Telge Glíma - Combining History with Bruises

Summary

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One of Telge Glima's activities is performing. Dressed up like peasants 150 years ago, you can catch them present games like "Badger the Bear", "Hitting the Jug" or "Master of the Circle" at open-air museums like Stockholm's Skansen or Old Linköping. Or perhaps you'll come across them on some mediaeval festival, performing even older games, like backwards leaps, tug-of-war, or glima.

"Next year we'll be celebrating and we're planning on going to the U.S. A few of us were in Texas in 2003 at a Viking festival, but this time we're all coming. We're looking into festivals and the likes where we could fit in. There are some ideas about where to go and what to do, but mainly we're open to any ideas. We'll perform as long as someone can provide us with a place to sleep, something to eat and a great party. We're coming over to show what we know and can do, but we're also coming to learn. i am sure there are games and sports that have wintered there but are extinct back here."

Being strong and fit for active service were important qualities fora Viking, and thus glima is an important part of our Viking heritage. Glima can be translated as a struggle. Bringing an opponent down without weapon, glima is an umbrella term for three different grips: Trouser Grip, Back-hold, and Free Grip, but it's all about bringing your opponent down without the use of weaponry. The oldest text about the ritual ceremonies surrounding glima, can be found in "The Edda", written during the 1220's by the Icelandic master poet Snorri Sturluson. The International Glima Association (iga) is the global organization uniting all people and groups interested in glima. For more info, see: www.internationalglima.com

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Telge Glíma - Combining History with Bruises

Telge Glima began in 1990 in Södertälje in Sweden, when a group of friends with mutual interests in history and working out, joined together. One of them was Michael Maasing, who explains that their activities at first centered around the old Viking wrestling form glima, which for many years was extinct in all Scandinavia countries bar Iceland where it's been played uninterrup...

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