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Daily life

Look inside Wendish houses in the Oldenburger Wallmuseum. Photo: Museum Lolland-Falster.

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Daily life

If we imagine a time travel where we visit a family in a village on Lolland-Falster and a Wendish family near the Slavic castle Starigard in what is now Oldenburg in Holstein, we are amazed at how similar their daily lives were. Both in Denmark and in the Slavic areas people lived in villages with up to a few hundred people in each.

In Slavic and Danish villages, a household consisted of six to fifteen family members and twenty. Between 1200 and 5000 people lived in Lolland and Falster in the 10.000th century. The average life expectancy was about 40 years for the people who did not die in infancy, and the infant mortality rate was high.

Reconstruction of "Townhouse" from the Viking Age. Photo: Ribe Viking Center
Reconstruction of "Townhouse" from the Viking Age. Photo: Ribe Viking Center
Reconstruction of a hall from the Viking Age at the Viking castle Fyrkat. Photo: Västgöten, Wikimedia
Reconstruction of a hall from the Viking Age at the Viking castle Fyrkat. Photo: Västgöten, Wikimedia

Danes and Wenders were farmers. The vast majority cultivated the land, raised cattle and kept pigs, and the Wends were especially known for their horse breeding. Both in Denmark and in the Vendian areas, people went hunting and fishing. Herring was salted as a winter supply. The salt came in the Viking Age from the Slavic area. In both places there were potters and blacksmiths who produced what was needed. Daily life was quite similar on both sides of the Baltic Sea. The language was different, the dress had different details, but daily life was very similar to each other's.

The Vendian area was more rich in forest. You could see this in the houses, which were often built as log houses with walls entirely made of timber, while houses on Lolland and Falster were built in half-timbered timber with walls of plaited branches plastered with clay.

Reconstructed coastal Slavic houses with thatched roofs in the Oldenburger Wallmuseum. The walls are made of plaited rice, which is plastered with clay - very similar to contemporary Danish building practice. Photo: Museum Lolland-Falster.
Reconstructed Wendish houses with thatched roofs in the Oldenburger Wallmuseum. The walls are made of plaited rice, which is plastered with clay - very similar to contemporary Danish building practice. Photo: Museum Lolland-Falster.
Reconstructed coastal Slavic houses built in the bolt technique with clapboard roofs in the Oldenburger Wallmuseum. Photo: Museum Lolland-Falster.
Reconstructed Wendish houses built in the bolt technique with clapboard roofs in the Oldenburger Wallmuseum. Photo: Museum Lolland-Falster.

Suit of clothing

Classy men's and women's clothing from the Viking Age. Photo: Ole Malling, Sagnlandet Lejre.
Classy men's and women's clothing from the Viking Age. Photo: Ole Malling, Sagnlandet Lejre.
This is how ordinary people dressed in the Viking Age. Photo: Ole Malling, Sagnlandet Lejre.
This is how ordinary people dressed in the Viking Age. Photo: Ole Malling, Sagnlandet Lejre.
Slavic temple rings, which were part of the women's headdress. Photo: The National Museum.
Vendian temple rings, which were part of the women's headdress. Photo: The National Museum.

Apart from details, the Wendish and Danish clothes were largely the same. Men and women, depending on their financial means and status, were dressed in some form of blouses as well as trousers and skirts made of linen or wool. The richest also dressed in exotic materials such as silk fabrics with gold threads, and they had furs and bearskins available.

There may have been a difference in how the Danish and Wendish women styled their hair. The Wendish women wore curved hair clips that may have held a scarf or ribbon in place.

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Note: Danish only