Personal Intersection

Or why?

 

There are a couple of reasons I choose to compare the legend of Atli and the history of Attila. The first reason is because I find the legends of different cultures and the grains of history they may conceal interesting. The second reason is because I am a medieval Viking reenacted. I became interested in the Viking world because of my adopted mothers. Maybe I should explain that last part. About three years ago I joined a medieval reenactment society known as the Society for Creative Anachronisms. In the society I met two women who reenacted Vikings and became friends. Well one day they were going out of town for an event and needed a house sitter so I volunteered. This was the year of the big winter storms in Virginia. When they came to pick me up my mother said if they keep me for more than three days I'm theirs. They asked her if she had heard about the snow storms reported, she said yes why did they think she said it. On Sunday there was a hug snowstorm that closed the roads where they were and I did not get back till Tuesday, so now we joke that they have adopted me and I have three mothers. The Viking culture they introduced me to was very different from the one popular culture painted. They for instance did not wear horns on their helments; they bathed every day unlike most of Europe, and traveled the world and knew how to read and write.