According to this article the anglo-saxons had some quite interesting ideas. I rather like the idea of very competetive swimming.
Edit To Add: Here is the text of the short 2002 article.
Edit To Add: Here is the text of the short 2002 article.
Society founded on folklore, fear and fun
Angelique Chrisafis
Thu 14 Mar 2002 04.58 EST
The Anglo-Saxons - Germanic tribes that inhabited England from the 5th century and dominated until 1066 - were a nation of soul-searchers. In poems and folk tales they described at great length the emotions and feelings of monsters. The use of force against these giant, panting ogres was often supported by painstaking legal argument.
Yet they lived in constant fear of violence and being "hewed amain with swords mill-sharp" like the characters of oral tradition. Villagers carried wooden shields in case feuds between kingdoms such as East Anglia, Essex and Mercia brought men with battle-axes in the afternoon.
Viking invasions provided more food for paranoia. Anglo-Saxon villagers dug ditches around their territories, used the soil to build earth walls, and patrolled them.
They had a highly developed culture with skilled craftsmen, but those who worked the land lived under a basic feudal system.
Despite the full agricultural year, "larking about" featured highly. Swimming was popular and, according to texts, it was "quite fair" for swimmers to try and drown their opponents. Those wanting to prove themselves swam in their armour.
Men enjoyed running while carrying a large load, skating and skiing. They also passed the time with intricate board games, bats and balls, dice and complex riddles.
Early Anglo-Saxon settlers were pagans who worshipped a number of gods, while later settlements converted to Christianity.
According to Germanic law and legend, wives retained possession of their property and could count on their brothers and nephews for protection against abuse. Children were considered adults at 10, and were answerable to the law, which prized peace above anything else.
The number of intricate toy wooden ships hints at the importance of recreation for children who worked the fields with their parents. Child mortality was high but adults often lived to 40.
One-fifth of our vocabulary today derives from the Anglo-Saxon language.
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