Attractions
Up Helly Aa, Scotland
Up Helly Aa is a type of fire festival held annually from January to March in various communities in Shetland, Scotland, to mark the end of the Yule season. Each festival includes a torch march by squads of costumed participants (known as geysers) culminating in the burning of an imitation Viking galley. The largest festival held in Lerwick, the capital of Shetland, involves a procession of a thousand people marching through the streets of Lerwick on the last Tuesday of January. Other rural festivals (known as "country" Up Helly Aas) see smaller numbers of participants in line with their smaller populations.
What happens in Up Helly Aa?
The ingredients of Up Helly Aa go back 12 centuries and more - fire, celebration, fancy dress and most of all fun. The torchlight procession and the burning of the galley reflect Norse pagan rituals of burning great chieftains and religious ceremonies marking the return of the sun after the winter solstice.