From Ask and Embla

Though if they all lived in the same settlement wouldn't they all know each other already? Also, coming from a large civilization doesn't match some of the character's backgrounds, like ship crews and herders, and seeing as Hakon and Skhadi are travelling anyway, moving from village to village would tie in with them, rather than their journey's suddenly stopping as soon as this story starts. Viveka can't travel or attend ceremonies, which poses problems with previous ideas such as festivals, though if she was based in Uppsala then it would be relatively plausible for her to meet any of the characters and so on.
A festival in Uppsala would make a nice starting point after all; each character with their own reasons to attend? Could be a harvest festival for freyr?