Up Helly Aa is returning to Shetland this week, seeing thousands of people across the islands come together to mark the spectacular occasion.
The event has been a staple of the Shetland calendar for years now with the day after the festival being a public holiday to allow revellers to recover from all the fun.
However for many across Scotland and the UK, the event is little known, leaving many curious as to what Up Helly Aa is.
When is Up Helly Aa in Shetland?
What is Up Helly Aa and where does it come from?
According to the organisers of Lerwick's Up Helly Aa, the event is a "relatively modern" invention that is thought to originate from “Antonmas” or “Up Helly Night” which took place 24 days after Christmas.
However, the emergence of the Yuletide and New Year's celebrations seems to have moved the festival to its current position in the calendar.
The event is held in communities across Shetland to mark the end of the Yule season.
Recommended Reading:
Women to be part of ‘jarl squad’ for first time at Shetland's annual Up Helly Aa
Shetland guide – how to get there, where to eat and things to do
Each festival involves a torchlit procession and squads of costumed Viking participants, making for a rather rowdy atmosphere.
In 1824, a visiting Methodist missionary wrote in his diary that “the whole town was in an uproar" and described the "blowing of horns, beating of drums, tinkling of old tin kettles, firing of guns, shouting, bawling, fiddling, fifeing, drinking, fighting" he saw.
The largest of these processions is held in Lerwick (Shetland's capital) where thousands of people gather to mark the occasion.
Do you have to be from Shetland to take part in Up Helly Aa?
According to Shetland.org, visitors are welcome to watch the procession. However, only those who have been a resident in Shetland for five years can take part in it.
The website also states that tickets to Lerwick's Up Helly Aa halls are "extremely limited".
