The blossom is out and spring is just around the corner, which means it's time for York's first tourism event to get under way. MATT CLARK previews the Jorvik Viking Festival, which starts next Monday.

HERE'S one for the pub quiz. How many times do you use Nordic words in everyday conversation? The answer may come as a surprise, because it's one in every nine. There must be some pints to be won with that question.

Take husband, which comes from hús (house) and bóndi (occupier). Then there are every day shopping items like coffee, which as any Scandi-Noir fan knows is from caf. Cake is kaka while egg is...er... egg, Even sky, window, anger and dirt are almost identical to their Norse origins.

And eyup isn't Yorkshire dialect either. The list is as long as your arm.

Another thing you might not now about our Scandinavian ancestors is that they were trading here long before they were raiding. Master seamen, the Norse travelled as far afield as Africa and L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland – the only site widely accepted to prove pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact.

It is mentioned in the Icelandic Vinland Saga where Leif Erikson established a colony to explore the Americas.

Re-enactor Nathan Wade, who will appear as Ragnar at this year's Jorvik Viking Festival, says the perceived view of Vikings being violent, piratical heathens is largely a Victorian invention. So part of the festival's remit is to explode a few urban myths.

Like the one about rape and pillage.

York Press:

Ragnar reckons Saxon girls weren't stolen, they were quite happy to elope with the exotic, tall, toned men that had landed on these shores.

"Some even wore eye-liner, they must have been like rock stars," he says. "They also had a bath every Saturday, washed twice daily, so they smelled better looked better than the Saxon lads, who believed washing is a sin and only bathed every six months."

Whether they needed to or not.

Another thing these northmen had going for them was that in their culture women were treated as equals.

York Press:

For impressionable girls it must have been similar to meeting USAF airmen in the 1940s.

Ragnar says other misconceptions will be put right at the festival, including those accursed pointy, horny helmets. It seems Monty Python has a lot to answer for.

"The true Viking drinks from a horn," says Ragnar. "He would never wear one"

Not that all norse men were Vikings. The term specifically refers to adventurers or privateers.

York Press:

"It's a career choice," says Ragnar. "In Scandinavia vik is an inlet to the ocean, so you go a-vikinga when you go sailing.

This will be the 32nd annual Viking festival, which is the largest of its kind in Europe, with more than 100 events taking place through the week and leading up to the big finale weekend.

This year's theme is King Canute, who took the English throne in 1016 and famously proved even monarch's couldn't stop an incoming tide.

York Press:

Festival director Danielle Daglan says any connection with York's recent floods is entirely coincidental although she says the event will be an homage to the flooded Jorvik Centre.

“All of the events that we’d organised before the Boxing Day flooding are taking place as planned, she says. "Only one venue has been changed – for a talk which was due to be hosted within Jorvik Viking Centre – and because the Festival is the first major event in the city since the floods, it provides a great excuse to invite people back to York by sharing a consumer-friendly welcoming message across social media.”

The story of Canute will be explored in a range of events, including lectures and talks from leading academics. The annual Helen Thirza Addyman Lecture on February 16 Feb at DIG will be presented by Matthew Townend of the University of York. He will explore Norse poetry which offers a Scandinavian view on the first European Union – a North Sea empire, headed by Canute.

The Danish Conquest – 50 years before the Norman Conquest – is explored on February 19 at the Guildhall and explains why the charismatic Danish king paved the way for William the Conqueror.

More light-hearted activities include the Viking Banquet later that evening at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall, which celebrates the betrothal of Canute to Emma of Normandy in a food-and-ale-fuelled romp.

The Festival’s grand finale, on the evening of Saturday February 20, tells of Canute’s rise to power with floodlight battles, music and pyrotechnics.

But for some people one week of Viking related activity simply isn't enough.

Ragnar used to sell cameras, them one day a dream job was advertised as a museum interpreter.

"Now I get paid to play dress up full time," he says. "Once I didn't have time to change for a dentist's appointment, so I went in wearing my armour and sword.

"That was the nicest he's ever been to me."

Here are the top ten things you shouldn’t miss as part of the 2016 Jorvik Viking Festival.

1. March to Coppergate (February 20 at 1.30pm) – a parade through the streets of York. Join hundreds of Vikings as they muster in Dean’s Park, next to York Minster, or stand along the route to Coppergate to see the fearsome warriors walk past. Free event.

2. King Canute’s spectacular finale (February 20 at 6pm) – a stunning son-et-lumière event featuring a horde of brave Vikings fighting against unruly Anglo-Saxons, recreating the battle for England’s throne in 1016, with music, lights and pyrotechnics Tickets from £10. Pre-booking essential.

3. The ultimate Viking banquet (February 19 at 7pm) – an unforgettable Viking dining experience in York’s Merchant Taylors’ Hall, to celebrate the betrothal of King Canute to Emma of Normandy. Expect drama, laughs and one or two frayed tempers as you enjoy fine themed cuisine. Tickets £65.50 per person. Pre-booking essential.

4. Best beard contest (February 20 at 3pm) at the Parliament Street encampment. Open to all ages (and genders), this whiskerfest is hugely competitive. Free event.

5. Brawl at the Guildhall: strongest Viking competition (February 20 at 10am). With entrants from all over the country and beyond, this is a trial of strength, skill, endurance and stamina to crown the strongest Viking of 2016 Tickets £4 adult, £3 child. Pre-booking recommended.

6. Living history encampments (daily, Monday to Saturday). This year, there will be two living history encampments, one outside the Jorvik Centre and a second in Parliament Street where visitors can chat to Vikings, hear stories of King Canute, and between Monday and Thursday, see which animals the Vikings reared in a special Viking Steading. Free event.

7. Beowulf by candlelight (February 18 and 19 at 7.30pm)– a sell-out event for the last three years, this imaginative retelling of the Beowulf story by Peter Carrington-Porter will have your heart pounding as the story reaches its gripping climax. Held in the atmospheric candle-lit setting of St Helen’s Church. Tickets £7.50 adult, £5.50 concession, £4.50 child, pre booking advised.

8. Lecture programme – with the festival’s roots firmly grounded in the city’s archaeology, which fundamentally changed our understanding of the Vikings, a programme of lectures and talks by top national and international academics provides an accessible insight into what we know about the Norse invaders, from their language – Vikings In Your Vocabulary, (February 16 at 2.30pm) to their poetry – In Praise of King Canute: Norse poetry from England, (February 16 at 7pm).

9. Combat arena battles (Monday to Friday 11am and 2pm). York’s Guildhall plays host to a different one-on-one combat event each day to chart the rise of Canute to take the throne of England. Tickets £3.50 adult, £2.50 concession/child. Pre booking advised.

10. The Jorvik group attractions – Although Jorvik Viking Centre is closed, due to flooding, organisers have also created four other visitor attractions around the city, from hands-on archaeology at DIG on St Saviourgate to medieval townhouse, Barley Hall, and the stories of two kings – Richard III and Henry VII – within two of the great gatehouses of York, Monk Bar and Micklegate Bar respectively.

The full programme for the Jorvik Viking Festival is available online at www.jorvik-viking-festival.co.uk. It includes details of all the free and paid-for events.