Annual Viking-themed fire festival Up Helly Aa held in Scotland

SCOTLAND: Up Helly Aa, a Viking-themed fire festival held recently, is an event of every January’s last Tuesday that puts many rituals in for the mega-procession, depicts ancient moments as if reliving the Jarls’ history.

The jovial revives every year with a series of marches and visitations, culminating in a torch-lit procession and the burning of a galley, having its venue in Lerwick, Shetland.

Up Helly Aa is, in fact, a community event which goes handled by countless volunteers contributing many hours each winter. The annual festive remains open for all as anyone can get a sight of the morning parade as well as the nighttime processions that is seen lit with a thousand fire-bolt torches.

The Jarl Squad also sings in the Royal British Legion club before marching through the streets, dragging the galley throughout and traditionally mark the end of the Yule season by setting the ship ablaze – this last ritual actually holds the most captive when a thousand guizers throw in their torches into the ship and witness the massive bonfire.

Meanwhile the party is over; the following Wednesday goes reserved as a public holiday in Lerwick to allow for recovery. The cultural event takes up on the entire winter for the preps – building up of a galley, orders for the Viking suits, and coping up with other arrangements.

That’s not just it; Helly Aa remains up with cognate events throughout the following couple of months, with a Viking age craft right around the corner as another Jorvik Viking Fest goes scheduled for February 12.