skirts and had their hair in plaits in the style of peace loving 1970’s hippies.
For the most part though, the menfolk were big and bold and clad in armour, helmets and chain mail and they were carrying fierce looking swords and long-handled axes.
Thankfully the atmosphere was one of fun and relaxation because, with those weapons, there’s no knowing what carnage could have ensued if tempers had become frayed.
There was also one group of young men with cardboard armour and weapons and, like everyone else present, they were having great fun.
My wife Jenny and I had no real idea what was going on but word began to trickle through that “the battle” was about to commence.
“What time is the battle starting” I asked a tired looking Viking but, such was his level of battle fatigue, all he could do was point in the general direction of a gate leading to the field which millions of rock music fans will know well.
We walked out into that field of dreams and, sure enough, down in the flat area at the bottom of the hill beside the river Boyne where the stage is usually erected for concerts, the battle was in full flight.
As we got closer the noise levels increased with blood-curdling roars and shouts from the combatants and “oohs” and “aahs” from the huge audience looking on.
By the time we picked our way half way down the hill though, the action had stopped. Damn, missed it, we thought. But then battle recommenced. And that’s the way it went on for the next hour or so short skirmishes and then a pause.
The two sides in this bizarre battle – each with about 50 men apiece (I’m assuming they were all men because they were covered from head to toe in armour and protective clothing and most of them had long beards) would line up and, at a given signal charge at their “enemies” with blood curdling roars and begin knocking the proverbial out of them.
As participants were “killed” they lay still on the ground until it was all over and one side claimed victory. Then the “dead” men got to their feet again and walked back to their original positions and awaited the signal to start all over again.
A bit like soccer really, only with axes and swords. No, make that rugby, the soccer players couldn’t lift the weapons and can you imagine the fuss they’d make about being hit with an axe.
To be honest, there’s only so much battle reenactment I can watch so Jenny, who literally can’t bear to see a fly harmed, and I, took a stroll around the Viking village which included demonstrations of Viking cooking and crafts such as wood carving.
Then the heavens opened and there was a stampede of people, including a Viking couple trying to run up a hill on wet grass in slippery leather sandals carrying a baby in a buggy, to get back up the hill to the castle courtyard where beer and burgers were being sold.
Despite my lack of any knowledge about Vikings it was a really enjoyable day out which we finished off with a pint in Boyles of Slane which has to be one of the friendliest pubs I’ve ever been in – and that’s a few.
John the proprietor told us that they’d had a great night on Friday with a full house which included members of the Viking band Corvus Corax who were the headline act of a concert which took place on both Saturday and Sunday nights.
Congratulations to Boyne Valley Events and Lakes Vikings for organizing this unique event. It brought people from all over Europe to this beautiful corner of the world to enjoy themselves for a weekend.
Lake Vikings is a group of Viking age enthusiasts with 20 years’ experience sailing Viking long boats and organising fun festivals and events and have featured in several TV series and documentaries.
