Norse Imports

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Norse Imports Follow for the REAL history! Products and content inspired by the historical sources and archeological finds.

10/15/2026

You guys asked for my thoughts.......here they are 🤣

10/09/2026

Come celebrate the Norse Vetrnætr with us, hosted by Anchor the Light in Boulder, Colorado, this Friday, October 9th! 🍂

Have you ever noticed how many cultures around the world have celebrations honoring the dead around this time of year?

It's not just Halloween or the Celtic Samhain. There are some fascinating parallels across the world.

The Norse had Vetrnætr, or Winter Nights, marking the beginning of winter, with traditions connected to the ancestors and spirits.

The Anglo-Saxons had Winterfylleth, the full moon marking the beginning of winter.

The Romans had Mundus Patet, when the boundary between the living and the underworld was ritually opened.

In India, there's Pitru Paksha, a period dedicated to honoring ancestors.

The Baltic peoples have Vėlių laikas, the time of the spirits.

The Slavic peoples have Dziady, traditions of honoring and communicating with the dead.

In Cambodia, there's Pchum Ben, when families make offerings for their ancestors.

And of course, Mexico has Día de los Mu***os, the Day of the Dead.

Not all of these fall on exactly the same dates, or come from the same religious tradition. But many take place between September and November, when the seasons are changing and the dead are remembered.

The idea that the veil between the living and the dead becomes thinner around this time is especially familiar from Celtic traditions, but similar ideas appear elsewhere.

This Friday we'll be celebrating our own Norse tradition in Boulder. I'll be DJing, and Norse Imports will have a booth there too.

Hope to see you there! 🐺

10/05/2026

Oktoberfest was a sporting event before it became the world's biggest b**r festival. 🍺🐎

Go back to 1810 and the first Oktoberfest looked pretty different from today.

The celebration was held for the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese, and one of its biggest attractions was a horse race held outside Munich.

The event was such a success that the festivities returned, and sporting competitions remained part of Oktoberfest as it developed.

You can still find that competitive side of German festival culture today. Masskrugstemmen, or steinholding, might be the best example: hold a full one-liter b**r stein straight out in front of you for as long as possible.

Sounds easy until you actually try it. 😂

So Oktoberfest has always been about more than b**r: celebration, food, music and a little competition.

10/04/2026

Before Oktoberfest became famous for b**r, it was famous for competition. 🐎🍺

The very first Oktoberfest was held in 1810 for the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese. One of the biggest events was a massive horse race held outside the gates of Munich.

People loved it so much that the festivities returned the following year, helping start the Oktoberfest tradition we know today.

And the sporting side didn't end there. Horse racing and different competitions continued to be associated with the festival over the years.

You can still see some of that competitive spirit today. One of the best examples is Masskrugstemmen, or steinholding, where competitors hold a full one-liter b**r stein straight out in front of them for as long as they can.

So Oktoberfest has never been just about sitting around drinking b**r.

B**r, food, music, strength and competition have all been part of the fun. 🍻💪

09/28/2026

A pair of felt masks was discovered at Viking Age Hedeby, shaped with animal-like features that have been interpreted as lupine or ursine.

Why connect them with berserkers? When we put them alongside the written sources and Viking Age iconography, we repeatedly find warrior figures associated with wolves, bears, dogs, animal disguises and animal-headed imagery.

Our friend kikimancy is now recreating them for us using the same traditional felt-making method and materials of the original.

We're planning a special run before Halloween, priced somewhere around $70–$100.

Comment what size you'd want below so we can get an idea of how many of each to make. Then check back on the website in the next few weeks to get yours.

09/25/2026

On this day, September 25th, 1066, the Viking Age came to an end.

At least, that's the traditional date historians often use.

At the Battle of Stamford Bridge, Harald Hardrada and his Norwegian army were defeated by the English king Harold Godwinson. Hardrada was killed, and the battle became a convenient marker for the end of roughly 250 years of Viking expansion.

It wasn't that Scandinavian raids suddenly stopped on September 26th, or that Scandinavians completely changed overnight.

What changed was the world around them. Scandinavian kingdoms had become more centralized and integrated into Christian Europe, and the era when Viking armies could repeatedly raid, conquer, settle, and dominate huge parts of Europe was coming to an end.

There were still wars, raids and Scandinavian expansion afterward—but increasingly the fighting looked more like the warfare of other medieval European kingdoms.

Why 1066 makes such a useful dividing line is exactly what I go into in this video.

#1066

09/24/2026

Ancient writers repeatedly described the terrifying battle-fury associated with northern European warriors. The identity of the original Teutones is still debated, but over time this image became strongly associated with the Germanic peoples.

And the idea didn't disappear.

From descriptions by Greek and Roman authors, through the berserksgangr of Viking Age literature, and into medieval accounts of German armies, we keep finding descriptions of an extraordinary state of battle fury.

But was this really just anger?

The old sources give us reasons to look deeper. Frenzy, altered behavior, howling, extraordinary strength and connections with gods and ritual all appear in different traditions. What later writers called furor may preserve something of a much older religious understanding of inspired or possessed warriors.

I dedicated an entire chapter of The Männerbund Over 4,000 Years to this subject, bringing together the primary sources so you can read the evidence yourself.

The book is now available on Amazon.

You guys have been asking for years… they're finally here. The same style of traditional Norwegian wool headband you've ...
09/22/2026

You guys have been asking for years… they're finally here.

The same style of traditional Norwegian wool headband you've seen your boy Thor wearing all these years—and the same style worn by Norwegian ski teams.

Made in Norway by Norlender, woven from 100% wool, and very hard to find here in the U.S.

We have them in 5 colors, but only limited stock for this first batch.

More Norwegian winter gear is coming as we get closer to Christmas, but you can grab these on the website now.

Made in Norway. 100% wool. The real thing. 🇳🇴

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PO Box 501
Manhattan Beach, CA
90266

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