How to start Viking reenactment in Scandinavia

Nobody starts alone. Find a local group, go to their meetings, borrow kit for your first market, and buy your own piece by piece. The camps you walk through at Foteviken are made of people who did exactly that.

What reenactment is here

In the Nordics, Viking reenactment is a hobby organised around associations, often called a vikinglag in Norway, a förening in Sweden or a laug in Denmark. A group has a name, a set of authenticity rules, a camp it brings to markets and a calendar of events through the summer. Members research, sew, forge, cook, fight and camp together. Many of the markets on this site are run by such groups: Stallarholmens Vikingar, Trondheim vikinglag, Gjallarstadir vikinglag, Als Vikingelaug, Fibula on Åland.

Step one: visit as a visitor

Go to two or three markets and walk through the camps. Notice which groups you keep stopping at. Ask people what group they are with and how they started. Everyone in that camp had this conversation once.

Step two: find a group

Groups are local. Search for your town or region plus vikinglag, vikingaförening or vikingelaug, or ask at a market. Municipal Viking farms like Gunnes gård and Ale Vikingagård have associations attached. Most groups have open meetings or craft evenings in winter, which is when new members join; the summer is for events.

If you live outside the Nordics, the same structure exists across Europe, and international groups camp at Ribe, Foteviken and Trelleborg every year.

Step three: your first market as a participant

Groups usually lend a newcomer basic kit for a first event and expect you to help in camp: cooking, fetching water, watching the fire. Nobody expects you to fight. You will sleep in a canvas tent, cook on an open fire and be on display all day. Most people find out within one weekend whether they want to keep doing it.

Step four: build a kit

Underlayer first, then a wool outer layer, then shoes, then a belt and knife. Buy from traders at markets or sew your own; see our clothing and sewing guides. Your group will tell you what passes their rules. A basic kit takes a year of markets to assemble at a comfortable pace and costs a few hundred euros ready-made.

What it costs

Membership in a group: modest annual fees. Kit: see above. Market participation: usually free for registered participants, who get camp space and often meals in exchange for being there. Travel between markets is the real cost of the hobby.

The rules

Every serious group has authenticity standards, from the fabric of your socks to the shape of your tent, and the strict markets check them at the gate. This is what makes the camps worth walking through. It is also why nobody wants to see your fantasy axe. Expect to be corrected kindly and often in the first year.

Fighting

Combat is a separate discipline with training, safety rules and often a licence within the group. It is not required. Many long-standing reenactors never fight.

The payoff

A week at Foteviken in the camp, not the car park. Friends across Europe. Knowing why the seam on a tunic runs where it does. People who start rarely stop.

Last updated 2026-09-06. Prices and opening hours change; check the venue before you go. Back to Gear and reenacting or the festival calendar.