Up helly Aa! - A Brief History of Shetland's Viking Festival

The northern British islands of Orkney and Shetland in many ways have more in common with Scandinavia than the British mainland. This is because they were ruled by the Norse for approximately 500 years before coming under Scots rule as part of the dowry offered by Christian, king of Denmark , Sweden and Norway , for the marriage of his daughter Margaret to Prince James III, King of Scots.

The annual fire festival of "Up helly aa" in Shetland is held on the last Tuesday of January. The highlight of the festival is the procession through the streets of Lerwick of between nine hundred and a thousand men, in full disguise or costume, carrying flaming torches. This march culminates in "The Burning", by throwing in the torches, of a replica Viking longship.

The modern day festival was preceded by a custom known as "tar barreling" where, around Hogmanay, rival gangs of Lerwick's more uncouth young men would pull a sledge on which there stood a barrel of burning tar through the narrow lanes of Lerwick in a bid to make it to the shore. Of course if two gangs were to meet in opposing directions, an impasse would be reached and an almighty brawl would ensue. Around 1870, the local population decided that a more formal festival should be organised to put an end to the dangerous practise of tar barreling and thus "guizing" and the torchlight procession was born. The Viking element to the festival crept in over the next few years and so the chief guizer, or "Guizer Jarl" is dressed, as is his squad of men (usually around 50 in number), in full Viking costume which the squad spends the year making. The longship, or "galley", is also painstakingly built by a team of men for each year's festival - only to be burnt to ashes when its day has come.

The "Up helly Aa" Evening

In the evening, all the streetlights are turned off to create pitch darkness. Around 40 squads of men, each in different costume, with faces masked, gather in the town of Lerwick . At 7.30pm a maroon (flare) is fired to signal the start of the light up. The red smoke from the flares create an eerie glow amongst the silhouettes of the buildings and the men use the dim light to set alight their paraffin-soaked torches. The "raven banner" - a red flag with a black raven on it - can be seen fluttering atop the Lerwick Town Hall . With all the torches lit, the procession heads off in good song and spirit, the Jarls squad leading and the Guizer Jarl being pulled in his longship.When the Galley reaches its destination, the Guizer Jarl gets out and the men circle the longship. After three cheers for the Guizer Jarl and three cheers for Up Helly Aa, the guizers throw their burning torches into the Galley to create a dramatic inferno. This is a recreation of the Norse funeral custom where Viking Chiefs were cremated in their longships. As the ship burns, the men sing:

"The Norseman's Home":
The Norseman´s home, in days gone by,
Was on the rolling sea,
And there his pennon did defy
The foe of Normandy .
Then let us ne´er forget the race
Who bravely fought and died,
Who never filled a craven´s grave
But ruled the foaming tide.

The noble spirits, bold and free,
Too narrow was their land.
They roved the wide expansive sea
And quelled the Norman band.
Then let us all in harmony
Give honour to the brave.
The noble, hardy, northern men
Who ruled the stormy wave.

The Evening Festivities:

Now the fun starts! The guizers break-up into their squads and visit the 12 halls and community centres in Lerwick which play host to them. Each squad must perform a sketch or song to entertain the revellers at each venue. The squad's costume is chosen with this sketch in mind and the opportunity is often used to poke fun at local politics and current affairs. With food, music and dancing, the celebrations last all night and into the next day - which fortunately is a public holiday.

GlobalGophers is grateful to Steven Laurenson for help with this article and use of the images. See L & M Engineering (Shetland)