What Day Is It?

Vikings for all occasions, no week too dull

Manaraefan Herred

The months as known and named by the Saxon and Norse peoples were counted by the cycles of the moon rather than being a fixed length as now. So the Norse names overlap our system and the Saxons inserted an extra summer month.

The Norse for month is manuthr, the Saxon monath.

Modern	Norse (Viking)	Saxon
January	Jol (or Hrut)& Thorri	Æftera Géola (after Yule)
February	Thorri  & Goi	Fillibrook (brook filling)
March	Goi & Ein	Hretha monath (goddess)
April	Ein & Sigrblot	Eostre monath (later Easter)
May	Sigrblot & Eggtid	Trimilci (3 milkings)
June	Eggtid & Sol	Ærra Líða (beforemidsummer)
		Þrilíða (3rd midsummer)
July	Sol & Heyannir	Æftera Líða (After Midsummer)
August	Heyannir & Tvi	Weod monath (plant month)
September	Tvi & Haust	Haerfest (harvest)
October	Haust & Gor	Rugern (rye harvest)
November	Gor & Frer	Blot monath (blood)
December	Frer & Jol (or Hrut)	Ærra Géola (before Yule)

Month Names

Oct. 14th - Nov. 13th - Gormanuthr - the first winter month) (gor = gorey/bloody)
Nov. 14th - Dec. 13th - Frermanuthr - frer means Frost,

Dec. 14th - Jan. 13th - Hrutmanuthr - Ram Month The feast of Jul falls in it

Jan. 14th - Feb. 13th - Thorri - named after a giant, or poss. Thor.
Feb. 14th - March 13th - Goi - Hunger Month, or Barren Month
March 14th - April 13th - Einmanuthr - Single Month
April 14th - May 13th - Sigrblot - the feast to celebrate the 1st summer month
May 14th - June 13th - Eggtid - eggtide.
June 14th - July 13th - Solmanuthr - Sun Month. Midsummer

July 14th - August 13th - Heyannir - hay-making month

August 14th - Sept. 13th - Tvimanuthr - Double Month (or Moon)
Sept. 14th - Oct. 13th - Haustmanuthr - Harvest Moon

DAYS

Sunnudagr - Sunday (Sunna's Day, Sunna being an old Germanic name for the Sun goddess and also Icelandic for the sun

Manadagr- Monday (Mani's Day, Mani being the god of the Moon)

Tysdagr - Tuesday (Tyr's Day, Tyr being the old god of war)

Odinsdagr - Wednesday - (Odin's Day)

Thorsdagr - Thursday (Thor's day)

Frjadagr - Friday (Freyja/Frigg's day)

Laugardagr - Saturday (Washing Day - when all good Norse have a bath, whether they need it or not!)

MEALS

Breakfast - Rismal

Lunch - Dagmal

Dinner - Nattmal

Below is a chart to help you work out what the equivalent Viking and Modern days are, remember it is only a rough guide for a bit of fun and not to be considered definitive.  People are still disagreeing about the length of a day, month or year but at least today they are only concerned with seconds and micro seconds!

Comments on this site should be sent to Roger Barry