Regarding the Viking Market 2020

Dear Viking friends

We live in a different world today. Nothing is the same, and will probably remain this way for some time ahead.

We are in 2020 - nearly 40 years after the start of the Foteviken story with the discovery of the Foteviken ship wrecks in 1981, and the 25th anniversary of the Foteviken Viking Museum.

We at Foteviken have moved our season opening of the museum from Walpurgis night at the end of April to the Swedish National Day on June 6. But will it be enough?

The next big event is our Viking Market, celebrating its 25th anniversary. What will happen to it? With respect to what happens in the world we are facving a year with cancelled school trips and events and no international museum visitors. Many of our fellow cultural and historic event attractions near and far suffer the same difficulties.

If the Foteviken Viking Museum stays open during this summer it will likely be without craftsmen and activities in the historic environments. During this season we will become more of a traditional open air museum providing our fantastic Viking Age environments for our visitors to enjoy. Our small staff will take care of the entrance shop and hopefully we will have some volunteers helping out. Regretfully we must still charge an entry fee to stay afloat economically despite the reduced activity, and we hope our visitors will show us forbearance in this difficult time.

The Viking Market

We will try to hold this event in some shape or form complying with current government recommendations. It will for sure be different from our regular market concept.

There will likely be no international Vikings participating. They may not travel here from their countries as things currently stand. Our band of Polish musicians will not come. The grand Viking Feast will be cancelled,as social distancing and restrictions on group size to max 50 people does not work for such an event.

How can we handle this with complying with safety regulations and recommendations? Our market area is large, and if we divide it into different zones we might manage.

What about visitors? Probably not many. The local Vikings who are willing and able will hopefully come, including the Village community. A small-scale Viking market mostly for ourselves.

How about the ceremony at the Hola Stenar ship barrow? This celebration of the fallen feels more relevant than ever, and will be carried out no matter what else happens. Even if no one else attends but me, Sussi, Sven (if possible) and the staff, and perhaps the Village community. Should we live stream it to allow all Vikings to attend remotely? A dignified manifestation in these difficult times.

Björn and the staff