Anglo Saxon Pastimes

1. By Alan Parrado & MeyaHemphill Anglo Saxon Pastimes

2. Popular Sports • Running • jumping • skiing • skating • horse racing • rock climbing • weight lifting • skin pulling (form of tug-of-war using an animal skin instead of a rope.) Horse racing

3. Sports • Swimming was a popular sport both to compete and watch. • Considered quite fair to drown your opponent. • Some of the heroes in the sagas were said to have worn amour.

4. Sports cont. • Wrestling (both simple and difficult forms) • Wrestlers would take each other by the arms or waists and would use their strength to knock each other off balance. • Grappling and attacking each other sometimes fastened by a belt at the waist. • These matches occasionally involved fatalities or an odd broken or dislocated limb.

5. Games • Some board games are still played today such as: nine man’s morris, backgammon, and fox and geese. • Other less known games were knuckle bones, used in the same fashion as jacks are today. • Another game thought to have been played is chess. Nine man’s morris Fox and geese

6. Other Pastimes • Witling wood, carving and decorating bone and antler. • Wealthier women undertook embroidery in their spare time (wall hangings and orphreys). • Anglo Saxon needlework was famed throughout Europe. • Many embroideries were richly embellished with gold and silver thread. Embroidered wall hangings etc., Whistles made out of deer bone

7. Other Pastimes cont. • Many warriors practiced juggling with sharp knives. • Exercising dogs by jumping them over poles. Knives and cases in which they are stored.

8. Music and Verse • Many stories of ancient heroes such as: Beowulf or The Norse Sagas. • Few of these survive today as they were generally passed down orally. Most of those which are recorded are in the form of an epic poem. • These poems were composed to record a particular event such as he battle of Maldon.

9. Music and Verse cont. • Professional storytellers called scops would travel from village to village telling tales in return for food, lodging and money.Professional musicians called gleemen. • Singing and music were other prized skills. • Few actual musical instruments have survived only in manuscript illustrations. These include: harps, lyres, whistles, horns, pan-pipes, bones, psalteries, and some form of drum. lyre Harp Pan-pipe

10. Dancing • Generally performed to verse singing and is likely to have taken form of circle dances. • Various kinds of hobby-horse games where mummery and miming were known . • Warriors performed acrobatic dances whilst wielding weapons. Warriors performing an acrobatic dance.

11. Children’s Games and Toys • Most children spent most time working with their parents. • Many of the board and dice games popular with children and adults. • In the winter bone skates were used for playing as for a means of getting around. Bones used for skates in winter. Game pieces: dice etc. Children’s board game

12. Children’s Games and Toys • Children may have learned to play simple musical instruments such as bone or reed whistles. • Some toys include carved wooden animals, swords, toy ships, spinning tops, and small caste heads and limbs. Wooden animals, board games, swords, musical instruments etc., are what children played with.

13. Works Cited • http://ve017.k12.sd.us/12th%20LA/beowulf%20survey.htm • http://www.etchingsdance.com/dancebooksonline/thedance/031.jpg • http://www.flickr.com/photos/amagill/79731239 • http://www.flickr.com/photos/mararie/491458386 • http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/literature/pix/anglo_saxon_harp.jpg • www.freewebtown.com/JamesandGwen games.htm • www.regia.org/games.htm/ • www.regia.org/misc/pastimes.htm • www.regia.org/music.htm/ • www.regia.org/seax.htm