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December 2001 Update

Viking Festival, Largs

P4 were studying the Vikings later in the year.

This was a good excuse to go to Largs for the annual Viking Festival, which stars real Norwegians dressed up as Vikings.

The Festival goes on in Largs every year to commemorate the Scottish victory at the Battle of Largs in 1263, when the Vikings were defeated and sailed away never to attack Scotland again.

These Norwegians come back every year, though, to dress up as Vikings and take part in the Festival.

They set up a camp at the Viking Village, living in Viking huts. They tell visitors about the Vikings, and how they weren't all bad people.

They leave their long-ship parked down at the water's edge - you can see more Vikings in the distance, left of the boat.

Later, when it gets dark, they have a torch-light procession and set fire to the ship, as they would do if their chief had died. They'd burn the chief's body in the boat.

After that, Largs has a great Fireworks display (no pictures) and the party goes on into the night.

The story goes that the Vikings lost the Battle of Largs because they came from their ships through the sea, in the dark, in their bare feet, to sneak up on the Scots.

But some Vikings stood on sharp thistles which were growing by the beach.

The noise they made when they hurt their feet, let the Scots army hear them coming, and the Scots were able to defeat them all.

This is why, to this day, the Thistle is the emblem of Scotland.

There are still quite a few big thistles growing beside the path down to the beach, maybe in case the Vikings come back.

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