Nordic Spirit Symposium – The Nordic Iron Age: Life Before the Vikings

The Nordic Iron Age, nestled between the Bronze Age and the Viking Age, saw great changes and developments in society, technology, agriculture, settlement, and more. Seacraft revolutionized travel, trade and cultural exchange. Iron technology revolutionized both tools (e.g., the plow) and weapons. Very practical boats and ships, essential to the Viking Age, were developed in the later part of the Iron Age.

Do you wonder how such graceful, beautiful, and practical craft were developed? Do you wonder what life was like before the Viking Age? This symposium, designed for a public audience, will treat these topics among others. The program will begin Friday Feb. 6 with a live performance of a drama from the Iron Age, Beowulf. Saturday the program will continue with illustrated lectures and music. Discussion of farm life, Iron Age art, and an exceptionally well-preserved and extraordinary 2,000 year-old bog body will fill out the program. We will follow the time-honored tradition of a symposium with music, drama, and ample time for discussion, learning, and enjoyment.

Info: Meet the Presenters. Price: $15 for individual ticket. ($145 ticket for the "Works" also includes the Gala Reception.)

Info: Registration begins at 6:15 PM. Price: $20 (included in the "Works"). One-Act Play: "Beowulf" by John Heimbuch, Actor, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Info: Registration begins at 8:15 AM. Price: see options by clicking "Get Tickets." Lectures: "The Iron Age Farm in Stavanger: Research, Reconstruction and Living History" by Håkon Reiersen, Ph.D., Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway. "Iron Age Figurative and Animal-Style Art in Scandinavia: From Roman Influence to the Vikings" by Nancy Wicker, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Art History, The University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi.

Info: Price: $20. Reservations required. Meal registration deadline is January 25, 2026.

Info: Price: see options under the Check Availability link. Lectures: "Ships and Seafaring in Prehistoric Denmark" by Morton Ravn, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde, Denmark. Followed by "The Finnish Kantele—The Ancient Wisdom of its Strings and Forever Friend of the Singer" by Diane Jarvi, Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist, Kantele Player and Poet, Minneapolis, Minnesota and "Grauballe Man – a 2,000 Year-Old Iron Age Man" by Pauline Asingh, M.A., Curator, Moesgaard Museum, Moesgaard, Denmark.

Info: Social begins at 5:30 PM at CLU Lundring Events Center. Dinner begins at 6:00 PM. Reservations required. Dinner tickets are $50. Meal registration deadline is January 25, 2026.

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Host or Publisher Scandinavian American Cultural & Historical Foundation (SACHF)