Norway's World Cup Viking antics – a faux pas?
Before setting off to play in the World Cup, Norway's football team posed for a photo dressed as Vikings. Fans quickly embraced the symbolism and now make a rowing movement in unison while shouting 'Ro!' (row) in the stadiums, as if they were on a Viking ship. After their victory over Senegal on Monday, the Norwegian team also celebrated by performing the Viking row, led by top striker Erling Haaland. Reactions to this spectacle in Scandinavia's press are mixed.
Utterly cringeworthy
Author Alex Schulman deplores the cringeworthiness of this trend in Dagens Nyheter:
“Sorry, but if I'd had to watch [the Swedish players] Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres engaging in similar Viking antics, I'd have died of embarrassment. But the Norwegians seem wildly enthusiastic, because now they're joining in: loud chanting can be heard from the stands, with everyone suddenly pretending to be galley slaves and shouting 'RO! RO!'. … So the crowd consists of Vikings too! Watching the footage, I can hardly believe my eyes. They all lean forward together, as if they were holding a giant oar, and the whole time they chant 'RO! RO! RO!'. What is going on in Norway? How did it all go so wrong?”
Nordic symbolism is completely innocent
Berlingske warns against jumping to conclusions:
“This is a popular campaign that not only highlights Norway's cultural heritage but also reinforces its citizens' sense of identity in relation to their country's unique history. However, with Pavlovian predictability, the Norwegian left is horrified. In their view, presenting the national team as proud Vikings is an expression of Nazism, fascism and nationalism – and even a shocking exhibition of 'hypermasculinity'. The fact that the Nazis exploited Nordic symbolism for their depraved ideology cannot be held against a culture that disappeared almost a thousand years before the rise of National Socialism.”