Chapter 105： Hanukkah Eve

The longest night on December 28 of the Julian calendar is also the biggest holiday of the year for the Rus tribe, Hanukkah.

The light is always accompanied by the darkness. The winter solstice is the longest day of the night in the northern hemisphere, and the day after this day is slowly extending.

This normal phenomenon is particularly prominent in the geographical location of the Rus tribe.

Not only them, but all the ethnic groups and tribes around the Baltic Sea, they are all aware of the amazing darkness on certain days of the year. After this worst dark time, the day will get longer, and soon spring will arrive.

Hanukkah is not a festival unique to the Ross tribe.

The Mind Sub-Tribal Alliance in the south, including Jutland Peninsula, south of the sea, all residents made major sacrifices during this period. After the sacrifice, the residents are caring for the new year. They will drink up their own brewed or bought ale, and will be very luxurious and full for a few days.

The elderly priest Veria did not understand how the Roman calendar was formulated. The only thing she can be sure of is that this calendar has been used by the Romans for 870 years!

The view of the universe of her and the other priests is different from those of the Roman black-robed men who preached to the north. Although everyone believed that human time would one day be destroyed, the Romans believed that on the day of destruction, all souls would be tortured. This is something that Veria cannot understand. She would rather believe that the warriors of the doomsday will fight side by side with Odin and face the dusk of the gods in Asgard.

So, when will the world be destroyed?

She didn't know, and those in black didn't even know. They also don't know much about their own past. Those Romans in black are very convinced that it takes only a few thousand years for the people of Noah to develop after the flood.

Villa can be called the wise man of the tribe. She has no more than a hundred years of knowledge of the history of the tribe, and furthermore, there are only a few legends within the time frame of three to four hundred years.

The 870-year calendar must be accurate, and Veria is convinced! Looking up at the starry sky and seeing the position of those stars, there are less than three days before the festival, Veria is deeply impressed by the exquisiteness of the Roman calendar.

She sent herself as messengers, especially Bona, who succeeded the high priest after her death, to lead her lower priests throughout Roseburg to propagate the message of the coming festival through the snow.

A grand ceremony is about to begin.

When Lurik returned to the long room of the priest again after a long absence, his image was obviously changed from before.

He came in the dust, except for a thicker leather jacket and the latest fleece hat made of the whole snow fox fur. It was a beautifully decorated short sword that he began to wear on his waist.

Lurik is back, and the scorching smell of fried fat continues to fill the long house. Compared to the strange smell of burning ore in the blacksmith's shop, the scorching smell of fat is more comfortable. At least arouse people's appetite.

When he entered the room, he opened his eyes and looked left and right. As expected, some of the priests were still boiling oil. There are also a lot of pure white seal fat piled on the ground at will, waiting for further processing.

Veria is here too, her aging eyes are deeply sunken, nearly half of her teeth are missing, and her face is full of deep wrinkles. She describes it as withered, this time she is holding her huge antler helmet. Use a piece of linen to carefully wipe all the gaps in the huge reindeer antlers.

The huge ossified horns on the head of a strong reindeer are not easy tasks, let alone an old man?

This is Veria's duty as the high priest. If she can't do it well, the antler helmet will be handed over to Bona as soon as possible.

Obviously, only the antler helmet of the high priest, which symbolizes the sacred history, will be handed over to his successor according to tradition.

Hearing a little agitated, Villa noticed Rurik's return.

"Oh, boy, you are finally back. Come on! Come to me."

At this moment, seeing Rurik's small figure, she felt that it was her grandson who had entered the house.

Deep down in Vilia's heart, she longs for a grandson who is willing to inherit her wishes. It seems that Rurik is such a rising star.

Lurik nodded and ran over quickly, sitting next to Veria obediently.

"I'm back, there are some very important things during this period, and I have successfully completed them."

"Yes... I've heard a lot about it, it's the sword pinned to your waist. My child, you shocked me. You gave Thor's servants some of Odin's other commands, so that's fine." Wei Leah really wanted to say more, because a legend was circulating in Roseburg a few days ago that the blacksmith Clavasson and his family were helping the leader's son to make a magic sword and it was successful.

The fresh feeling about soap in the tribe has not yet passed, and the good news that the blacksmith shop can make a magic sword can't help but leave.

"Child, the blacksmith has made a good sword for you. Quickly, pull it out and let me take a good look at this sword."

"Ok."

Lurik did not hesitate, and the action of drawing the sword was also quite smooth.

Several circular chandeliers were hung from the wooden beams of the long house of the priest, and the flames of a large number of oil lamps gave the room a fairly bright light.

Through these fire lights, the short sword in Rurik's hand showed a color completely different from ordinary swords.

Watching with a pair of aging eyes, Veria can also perceive the difference of the sword. Its blade is different from the blade, as if the blade was made for a special purpose.

"It...really can cut iron?" Veria was a little disbelief.

"Or we can try."

"Okay! My dear, I really want to see how the swords that the blacksmiths use Odin's wisdom to create are like." With that, Veria directly beckoned to the boiled Bona.

The experiment soon ended under Bona’s own hands, and a deep trace of a bronze basin was cut out.

Even if Bona is a woman, she is not an ordinary woman.

Actually, according to everyone's living habits, women are also on the battlefield under special circumstances.

Some tribes have other interpretations of their own myths, such as the Danes. Some Danes believe that the female warrior died in battle, her soul will also enter Valhalla, and there will be a chance to be promoted to a new Valkyrie.

Some tribes think that the Valkyrie is the daughter of Odin, the ethnicity of the gods, that is something mortals cannot expect.

There are new opinions in the Ross tribe, and these opinions are basically from Veria's determination. That is to use the rest of his life to worship Odin and treat the long house of the priest as a sanctuary. As long as he is pious enough, he may become a Valkyrie without having to fight and die.

Bona has developed very strong arms in daily hard work. This kind of woman is born to deal with some combat. Starting

She personally held the sword and cut marks on the bronze basin that the priest used daily. Surprisingly, the shiny sword was not damaged.

Villa's eyes were shocked at first, and she quickly accepted all this, and her rickety back quickly cheered up.

"It's great, my child. No! A good child blessed by Odin..." Vilia deeply squeezed Liuric's hands, "You hand over the knowledge to the blacksmith, and you want them to make more of this as soon as possible. A good sword. We must be stronger. One day we will develop south and regain our position in the alliance. You... you have seen those wooden boards, and you know why we left."

"I..." Rurik recalled carefully that there was a real factor in the northward migration of the Ross tribe, that is, there were more people and less land in Svealand.

In fact, it’s not really crowded and landless. The area is generally vast, with a large number of lakes and unusable deserted beaches. There are not many farmlands that can be cultivated, and good places are already occupied by other tribes.

An ethnic group that has migrated out of the core area of ​​the tribal alliance, even if its population has reached 10,000, is really marginalized. It is precisely because of marginalization that the Ross tribe can no longer intervene frequently in various matters within the alliance as it did a hundred years ago. Although the tribe has never withdrawn from the alliance, their say in the tribe is really getting lower and lower.

If it weren't for a large number of merchants from allied tribes living in Roseburg in the extreme north, perhaps the alliances gathered in the Svealand Plain would have forgotten the existence of the Ross tribe.

Lurik thought for a while, and deliberately said: "I have made an agreement with the blacksmith, and they will try their best to make it. When I grow up and become a leader, I will do my best to lead everyone to continue to develop."

Villa slowly got up, grabbed her crutches and stood on her somewhat rickety body.

"When you grow up, you will take your carefully trained children and your magical weapons to the South. If you want us to prosper, you will bring the army and let other tribes submit. You will be the leader of this alliance. "

Leader? Shouldn't you be a king?

But the Ross people obviously want to...

Seeing that Veria was too old, she continued to preside over a priesthood with a giant helmet, she had to crush her neck.

How long can Veria’s life last? Look at her declining appearance, maybe it will be difficult to survive next summer.

"Okay, I will try my best to be the leader, grandma." Rurik said deliberately.

"Okay, boy. You stay here, and soon your servant will return with the deer. You are a benevolent master, and you have treated your servant kindly. But you will eventually face some enemies, face those enemies , Kindness will only kill you."

"I understand. I will not be kind to the enemy."

Lurik is very happy to chat with Villa, and it can be regarded as a way for him to pass the winter boredom.

After a while, Lumia, who was grazing, returned. She drove all the deer back to the deer pen, and then met the warm priest’s longhouse.

As usual, she took off her thick coat to keep out the cold, Rurik rolled her small face, and she suddenly saw the beautiful silver jewelry on her sweater on her chest, and the girl's smiling face.

The girl is still smiling now. When she obediently walked towards her little lord and sat sideways next to him, Villia’s words quickly ended her smile.

"It will be a sacrifice soon, Rurik. According to the agreement between your father and I, there will be five deer for the big sacrifice."

"Yes, I know, but for the remaining deer, I also hope that my servants will continue to raise them. I intend to restore the deer herd as much as possible, so that such a huge herd can continue to bring us wealth."

Villa nodded: "This is your decision, my support. Rurik, now you need to comfort your servant. Those deer..."

Lurik rolled his face lightly, only to see Lumia, who was still happy just now, her eyes were sad.

"Oh..." Rurik didn't say anything, everything was silent.

The grand festival of Hanukkah is under intense preparations.

At the beginning, because soap production must consume a lot of fat, Bona was worried about this year's big festival. Unexpectedly, with the news that the magic soap needs seal grease as the main raw material, those masters who are good at ice-cutting and catching seals in winter are obviously more industrious than in previous years.

The priests made a fortune, and the seal hunters took the opportunity to increase the price of their prey. Even so, they were no match for the huge profits of soap.

Compared to the priests, the number of silver coins flowing into Rurik's wallet during this period has exceeded three hundred! Although he paid a large sum for a sword, he still has a considerable and ever-increasing wealth.

He literally pitted the priests with a wooden plank contract, and he literally pitted all the people with the price. Rurik felt that he had shown a terrible demeanor of profiteers, but he had to believe that the producers and consumers of the tribe felt that they had benefited.

A large number of seals were hunted, and the refinement of a large amount of grease met the key needs of the sacrifice.

On December 27th in the Julian calendar, when the short daylight suddenly ended, the grand festival of Hanukkah was held tonight.

The severe cold has almost frozen the entire Baltic Sea. Although the relatively warm waters near Jutland Peninsula are not completely frozen, there are still a lot of ice on the sea.

is the bravest Danish, and at this time I have to stay in their respective residences for the holidays.

Especially a chief named Sigurd who lives in southern Jutland. His tribe is quite influential throughout Denmark.

But in the current peninsula, the chief of the Lobad tribe, Hafgen, because he controls the inland and overseas transportation routes, he can earn a lot of wealth just by charging various peer fees.

However, Chief Sigurd often faced the Franks in the south, as well as some Wende people, that is, the most western Slavic tribesmen.

He is very willing to rob south during the warm season. In the past years, he has taken the fleet to sweep south along the coastline many times. Because of these successful actions, the tribe has also accumulated a lot of wealth.

These actions really stimulated his son Ragnar his father's brilliant record envied him, and he was eager to build greater achievements. First release https://https://

Ragnar in the winter of 828 AD, Ragnar was only an eighteen-year-old! This year he married his wife, but he has not yet received the nickname "Mao Pants Leg", let alone the nickname "Son of Odin". He has obtained many legends about wealth from his father, eager to inherit his father’s leadership position, and is even considering going to the north to find the "lion" Hafgen single-handedly, cutting off his head on behalf of his tribe, and being able to become a new one by himself. Leader. After that, he led his allies to form a huge fleet and rushed directly to the legendary Frank's richest place-Paris.

To move all the gold that Paris has piled into a mountain! Of course, there are all the Franks who have been caught as their own slaves.

The ambition of a young man has to be equated with his own strength. Ragnar now has no chance at all.

He didn't even know that Scandinavia, far north of the sea, is close to the legendary "Oarsman" Ross tribe, where there is a genuine "son of Odin".

They all have lofty ideals, but they don't have equal strength.

Life is still a step-by-step approach.

The various tribes of the Danes celebrate their own Hanukkah, the same is true for the Yiping tribe of Scandinavia, and even the fishermen on Gotland do the same.

After a few days of festivals, the first day of the first month of the Roman calendar has arrived, and time will enter 829 AD irreversibly.