The culture and tongue of the First Men is alive and well in the North thanks to the difficulty of getting there and lower amount of Andal population. To say that though requires a bit of an asterisk and explanation. By the time we get to 300AC there are only 5 solidly first men cultures left — the Crannogmen, the Ironborn, the Free Folk, the Mountain Clans in the Vale, and the Northerners. Inside these groups are even more specific cultures but they all tend to fall loosely in these categories. (This is of course working on the theory that the Ironborn ARE First Men and not somehow from some other peoples yet discovered since there’s a little bit of contention around it in universe)

In the 8 to 12 thousand years since the First Men settled Westeros there has was large amounts of regional evolution that created a diverse ecosystem of varieties to that original First Men culture. The effects of the different environments they chose to settle in and their experiences made these groups very distinct.Then 8 to 6 thousand years after that the Andals invaded Westeros and converted or killed much of the First Men of the south, essentially leaving only those who were too geographically difficult to get too —like the isolated Iron born and Mountain Clans — as the last First Men cultures largely untouched by Andal influence.

Culturally and linguistically these peoples are all now very different with very little in common outside of maybe an old word or minor tradition. There is something of a spectrum to this as there is some cultural overlap between the Northmen and the Crannogmen, and the Mountain Clans have more in common with the other cultures on Westeros proper than they do with the Ironborn. In fact, reminding the Ironborn and the Northerners that they’re from the same roots would probably not be welcomed.

Loosely speaking, the First Men groups with the most affinity to each other are the Crannogmen, Northerners and Free Folk — likely because of their geographical closeness to each other and the fact that the Free Folk are at least in part an offshoot group of the Northerners that formed approximately when the Wall went up. The Crannogmen and Northerners are symbiotic, the Crannogmen guard the way to the North and the North supply them with resources their marsh lands cannot provide and protection when needed. They are also bound in faith, as both were part of the Pact made with the Children of the Forest, like many of the Free Folk as well, and have taken on the faith of the indigenous people.

The North has the distinction of being the oldest kingdom to stand unconquered in Westeros for the longest period of time just after Dorne. Which also joined the Kingdoms in a less standard way than the rest had. In fact, while Tohrren Stark bent the knee to Aegon, nothing for the North actually changed all that much save perhaps some taxes and titles. With their kingdom so removed from the throne and their general disinterest in the bulk of Southron goings on, there was little monitoring or contact by the Crown. They fulfilled their requirements and didn’t cause trouble and thus where left unspoiled.

It shows in their culture which has evolved naturally, only taking in nominal amounts of Andal influence over thousands of years, none of which has truly found footing. The Seven have been in Westeros for thousands of years but there was never a Sept in Winterfell until roughly 286AC when Eddard Stark built one for his wife Catelyn who was originally from the highly Andal Riverlands. Knights in the North are an oddity and Tourneys are either frowned upon as pointless pageantry or violent melees as opposed to anything seen in the South.

For various reasons many of the practices of the North have been altered, toned down or removed completely. The major factors have usually been simply the slow changing of the times, shifting of people’s interest/attitudes/social mores and pragmatism. It’s rare for one of their traditions to be swiftly and forcibly changed. The only time on record that this has happened is during the reign of King Jaeherys I, when the practices of First Night — where a Lord had the right to the wedding bed and the bride of any couple on their first night married— and the practice of hanging the bodies of criminals and traitors in the branches of weirwoods and disembowling them, stringing their guts along the branches as well, were both abolished by royal decree.

This did not endear the Targaryens to the Northerners at all, nor did the mandatory donation of the New Gift — a large tract of land just below the Wall— to the Night’s Watch. While opinions on First Night and its removal were mixed, the meddling of a southern power in their religious practices sparked an immediate outrage and gained the crown a massive amount of blowback. King Jaeherys, but especially his Queen Alysanne who’d pushed for its banning, had to work hard to try and find a middle ground that would appease the North men and quell the potential rumors of the Targaryens trying to dismantle the religion and convert them to the Faith of the Seven which would absolutely spark a rebellion.

Eventually an agreement was struck, the Northerners could still preform the sacrificial rite on the worst of their criminals (kinslayers, breakers of guest right, etc) but any time they wanted to preform it outside of this context, say a holy day, they would have to substitute out a man with an animal. While the North agreed to this they did find loophole after a while— consenting sacrifices. While rare, during special events and certain holy days some will submit to being a willing sacrifice to the Old Gods. As they’re willing and knowing participants the Crown can’t do anything about it without absolutely sparking unrest in the North. A similar loophole was found with the First Night but that tradition has also just generally seen a certain amount of natural drop off thanks to the law against it giving it a certain stigma.

They are also much more serious in their belief in magic, superstition and the supernatural compared to the rest of Westeros. They believe in tales like the Long Night and in the various beings that live beyond the Wall. They believe any vow made in front of a weirwood is supernaturally sealed and to break it will bring disaster. To lie in front of a heart tree is a sin and will bring down ruin on you. Skinchangers and greenseers are somewhat rarer now below the Wall but still looked at with a mix of fear and awe. Greenseers are considered weird and spooky and there is a superstition that if they chose say you’re doomed it will make it so. Skinchangers are seen as inherently dangerous as their animals. However they are also seen as being blessed by the Old Gods and so are given a certain amount of respect and deference.

It’s traditions like this that help create the image of frozen wind burned primitive savages to the Southerners of Westeros. The North is anything but primitive however. While not as developed as some of the other kingdoms in certain categories, the North has a rich and complex culture and politics that can be just as challenging as any southern cloak and dagger show.

Northern culture and identity is strongly based in survival and community. It can snow even in the summer there and with winters that can go on for years and create snow drifts taller than villages, unity is a necessity for survival. While guest rights are important and practiced all over Westeros, they are absolutely sacred in the North were Lords will compete to be seen as the most generous and giving shelter can save thousands of lives. Many of the castles of the North are built with this in mind and are overly large compared to their actual needs even by the standards of Westeros. This is explicitly so that in the winter the local small folk can gather there to wait out winter. Every Northern castle is essentially a city built to take on populations in the thousands for years at a time.

Another key cultural aspect is that the North has produced some of the best storytellers and bards in all of Westeros despite whatever the Reach says. In fact, the word “bard” that is used throughout all of Westeros is a loan word from the Old Tongue and the tradition as we know it now is one of the few (perhaps only) cultural exports from the North.

With so much time spent forcibly in doors even in the summer the Northerners have had to find countless ways to occupy and entertain themselves. Some of the most obvious are storytelling and music. Storytellers do not need to be musical but all bards are. Storytelling is something anyone can participate in and everyone is encouraged to join in. The only limits to it are imagination and good sense. The storytelling can take various forms — competitions, collaborations, groups were multiple stories are serialized and each person has their own night to present the next part of theirs, tales that are told by one person over multiple nights with the goal of keeping it going as long as possible, and many more variations. Everything is decided by the desires of the Tellers and the audience. When it is time for a story to be told, everyone from the highest lord to the lowest of the small folk are equal and even a lord can get boo’d for a piss poor narrative.

Not to diminish these storytellers but Bards are a profession unto themselves. Most storytellers have other duties and in the summers fully return to their true trade if they were not able to continue it during the winter. Bards however, make their living wholly on their songs and related skills. Before the North had maesters it was the bard that filled their role and even now the two tend to share a joint office. The duty of a bard was not just to entertain the masses huddling together during the long dark winters of the North, but also to record memories of the people. They memorized and tracked the genealogies, histories, laws and decisions of kings and lords. Their songs and poems were not just to amuse, but to help convey these things along with cultural values and truths. All noble houses of the North have a bard and eagerly accept traveling ones into their homes.

While over time the North has seen the usefulness of maesters, the bard has not lost their place in Northern culture. For some it comes from distrust. While they might acknowledge the use of a maester’s skill, they’re leery of their southerness and doubt the idea that they’ve truly forsaken their old loyalties. For some it comes from a love of tradition and their native culture. For some it’s because there are some things that regardless of a maester’s skill and wit that can only be understood by northmen and so the bard is the obvious council. Some houses will split the difference and have youths training to be a bard sent to the Citadel and have them then return just shy of taking their oaths to serve as bard and maester.

As the religion of the Old Gods has no priests, scriptures or real teachings they do not have nearly as many feasts, celebrations and holy days as others do. Any holy days they have are related to seasonal or natural events such as seasonal changes, harvests, astrological events, the turning over of a new year etc. Most feasts and celebrations in the North are secular and have a certain amount of pragmatism to them. Despite preservation, some food can only last so long with the tools they have on hand so these events were a good way to use up things that were coming to the end of their shelf life that otherwise might have gone to waste.

They are also a way of getting the various peoples from across the massive and sparsely populated land all together (within reason) and create a sense of community. Lords will come up with whatever reason to hold a feast or dance or melee or community event and give everyone something to enjoy with a handful being held consistently “because we always have one around then”. These events lack the pomp and circumstance of southern events, feasts tend to be just a Big Ole Dinner with Good Tunes and melees are rowdy bloodbaths only a step under a real battle, and generally just excuses to get absolutely sloshed. These are also one of the ways a lord can show how magnanimous and how good of a host he is. It also gives them an opportunity to show how effective a protector and provider they are to their people and to the Warden of the North as everyone can see their warriors fight and the bounty of their tables.

When it comes to sports and activities, the Northmen prefer activities that are either partially practical, in that it includes a useful skill or purpose or that is exceedingly rowdy. Wrestling, fighting, game ball, hammer throwing, log tossing, and similar sports were all regularly enjoyed by all classes. Hunting however has a special place in the Northerners heart and is one of the few sports outside of things like horseshoes women can engage in. Hunting, wrestling and melees all have the power to turn Northerners into the worst kind of drunken sports fan.

A noble’s hunt up North is treated differently than it is in the South. There’s decidedly less pomp as is the usual case with the North but there’s also generally more competition. Unlike in the South where an entire hunt can be a whole team of people doing all the work so a lord can swoop in for an easy kill, the Northern nobles are expected to actually find the damn thing and kill it themselves. There’ll be a certain amount of aid allowed or expected — dogs and a kennel master, that sort of thing — but generally the whole point is to work for it and in turn earn huge bragging rights after. A hunter’s bragging rights are massive. People know their scores and talk about it like they’re building their fantasy football team.

Participants can team up or work separately. They can be on foot or horseback. They can use any weapon they want. Whatever they want to do that they feel will serve them best save attacking someone. Women are allowed to participate as well and noblewomen are usually expected to have a male escort — usually a relative or her husband for obvious reasons. The best kill of the hunt is offered to the weirwoods, presented by the hunter or a Stark, and the rest is served to the hunting party. There are no laws strictly prohibiting the small folk from hunting on certain lands as there are in the south but it is highly regulated and there are only certain times, places and things they can hunt. When autumn arrives however the leash comes off and anyone with half a cup of skill in hunting is sent out to grab whatever they can so it can be preserved and stored for the winter.

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