Horns to drink with or without stand.
The Viking horn to drink is just what it seems: bovine antlers used as a container for liquids. The horns are known since classical antiquity, especially in the Balkans, and have remained in use for ceremonial purposes during the Middle Ages and the beginnings of modernity in Germanic Europe. Horns are now used to toast on special occasions in countries like Georgia.
Some notable examples of the horns of Europe of the Middle Ages were made with the horns of bison or European uro (species of extinct bull in the seventeenth century). Most of the horns of the Viking era were domestic, smaller cattle. The exception to the norm are the large uro horns found in the tomb of Sutton Hoo (Suffolk, east coast of England).
VIKING HORN FOR TRADITIONAL DRINKING
Numerous elaborate horns have been found to drink in tombs of pagan Germanic tribes. The findings span a millennium, from the Germanic Iron Age, to the Viking Age.
Hardly have we got horns of the Viking Age. Both the cattle and the goats were everyday objects prone to deterioration. The decorative metallic pieces and frames for horns recovered in the deposits, testify that their use was very extended, in spite of the fact that the preserved natural horns are scarce.
The majority of the Norwegian horns that are conserved, dated in Average Age, have ornamented metal frames, although the horns are smooth and without adornments. There are also some horns with incrustations in the same horns, although from a later period; its simplicity testifies that it is popular craftsmanship.
HORN VIKING IN THE ART
The Bayeux tapestry (circa 1070) shows the scene of a banquet before Harold Godwinson embarks for Normandy. Several figures are given a tribute with horns to drink in a building.
The horns to drink appear in multiple literary works of the Viking Age:
In the Edda, Thor drank from a horn that, without knowing it, contained all the seas. By drinking much of the sea content, Thor frightened Utgard-Loki (king of the giants: not to be confused with the god Loki) and his relatives.
The hero Beowulf drank mead on carved horns, and is also used for drinking in the epic poem of the year 1000 Gudrunarkvida II.
