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The Shetlands

Photo of people dressed up as vikings at the Up Helly Aa festival in the Shetlands

© AndrewJShearer/iStockphotos

The Shetlands

The Shetlands

Viking culture is celebrated every January on the Shetland Islands in a spectacular fire festival called Up Helly Aa. This includes a torchlit procession in the capital Lerwick, consisting of up to 1,000 people dressed as Viking warriors. They are known as guizers, and are organised into groups called squads. They march through the town behind a galley, a replica Viking ship. All the town lights are switched off, so it’s completely dark except for the torches. At the end of the procession, the guizers stand in a circle around the galley singing. Then they all throw their torches into the galley to set it on fire and sing a song called “The Norseman’s Home”. After that they have the longest and biggest party of the year!

Preparations for the festival start a long time in advance. The chief guizer is known as Guizer Jarl. The Jarl and his squad design and make their own costumes, shields and weapons. These are new each year. The galley is built by local carpenters and volunteers who help them. It’s painted in a colour that matches the Jarl Squad costumes and the design is kept secret until the Up Helly Aa day.

One of the things that makes this festival special is that it’s an event for local people, not just tourists. In fact, you have to have lived in the Shetlands for at least 5 years before you can take part. There are several processions in the Shetlands, each with their own squad and Guizer Jarl. 2015 saw the first female Guizer Jarl at a local procession. Only men are allowed to take part in the main Up Helly Aa, however. The Lerwick procession is now streamed live, so you can watch it online anywhere in the world. Local Scottish history has gone global.

Up is from Old Norse uppi. It means “at an end” and is still used in Icelandic and Faroese.

Helly means holy and comes from the Old Norse helgr.

Aa means all.


Have a look at this article if you want to learn more about the Up Helly Aa festival.

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