Horned Adventurers, or Something More?

History channel recently started a new series on Vikings, and it has taken my serious interest. I had to dig this out of a few folders, but my ancestry is a huge, monumental mixing pot, and I am sure others have an even larger pool. In ancient terms,

I am 39.64% Scandinavian/Viking, 31.57% Gaelic, 22.49% Germanic, 4.23% Unknown plus combinations of Belgian, Vandal, Italian, Saponi and Semite, 1.2% Gaulish (Aquitaine and Espanola), and 0.17% Cherokee.

Quite the mixing pot. While I do not plan on having children, if I do, the mixing pot may or may not get even more mixed. Such as that with globalization and breeding. It does not bother me where my child's ancestry is from, but rather whether they choose to interpret it in a meaningful way. The specifics of my ancient blood are slightly different:

Norman	29.99%
Germanic	20.92%
Gaelic (Irish)	17.86%
Gaelic (Welsh)	13.71%
Scandinavian	6.65%
Unknown (plus factions of Belgian, Vandal, Italian, Saponi, Semite)	4.23%
Danish	3.00%
Dutch	1.57%
Gaulish (Espanola and Aquitaine)	1.20%
Anglo-Brythonic	0.70%
Cherokee	0.17%

The Normans were a people descended from the Vikings who decided to settle all around Western Europe, in particular France.

What do people think when they envision Vikings?
When you think of the Viking, you think of three things. One is the pointy horned hat. Two is the long and weird ship, and three is the braided hair. Okay, four is the axes.

The pointy horned hat is a misconception. They never wore such things. The viking ships, however were very real and were used to sail in conquest of land and wealth.

There are many contradictions to the old addage that Vikings were only ruthless warriors. They were also very good at trading, exploring and settling on new lands to begin new lives. in fact, early Vikings had a form of law that was very straightforward. You murder, you die. You steal, something will be taken from you.

Among many other sources, Rome considered the gauls and the vikings to be brutal pagan savages, and thus they were remembered as such. Many works were recorded of Viking tales and lives, but only a few have survived to be legible. The Vikings knew how to fish, hunt and trap. Their diets consisted of vegetables and ample supplies of meat- archaeology digs reveal that Vikings were tall and usually well built. Most importantly, the Vikings knew how to build ships, and they knew how to navigate. This got them to where we are now today.

All free men were required to own weapons, and were permitted to carry them all the time. Before Normans came around, Vikings were considered excessively clean and not dirty and barbaric as portrayed by sources such as Rome. Vikings, and by proxy Normans, actually bathed more often than the rest of Europe.