The glory of Nordic music and the vikings

The Nordic Music Festival held annually in Carver County for the past 15 years will always be centered around music.

This year’s festival staged on Sept. 7 at Lions Park in Victoria featured two stages of continuous performances by more than a dozen groups of Nordic singers, dancers, bands, choirs, instrumentalists, and small ensembles, plus for the first time an evening dedicated to Nordic dancing. But ever since its early days, the festival also has featured a Viking village staged by the Viking Age Club & Society.

The Sons of Norway chapter out of Minneapolis is dedicated to sharing the fascinating history of the Vikings from the beauty and skills of Viking crafts to the glory of fighting, weaponry, and live steel combat, which was also on display Saturday.

The Viking Age Club participates in at least half dozen Nordic festivals each year — the next one the large Nosk Hosfest, Sept. 27 — Oct. 4 in Minot, N.D.