Did the vikings smoke weed?

[Lost in a SOG]

Hmm interesting concept. The books ive read they say the body does extract certain harsh chemicals that are detoxified by the liver and that the majority of the muscaric acid is excreted through the urine because as you say it gets excreted as fast as possible.

Its a bit confusing that people would ever drink the urine just to make it go further because you can dry them and they last for ages and you can extract them fairly easily.

 

[Green Wolf]

Hmm interesting concept. The books ive read they say the body does extract certain harsh chemicals that are detoxified by the liver and that the majority of the muscaric acid is excreted through the urine because as you say it gets excreted as fast as possible.

Its a bit confusing that people would ever drink the urine just to make it go further because you can dry them and they last for ages and you can extract them fairly easily.

It might have a detoxcifying effect too. But in siberia where toadstools are/were valued very high they wanted to streach the supply as far as possible. So instead of each guy eating as much as he thinks is needed they just drink the pee of their buddy. That seems to have more to do with it being economical but maybe they knew aboutit being safer as well.

Ive also heard by word of mouth that some buddist priests do the same thing

 

[Lost in a SOG]

Most of the northern european peoples had an oral tradition of preserving knowledge and drugs are consumable and leave no evidence so I wouldn't expect any proof to be preserved through time if the peoples of Scandinavia did smoke cannabis or throw it on hot rocks in tents/saunas or something which was not an uncommon concept back then.

As someone said the artisans and metallurigists of that part of the world were ridiculously skilled at one time and used gems like garnets from India and Asia, for example, that had travelled through the silk road or other routes to them so Hash/flowers could have travelled the same way with spices and various other herbs.

And some of them made it all the way to the East coast of America so I can imagine they went almost everywhere around at least the coast of europe/mediterranian and africa and further even, who knows, they're descendants seem to love weed anyway

 

[mexcurandero420]

Probably they also knew to find Liberty Caps and how to use it.

 

[Montuno]

There may not be evidence that they were trading or using it but they certainly were in contact with cultures that used it.
I'd be highly surprised if there was never a viking age Scandinavian that did not try it at some point.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_trade_route

The Volga trade route was established by the Varangians (Vikings) who settled in Northwestern Russia in the early 9th century. About 10 km (6 mi) south of the Volkhov River entry into Lake Ladoga, they established a settlement called Ladoga (Old Norse: Aldeigjuborg).[1] Archaeological evidence suggests Rus trading activities along the Volga trade route as early as the end of the 8th century. The earliest and the richest finds of Arabic coins in Europe were discovered on the territory of present-day Russia, particularly along the Volga, at Timerevo in the district of Yaroslavl. A hoard of coins found at Petergof, near Saint Petersburg, contains twenty coins with graffiti in Arabic, Turkic (probably Khazar) runic, Greek, and Old Norse runic, the latter accounting for more than half of the total. These coins include Sassanid, Arab, and Arabo-Sassanid dirhams, the latest of them dated to 804-805.[2] Having examined major finds of Arabic coins in Eastern Europe, Valentin Yanin conclusively demonstrated that the earliest monetary system of early Russia was based on the early type of dirham minted in Africa.[3]

Hello.
I think is very difficult to believe that the greatest finds of Medieval Arabian coins in Europe were discovered in Russia... More that in Spain or Portugal, by example?

 

[Montuno]

The answer is no the Vikings didn't smoke anything. Smoking tech was a New World thing (and maybe, possibly, an African thing) brought back to Europe by the Spanish along with tobacco.
Of course the Vikings came in contact with the Inuit but eskimos don't grow tobacco.
The Vikings grew and used cannabis for textiles. To waterproof and fix holes in their ships, to make rope and clothing.
Did the Vikings use cannabis for shamanistic purposes or to get high? There isn't any direct evidence. But they had settled in Britain by 1000 CE where the local peasants were baking mind-altering bread. 'Poppies, hemp, and darnel were scavanged, dried, and ground up to produce a medieval hash brownie known as 'crazy bread.'' (Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany by Robert C. Clarke and Mark D. Merlin)
Maybe Viking farmers made a similar product but it would have been made from hemp not psychoactive drug cannabis. There isn't evidence they were manufacturing or trading in Hashish or that drug cannabis use was an important part of their culture.

You are right. Probably vikings finds at first time psicoactive cannabis in the Omeyya Emirate of Córdoba aka al-Andalus (Spain).

 

[EvergreenState]

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myt...fierce-warriors-or-drug-fuelled-madmen-001472

 

[EvergreenState]

https://www.historyextra.com/period/viking/the-truth-about-viking-berserkers/

 

[Green Wolf]

Most of the northern european peoples had an oral tradition of preserving knowledge and drugs are consumable and leave no evidence so I wouldn't expect any proof to be preserved through time if the peoples of Scandinavia did smoke cannabis or throw it on hot rocks in tents/saunas or something which was not an uncommon concept back then.

As someone said the artisans and metallurigists of that part of the world were ridiculously skilled at one time and used gems like garnets from India and Asia, for example, that had travelled through the silk road or other routes to them so Hash/flowers could have travelled the same way with spices and various other herbs.

And some of them made it all the way to the East coast of America so I can imagine they went almost everywhere around at least the coast of europe/mediterranian and africa and further even, who knows, they're descendants seem to love weed anyway

Yes, traveling vikings most definatly encountered cannabis as an intoxicant. My question was more aimed at finding out if cannabis for intoxication had any foothold at all in the norse society.

I read one document on the internet claiming that norse people used it exstensivley at some form of fertility festival. But that claim seemed unfounded at best.

 

[mexcurandero420]

The answer is no the Vikings didn't smoke anything. Smoking tech was a New World thing (and maybe, possibly, an African thing) brought back to Europe by the Spanish along with tobacco.
Of course the Vikings came in contact with the Inuit but eskimos don't grow tobacco.
The Vikings grew and used cannabis for textiles. To waterproof and fix holes in their ships, to make rope and clothing.
Did the Vikings use cannabis for shamanistic purposes or to get high? There isn't any direct evidence. But they had settled in Britain by 1000 CE where the local peasants were baking mind-altering bread. 'Poppies, hemp, and darnel were scavanged, dried, and ground up to produce a medieval hash brownie known as 'crazy bread.'' (Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany by Robert C. Clarke and Mark D. Merlin)
Maybe Viking farmers made a similar product but it would have been made from hemp not psychoactive drug cannabis. There isn't evidence they were manufacturing or trading in Hashish or that drug cannabis use was an important part of their culture.

The technique for manufacturing the Ulfbreht sword came from Persia, not somewhere in Europe, so probably they experienced the smoking of hashish over there too.

 

[therevverend]

The technique for manufacturing the Ulfbreht sword came from Persia, not somewhere in Europe, so probably they experienced the smoking of hashish over there too.

Passing along technology is different then passing plant knowledge. For instance I doubt the Persians were eating Amanita mushrooms because they had contact with the Vikings. Psychoactive cannabis strains weren't documented in Scandinavia until the 1960s. The Vikings were growing hemp. No pipes, didn't bring any back from the New World. Scandinavians like their sweats, maybe they were vaporizing hemp seeds or even some flowering tops but no THC. There's nothing in Viking culture to hint at hashish use. Viking world travelers traveling to Persia and getting high. Or a trader bringing back a box of hashish incense sticks. Is different then a population that breeds hashplants and produces sifted hash, uses it as part of their religious and/or cultural tradition.

The new Paul Stamets mushroom film includes Stamets talking about eating Amanita Muscaria. I'd never heard a credible account of the effects. It sounds terrible. He talks about how they cause a repetitive action loop. His example, he was holding a camera and dropped it, broke it. He kept picking it up and dropping it again. Over and over and over.

 

[troutman]

The technique for manufacturing the Ulfbreht sword came from Persia, not somewhere in Europe, so probably they experienced the smoking of hashish over there too.

View Image

I know who brought that technology to the Vikings from the Middle East.

The 13th Warrior.

Ahmad ibn Fadlan is a court poet to the Caliph of Baghdad, until his amorous encounter with the wife of an influential noble gets him exiled as an ambassador to the Volga Bulgars. Traveling with his father's old friend, Melchisidek, his caravan is saved from Tatar raiders by the appearance of Norsemen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_13th_Warrior

The 13th Warrior (1999) - Modern Trailer

 

[Gypsy Nirvana]

If I was a Viking - then I would definitely try smoking the resinous flowers of cannabis plants - but in all seriousness I think that the Vikings grew hemp/cannabis primarily for food, clothing - rope and ship/building materials - as most ancient/old societies did -

- Without Hemp Cannabis - there might not have been any British Empire - because according to Jack Herer - nearly half the weight of a sailing ship was made from hemp - from the sails - to the rigging - to the sailors clothing - to the Captains log-books and more - hemp was used to help get these ships around the world - to discover and conquer new lands -

 

[mexcurandero420]

Passing along technology is different then passing plant knowledge. For instance I doubt the Persians were eating Amanita mushrooms because they had contact with the Vikings. Psychoactive cannabis strains weren't documented in Scandinavia until the 1960s. The Vikings were growing hemp. No pipes, didn't bring any back from the New World. Scandinavians like their sweats, maybe they were vaporizing hemp seeds or even some flowering tops but no THC. There's nothing in Viking culture to hint at hashish use. Viking world travelers traveling to Persia and getting high. Or a trader bringing back a box of hashish incense sticks. Is different then a population that breeds hashplants and produces sifted hash, uses it as part of their religious and/or cultural tradition.

The new Paul Stamets mushroom film includes Stamets talking about eating Amanita Muscaria. I'd never heard a credible account of the effects. It sounds terrible. He talks about how they cause a repetitive action loop. His example, he was holding a camera and dropped it, broke it. He kept picking it up and dropping it again. Over and over and over.

Amanita muscaria grows in northern countries and so far as i know not in Persia.Cannabis grows everywhere.
Scythians threw the Cannabis plants in the fire in the tent and inhaled the smoke, according to Herodotus.Sort of way could be done by Vikings also.

 

[Gry]

If I was a Viking - then I would definitely try smoking the resinous flowers of cannabis plants - but in all seriousness I think that the Vikings grew hemp/cannabis primarily for food, clothing - rope and ship/building materials - as most ancient/old societies did -

- Without Hemp Cannabis - there might not have been any British Empire - because according to Jack Herer - nearly half the weight of a sailing ship was made from hemp - from the sails - to the rigging - to the sailors clothing - to the Captains log-books and more - hemp was used to help get these ships around the world - to discover and conquer new lands -

One can find ropewalks anyplace the ships went.
First colony in VA, had a requirement that taxes
be paid in hemp.

 

[therevverend]

Amanita muscaria grows in northern countries and so far as i know not in Persia

Actually that was one of the dumber things I've written in a while. I forgot about the theory that the Soma/Haoma of the Rig Veda and Zoroastrian Avesta was Amanita Muscaria. You guys should have nailed my ass. There's a Fly Agaric Muscaria look-alike that grows in Iran but nobody's tested it for Muscarine. You make my point though, no hashplants in Norway, no Muscarias in Iran. That's what I meant.

Scythians threw the Cannabis plants in the fire in the tent and inhaled the smoke, according to Herodotus.Sort of way could be done by Vikings also.

Yeah that's what I meant by this...

Scandinavians like their sweats, maybe they were vaporizing hemp seeds or even some flowering tops but no THC.

If you read Herodotus closely and test what the Scythians were actually burning at their funerals, in their burial urn vaporizers, they were burning aromatic seed mixes. Hemp seeds, coriander seeds, poppy seeds, etc. To get a thick gnarly smelly smoke to purify themselves. The reason they were screaming and weeping and needed purification was because it was a funeral.

The earlier tests by the Russians when they thought their was THC in the Scythian cannabis was a fuck up. They were testing at a police drug lab and weren't as careful as they could have been, likely contaminated the samples. Other people didn't find the THC. Of course CBD is present in hemp, it has all sorts of medical effects, but doesn't get you high. And the Scythians could have gotten hashplants from West China. Anyway..

One can find ropewalks anyplace the ships went.

It seems like we talked about this before, I don't want to look it up again. But I don't think the Vikings used hemp for their ropes. They had a different plant they used. Maybe I'll find it later.

 

[Cvh]

^The theory is indeed that one of the ingredients in Soma might have been Amanitas.
I have never myself bothered to look into that this mushroom grew/grows into the Persia region or not. If I have the chance one day, I might look into it.

 

[therevverend]

I looked it up, there's 6 different types of Amanita that have been proven to grow in Iran. (Historic Persia is much larger) Plus a bunch of other stuff that hasn't been documented by science, including something likely in the Muscaria-Pantheria complex. There's enough temperate forest and mountains in northern Iran that it's not surprising.

Personally I don't think the Muscarias fit the description. Here's a link to Stamet's description of the effects. On Rogan's show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ6Ym719urg&feature=youtu.be&t=108m50s&app=desktop

Where I live in Washington they grow all over. Everything from the tan panther caps, yellow and orange variations, and the bright red Fly Agaric. I don't and won't fuck with them.

The psilocybins are a different story. Out of the drugs I've tried they come closest to the effects I'd expect from Soma. Pure bliss with no down side. Even when I've had a bad trip it's amazing. There's so many things about life, the world, that suck. Almost everything. It's like God or some other clown said, 'Here mankind, I know everything sucks but I'll give you one thing that's just great, spectacular. And if your eyes are sharp you can find it, it grows all over the world. Don't have to labor or pay money it just pops up on the ground. when it rains. Be cool!'

Robert C Clarke makes a good case for soma being cannabis in one of his books. Or maybe there's brahmins in India that still make it and know the secret. I've heard a story basically describing that.

 

[Cvh]

^I agree, Fly Agaric wouldn't be the best candidate. Possible it was added to the mixture, but unlikely.

I think that there might have been many variations in the preparation. My personal opinion is that Soma is made with what was locally available and/or traded and not just a fixed mixture of ingredients.

Here was Terence McKenna has to say about Amanitas and Soma:

In his book Food of the Gods, ethnobotanist Terence McKenna postulates that the most likely candidate for soma is the mushroom Psilocybe cubensis, a hallucinogenic mushroom that grows in cow dung in certain climates. McKenna cites both Wasson's and his own unsuccessful attempts using Amanita muscaria to reach a psychedelic state as evidence that it could not have inspired the worship and praise of soma. McKenna further points out that the 9th mandala of the Rig Veda makes extensive references to the cow as the embodiment of soma.

 

[mexcurandero420]

I don't know if the natives did smoke in New Foundland Canada.The Vikings did visit the New World before Columbus in the 12-13 th century.You can still visit the only settlement which was found from the Vikings.

The discovery of cannabis pollen near a Viking settlement in Newfoundland raises the question of whether the Vikings were already smoking cannabis when they set foot on land when they discovered Newfoundland. Researchers also found evidence that the Vikings had occupied this outpost in Newfoundland for more than a century, much longer than previously thought.