Up-Helly-Aa
7 Westerloch Crescent, Brae, ZE1 0RP
shetlandtourism.com
The Vikings may have created untold havoc when they landed on the shores of Shetland 1000 years ago, but that hasn’t stop the town folk of Lerwick celebrating their heritage with a sacrificial Viking boat-burning festival every last Tuesday in January. The largest fire festival in Europe, Up Helly Aa, said to have begun in the 1870s, involves a procession of up to 1000 locals and tourists dressed in Viking costumes leading a torch-lit parade through the dark streets of the town down to the water. On the shore awaits an impressive Viking long ship, almost a year in the making, which is set alight and pushed out to sea. Watching the flaming hull dance on the waves is a strangely moving experience but it’s not the end. The festival continues long into the night in the bars, parish halls and community centres of the town, with Scottish folk singing and dancing. If you want to attend however, book early. Hotels sell up fast.
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