Sagas of ancestry

So as many of you know I am of Norse descent and quite proud of it. So today to my delight we went to L'Anse aux Meadows, the Viking landing site. There we got to meet some actors playing the roles of Viking settlers. One woman was weaving as her husband, an old skáld (bard), told us tales of Thor the thunderer (son of odin king of the gods, also the god of warriors and the common man, we get Thursday from his names, really good day for a storm huh) and Loki lord of chaos and trickery (and is the Norse god of magic, if he can be called a god at all for he is of giant descent), of Odin king of the gods (and the god of kings, war and many other things, his eyes and ears on the world were two ravens, one named Huginn thought the other Muninn memory, we get Wednesday from a German version of his name Wodin) and Freya the most beautiful goddess if ever there was one (also goddess of farming, the harvest beauty and fertility, we get Friday from her name) and finally of Thrim king of the frost giants (and what a cold people they be). Once the tales were over and were through I asked the old skáld and his partner, who came in as the story was being told, about the instruments they were playing, a whistle that both looked and sounded like a panflute, a flute with a single hole played by changing the distance of the finger from the end, a flat board with six strings stretched over it that was similar to a guitar except without the ability to change the notes and another wood plank this one with three strings stretched over it played with a bow like a fiddle would be. They pretty much said they knew how to play them and where they came from but that was it, i was hoping for there names so I could look them up online but hey ya play the hand you are dealt. After that dad got a picture of me with an old Viking sword and shield (interesting fact that most seem to neglect is that the shield is not just for blocking blows it is a weapon in it's own right, in a real fight on a real battle field you're just as likely to bash someone in the head or chop someone in the side with you shield as you are to block with it).

(Everything on this page that is in brackets is my own knowledge.  Where it discussing gods, the speakers did not mention these things; where it is about the shield, that is just me).