Photos from Haninge, Stockholm and Södertörn

This orc was walking around aimlessly at the Viking festival. Not the brightest creature in history. Whenever it spotted the goats that lives at the Handen museum it started screaming dinosaurs, dinosaurs.

There was a group of jesters at the Viking Festival. Known as Gycklargruppen Brightside. They were really good at fire eating and juggling and they were a big hit with the kids. and with me. And everyone else. Oh and when they were done one guy walked around with a piece of cardboard over his head, written on it was their Swish number!

This is Swedish punk legend Aldo Morot. Real name Peter Gartz. Played in the band Plast back in the late 1970s. Today a svartsmed (blacksmith), and tattooist among other things. He also carves wooden figurines. Took his portrait at the Viking festival in Handen over the weekend. He pretty much sold every figurine so it was a good day for the speed carver.

This is Elin Ulfsdotter. She runs a business called Matriarkattens Hantverk. A play with words that would be tricky to translate. Elin makes hand woven ribbons. I met her at the Viking festival in Handen over the weekend.

I met a British Viking at the Viking Festival in Handen over the weekend. There were quite a few people at the festival selling their craft and Aaron was one of them. He also took part in the Viking battles and when I talked to him he had just finished battling. You can find out more about Aaron and the leather items he makes if you check out his Facebook site Amergin Leather.

I visited the last ever Viking festival at the Handen museum in Handen yesterday. Martin and Agnes are packing up and will be moving to Tyresta National Park sometime next year. The place was filled with people which was great to see. As I arrived a bunch of mean looking Vikings, both men and women took to the stage to show us how Vikings fought and what weapons they used. As a final touch they screamed and run towards us. Every survived. More from the festival in the coming days.

I met an Älvdrottning recently. You have to be careful around them as they have magical skills. They are beautiful human-like female creatures that can sometimes be seen dancing in the mist. In fact in folklore they are said to create the mist with their dance.

Patriarkus is a choir that has been around since 2005.They focus on early Scandinavian music. A few of the members performed during the Medieval festival at the Handen Museum.

When I took this portrait of Cecilia at the Viking Festival at the Handen Museum on Saturday I got a girl with a pearl earring feeling. Cecilia was selling colorful yarn at the market.

This Orch whose name was "Grönsak" in some language that I don't speak, spent his Saturday scaring kids at the Medieval festival.

David Wåhlander is the Viking Carpenter. I met him during the Viking Festival in Handen. He told me the story about the lathe. It origins from ancient Egypt. 5000 years ago it took two people to operate the tool. An Emperor and his slave! David does it all on his own. He really loves his handicraft, and if you check out his web site you will find a photo gallery showing many of his works. www.snickarvikingen.com/

Jonas is a Viking Fighter. He sometimes travels around, visiting Viking festivals in Europe. I met him at the annual Viking market I brytningstid at the museum in Handen on Saturday. Originally from Dalarna Jonas now lives at Adelsö in Stockholm. He is a member of Alsnu Hind, a group dedicated to the art of Viking Fighting. They meet twice a week in Stockholm. In the triptych you can see him winning a fight against another tough Viking. At the moment they are building a Viking Era farm at Adelsö. More facts in Swedish at their web site: www.alsnu.se/

I met a few talented people at the Viking/Medieval Festival. This is one of them. Lena Granberg from Tungelsta. She is the woman to the left. She is an artist and a potter. Her handicraft is based on Middle Age and Viking Age findings. She has her own business called Månvind (Moon Wind) where you can order your Christmas gifts! Lena uses modern techniques but tries to keep the design as close to the originals as possible. To see more Viking/Medieval photos check out the slideshow where you can also see last years snaps.

Performing Medieval music next to a hard working Blacksmith can cause problems. At least for photographers. And possibly for the musicians as well. The girls in Krabat nearly disappeared behind the smoke during their gig at the Viking/Medieval festival in Handen. I was lucky to get a few shots when the smoke had cleared out, and after their performance I asked the girls for a portrait. The three members of Krabat are Rebecca Lundblom. She sings and plays the mandola. Greta Nilén, who sings and plays the drums. And Klara Dahlberg. She plays the nyckelharpa and the English flute. They started the band earlier this year and has been touring the country this summer playing at different festivals. If you are interested there are some videos at their Facebook site.

The Vikings were a fun bunch of people. They enjoyed drinking and raiding. At least the ones we have heard about. They were fierce warriors and sailed the world on their impressive ships. These days it's a bit different. I met a bunch of friendly (but scary looking), Vikings on Saturday when I visited the annual Viking/Medieval festival in Handen. They put on a great show and fought hard against each other during the day. The Viking on the top photo enjoying a glass of mead is Fredrik whom I met last year as well. His new battle dress was custom made for him and imported from Poland. It costed him a few thousand kronor, but as he is a good fighter (he beat me in a few Viking games last year), I'm sure he will get the money back on some raid. More Viking and Medieval photos to come this week.

This is Lotta and Johan. Another couple that I met at the Viking Market in Handen. I told Johan to look a bit wild here and I think it worked. They have been members of the Tattarklanen for about two years. As anyone interested in the Viking Era Johan had visited the Medieval Week on Gotland earlier this year. The items in front of them are all hand made and for sale. They told me that this hobby is very time consuming. It can take as long as 14 hours to make this type of pitcher. Another interest they have is sailing. And with a very special ship, the Sofia Linnea. A fire wood yacht. The Sofia Linnea is a replica and was built in 1988. A century ago there were hundreds of similar cargo sailing in the Stockholm archipelago. This is my last post from the Viking Market, and if you would like to have a look at all the photos just sit back and have a look a the slideshow below.

This is Lotta Honey Tongue and her friend Ragnar. They were at the Viking market in Handen selling their Viking handicraft. Ragnar was more the creative type he said, making some decorative fasteners for clothing. Lotta is a natural born sales person, so they should work well together. In the future Lotta is hoping to design some bags to sell at the different markets, including the Medieval Week in Visby. As you all know a true Viking will enjoy the occasional fight to the death. Followed by some serious eating ( and even drinking), and that's what you can see on the second and third photo. The somewhat heavyset Viking wannabe in blue gave the helmet protected Viking warrior a real fight. And if one of them managed to survive, I'm sure he limped over to the food stall which was operated by the shy Vikingess and her friend.They served two dishes, Meat on a stick and something called Bone of Bird.

Meet Jocke Lavett. One of the new members of the Tattarklanen. He is interested in ancient handicraft, like the works of a blacksmith and he also wants to learn how to work with bronze and leather. Jocke is currently a student at the Bäckedals Folkhögskola in Sveg. And he plays in a band, Älgarna. And I do think he looks like a true Viking!

Meet the Ring Bearers. Two members of Tattarklanen. To the left Burpus Tatorum, also known as Ola. And next to him, Tatora Tuttum, whose real name is Beatrice. To become a ring bearer, and get a clan name in this Viking and Medieval clan you need to prove your personal commitment to the group. Something that normally will take a couple of years. And that's what Burpus Tatorum and Tatora Tuttum has done. They visit all the big Viking markets, like the one in Leksand and the Medieval Week in Visby. They also enjoy the camp life, role-playing, music, and the handicraft that are a big part of the Viking culture. I met them during the Viking market in Handen.They told me that there are something like 15 ring bearers in their clan at the moment. Ola and Beatrice have a web site of their own where you can look at some of their handicraft and even order stuff.

Are you ready for some Vikings? I visited a Viking Market last weekend, and over the next week or so I will bombard you with photos and portraits from that fun event. The Viking with the beard on these two photos is called Fredrik. The red-headed Viking Babe answers to the name Helena. Both are into the whole Viking /Medieval thing and have been to several markets around Sweden. Like the Medieval Week on Gotland. Fredrik has also been to the market in Poland and the one on Åland. During this market they displayed some historical games. I tried the game Släppkäpp where I lost twice to Fredrik, who probably had been in hard training for the last few years. On the second photo Fredrik is leaping back in time! Or at least showing how to successfully beat Helena in backward leaping!