The preparation
It wasn't until May 1999 that the boat was ready to be launched. However, planning had already begun in the autumn of 1998. Teachers from a local school, Hjortspringskolen, had suggested that a couple of classes should take part in the celebrations at the official launch. A local theatre enthusiast had volunteered to be the organiser. The guild set up a celebration committee and the planning and preparations began.
The main plan was to roll the boat down to Dyvig in a procession, with the performers dressed in Iron Age costumes.
The winter was spent sewing costumes for the school classes and for those guild members who wanted to participate in the festivities. Plans evolved and a choir of singers would participate in priest-like costumes. A song was written to an old Celtic tune from the Isle of Man and it was decided to have the goddess Nerthus participate in a two-wheeled cart pulled by four slaves. (White oxen were not available).
It is a well-known fact (at least in the parish of Holm, where Lindeværftet is located) that a bog at the northern tip of Als called Hellesø is the place where Nerthus rises once a year with his cart.
The front page of the parish magazine shows this.
