If we really wanted to explore the concept further there’s also been a not insignificant about of cultural exchange that happened between the Scandinavian area and numerous regions outside their immediate area, as vikings traveled around, they encounter the early British, Normans and Franks, the had encounters with the late Christian and early Muslim world surrounding the Hagia Sophia, as evidenced by the viking graffiti carved I to stonework in there. They’ve had Christian missionaries proselytize their lands and convert them to Christianity away from the Norse traditions and dramatically retold those traditions from a christocentric framing.

Finland isn’t some culturally untouched place, left to their own devices for centuries. They both invaded others and were invaded, they engaged in trade and cultural exchange, they influenced other cultures and other cultures influenced them.