Viking ship cannabis conundrum

[Normannen]

The Scandinavians grew hemp not ganja. At least 2000 years ago, long before the Vikings. What's interesting is the Vikings did not use hemp for rope. They used trees.



If I remember correctly they didn't use it for their masts either but I don't have the time to look for sources. It could be the hemp was too valuable, it was used for linen, stuff like blankets, clothing, etc.

It certainly would have been the European type of ganja, cannabis sativa sativa, not the drug type. Medicinal and food but not a good buzz. Vikings and other Europeans didn't smoke, no pipes have been found until after Columbus brought back tobacco. (this is a thread of it's own-lots of arguments but nothing conclusive. A lot of articles talk about a Scythian bong but I believe it's nonsense-like I say another thread) I can't remember if Inuit smoking is mentioned by the Greenland settlers. I think it might have been but once again I have other stuff to do right now. It's worth looking up.

What ancient peoples did do was vaporize hashish and ganja. Basically hot knife it and hit the smoke although it was more complicated than that. Or simply decarboxylate and eat it. The Vikings certainly had contact with the Middle East and north Africa, areas where drug strains are grown and could have imported it. And surely they were well-aware of the medicinal properties of their own strains of cannabis. Likely be more discoveries in the future adding to our knowledge of the subject.

"In addition to the theory of ritual use of hemp in Viking times or earlier, it is prudent to consider another, more mundane, theory: the hemp seeds were placed in the pouch of the Oseberg Queen for their rarity. These were highly prized seeds of an exceedingly useful plant, as yet rare in the north. The hemp seeds were valuable for their promise of better cordage and more durable textiles. Such a theory does not, of course, exclude the possibility that hemp may also have had ritual uses." https://vindheim.net/hamp/hemp.html
We started using hemp as soon as we started trading with Europe... And by trading I mean plunder and raze ;p no we did trade, we have a few Arabic artifacts in our museums that were obviously paid for as we still have the receipt on the runic sticks we found next to it. (the fact that we saved our receipts on wood really tells you a lot about the return policies of the time)

 

[mexcurandero420]

The Scandinavians grew hemp not ganja. At least 2000 years ago, long before the Vikings. What's interesting is the Vikings did not use hemp for rope. They used trees.



If I remember correctly they didn't use it for their masts either but I don't have the time to look for sources. It could be the hemp was too valuable, it was used for linen, stuff like blankets, clothing, etc.

It certainly would have been the European type of ganja, cannabis sativa sativa, not the drug type. Medicinal and food but not a good buzz. Vikings and other Europeans didn't smoke, no pipes have been found until after Columbus brought back tobacco. (this is a thread of it's own-lots of arguments but nothing conclusive. A lot of articles talk about a Scythian bong but I believe it's nonsense-like I say another thread) I can't remember if Inuit smoking is mentioned by the Greenland settlers. I think it might have been but once again I have other stuff to do right now. It's worth looking up.

What ancient peoples did do was vaporize hashish and ganja. Basically hot knife it and hit the smoke although it was more complicated than that. Or simply decarboxylate and eat it. The Vikings certainly had contact with the Middle East and north Africa, areas where drug strains are grown and could have imported it. And surely they were well-aware of the medicinal properties of their own strains of cannabis. Likely be more discoveries in the future adding to our knowledge of the subject.

Don't know if you ever watched the documentary about the Ulfberht sword.The technique they used for manufacturing the sword, was from Iran aka Persia.Probably they came in contact with the use of hashish.

 

[Thcvhunter]

The Tønsberg ship was from my family's property there in Norway.

I visited them when I was 17 and they took me to several Viking museums, at one I watched them build the Draken ships


Talking with the ship builders who were damant about using only tools and skills from the old days, told me that traditional rope/rigging broke apart in the nothern seas from ice-wedging of the fibers. So, they used predominantly horse hair, and eventually blended it with hemp later on in years. I didnt get a date when hemp started to be used.

The Viking years are basically the years after Charlemagne did his raping and Pillaging in the name of Christianity.
The Norse responded to these Christian raids by raiding the churches and power structures in defense of their homeland. Thats when they began being called Vikings and began being villified.

In reality, the Norsemen were peaceful traders who had an effective trade route established as far as Persia.
In 985, they found America, after accurately mapping Greenland (that map stands up to satellite-image accuracy, done 1,000 yrs before Sputnik)

While I was with the Pomo nation in the Native American Church in California, they told me that the Vikings came out as far west as California and that they still protect the sanctity and privacy of a Viking burial mound in Pomo land of Mendocino/Lake County California.
As I was told, when the Vikings came to America around 990 AD, the Natives noticed they wore animal skins in reverence. From this, they deduced these people from the Sea communed with Nature and thus were invited into the Native lands and communities. Cohesion was achieved so well that inter-marriage occured often here in America. Otherwise they never would have been invited across the whole continent by the natives.
Then, once the colonies here in America grew and more Norse families came here to a new land to live in peace, the Vikings started shipping over their own livestock. One native chief was gifted a vessel of fresh milk. That night, the chief thought he was poisoned as he experienced his first episode of lactose intolerance since natives weren't milk-drinkers. Thinking he was poisoned, the peace was lost and so the Vikings returned to Scandinavia and/or their other territories around the globe.

 

[bigsur51]

Interesting article , thanks for posting it …..

interesting to me because my people on my mothers side were from Denmark

some of our genealogy is in a book titled Sons of the Vikings

interesting that cannabis is connected to their history

 

[420empire]

I decent from these so called "vikings" which mean pirates, but not the "true" term. IMO I define em as Norbo (norseman) as Thcvhunter also mention. I am from the Dane tribe(Denmark) A mix from the main land and one of the Islands, with a dash from some swedish(sverre tribe) mixed in. Remember the "vikings " went A lot around the World but diffrent lokations , the norwegian , Danes, Swedes, spread world wide , North Africa , france, Spain
greece, Greenland, Canada, Island, besides was part of founding tribes in Ukraine, and Russia...
So deff. Cannabis could have been part of our forefathers rituals. We have some evidence in the big graves, and other sites, but only tells us a piece of it. The old myths shows is other pieces. In this we can make some kind of half done puzzel, rest will be spekulation. What could be sad though is that
Den Høje / Høye. Better know as Odin , seems like haveing nightsades experience some evnen claim Odin is the alkoloiads of Datura, we have the herb here in scandinavia called bumleurt (Hyoscyamus niger) and Freja could be associate with cannabis. Again it is spekulation for now. We had the Vølve which is a shaman, and theres is spekulation bout a Scandinavian Soma.. besides with that travelling pattern and all that fucking going around, hell i cant see why cannabis couldt have played a role.

About the pipesmokeing stuff, deff they Maybe just inhaled weed on some hot stones , eaten it or Maybe chillums? But not sure... chillum is maybe some 18th Idea. Dunno.
And true they used Lindebast, bast is Also old Norse word for rope. I am in the process if learning the old tounge. Haha

 

[Normannen]

 

[Thcvhunter]

Theres also various Amanita and other psychedelic mushrooms throughout Scandinavia