The Explorer
According to the National Geographic the only written monuments of the vikings themselves are brief runic inscriptions like this one from Greenland.
Gron Rune Kingigtorssuaq
One must look to the Icelandic sagas for more details. The sagas contain Erik the Red’s family story and are believed to have been written at least a couple of hundred years after the family member’s death, as was the custom of the time.
One thing that both the Mik’Maq and the Vikings had in common were there roots in old customs based on what became referred to by Europeans as witchcraft. While Leif had converted to Christianity his father, Erik the Red, remained Pagan until his death. The family saga is filled with sub stories of clashing religious ideals between those hanging onto Pagan tradition and those transitioning to Christianity.
The Mik’Maq themselves remained grounded in their old customs which was a cause of great fear and superstition to the waves of Europeans that would arrive on the shores of Newfoundland. (Rieti, 2008). In the 17th century we see the start of a massive spread of literacy through the printing press but at this time there is also a critical crash between old customs with the spread of christianity.
The ongoing transition to new modes of literacy in parallel with the move from old customs to new, can be experiened well through the story of The Victim.