The Vikings

The name "Viking" origin is probably the Swedish word for bay, "vik". This shows the close connection between the people and the sea. The Vikings are often considered wild, drunken, merciless robbers. In fact, their main occupation was farming and trade. The Viking expeditions were mostly trade expeditions that sometimes degenerated to looting. But to be honest, there were also expeditions whose main purpose was to loot foreign coastal regions.

The Swedish vikings went mostly eastwards into Russia and further on to Byzantium and the Caliphate. You can find runestones and archaeological artefacts in several places in Sweden  A special place is Birka. Birka was a trade centres situated on an island in Lake Mälaren, not far from modern day Stockholm.   
Source:sverigeturism.se

Birka was a thriving marketplace and international harbour in the 700´s and one can still see remnants of those glory days. Birka can today be found on the UNESCO World heritage list.

Photo: Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se

The gods lived in a place Asgård. The humans lived in Midgård, and the giants in Jotunheim. These places was the world and they were situated in the world tree, an ash tree called Yggdrasil. The highest god was Oden, the lord of gods and humans.
Of course the Vikings went to battles. When they died Oden took the fallen Vikings to the wonderful place Valhall on his eight leged horse "Sleipner". He also gave the Vikings a wonderful dinner, where the pig Särimner was slaughtered, they ate him with great appetite along with the drink mead. The next morning the pig reappeared again so it could again be slaughtered for the evening

Other gods were Frö sometimes called Frej. He was the god of love and fertility and Fröja/Freja was the goddess of love and fertility. The most famous god is Tor, the mightiest warrior of them all. He was the god of thunder and had a hammer called "Mjölner" which, like a boomerang, returned to his hand after he had thrown it.

Source:sverigeturism.se