This past weekend Melba Granlund traveled to Moorhead with one of the guild’s warp-weighted looms to participate in the Scandinavian Hjemkomst & Midwest Viking Festival in Moorhead, Minnesota. The Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County and Nordic Culture Clubs presents the Scandinavian Hjemkomst & Midwest Viking Festival annually. This is their 42nd year! From the forested lakes of Finland through the Norwegian fjords to the shores of Iceland, they bring together an international collection of chefs, artists, musicians, storytellers, historians, and vendors to fully immerse participants in the Nordic roots that planted themselves so prominently in the Red River Valley communities. This festival is all about local history and global communities.
Dressed as a Viking-era weaver, visitors were told about the history of the warp-weighted loom as it was used during Viking times. Viking weavers in Iceland would weave “varafeldur” (Icelandic for “fur product”) and trade them to Vikings in Norway. In the absence of currency, woven textiles were used as trade goods and varafeldur were the mostly traded commodity that existed in their econony at one point in time.
See the photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/144676782@N02/albums/72157698018201094