Up Helly Aa refers to any of a variety of fire festivals held in Shetland, in Scotland, annually in the middle of winter to mark the end of the yule season. The festival involves a procession of up to a thousandguizers in Lerwick and considerably lower numbers in the more rural festivals, formed into squads who march through the town or village in a variety of themed costumes.
Originating in the 1880s Up-Helly-Aa has been an annual occurrence for centuries, taking place on the last Tuesday of January every year.this northern Mardi Gras is a celebration of Shetland history, a triumphant demonstration of the islanders’ spirit and a superb spectacle which his gained worldwide recognition as Europe’s biggest fire festival.
The event has only been cancelled three years in its long-standing history for the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and during the First and Second World War, showing Up-Helly-Aa has firmly made its mark as an iconic celebration on the Scottish calendar. What’s more, the event was more recently listed as one of only two ‘must-dos’ in British travel publication, Wanderlust’s top ten festivals worldwide. Up-Helly-Aa was placed forth behind Fiesta de Santo Tomas, Chichicastenango in Guatemala, the Mevlâna Festival in Konya, Turkey, and the Festival in the Desert in Mali, beating events like the Ice and Snow Festival in China, the Fiesta Grande in Chile and the La Tamborrada at San Sebastian in Spain.
Up-Helly-Aa is a lot more than a sub-arctic bonfire party. The day (and night) long celebration is planned a year in advance by several thousand people and preparations are shrouded in secrecy. The biggest secret of all is what the head of the festival, the 'Guizer Jarl', will wear on the day. Kitted out in a raven-winged helmet, axe and shield the Jarl leads over 800 men in Viking disguise through the streets of Lerwick with blazing torches before setting fire to a long boat in the city centre. Needless to say the party doesn’t end there. In true Scots style, celebrations go on through the night and into the next day with gatherings in halls throughout the town. Not surprisingly the next day is a public holiday! And, if you still have energy left, join the hardy partygoers for a second evening of dancing known as the ‘Guizer’s hop’.
If you do miss the Lerwick Up-Helly-Aa (or if it gives you the taste for more of the same), there are another eight fire festivals in various districts of Shetland during the late winter.