Viking & Norse History Hats

Vikings never wore horned helmets. The horns are a 19th-century invention, popularised by Richard Wagner's Ring cycle operas in the 1870s. The word itself described something you did, not something you were: the Old Norse "fara i viking" meant going on an expedition or a raid, often seasonally, while most people were farmers. Leif Erikson is credited with reaching North America around 1000 AD, and the United States marks Leif Erikson Day every October 9. These Viking and Norse history hats are for people who take the history seriously and the heritage lightly. There is the pedant with the opera correction, the Norwegian-American family in the Upper Midwest, where Sons of Norway has met since 1895 and lutefisk dinners still draw a crowd, and the person whose DNA test came back with a Scandinavian percentage they have decided to round up. Scandinavian results are often misread as "part Viking," and the joke is that the wearer knows. UNTIL VALHALLA echoes the toast "til Valhall," and shield maiden hats already sell across the print marketplaces. Every design is custom embroidered on an unstructured dad hat. Wear one to a lutefisk dinner or a Leif Erikson Day gathering, or give one to the relative who keeps the family tree on the wall.