Shetland celebrates its Norse heritage at Up Helly Aa 2019

On Tuesday night (29th January) the 2019 festival of Up Helly Aa saw the skies of Lerwick in Shetland lit up with burning torches during Up Helly Aa. The event included a procession of about 1000 guizers celebrating their Norse heritage. There is a Guizer Jarl (Chief Guizer) who leads a Jarl Squad, which is one of the many Guizer squads participating in the event. Dressed in Viking clothing and marching through the town with battle axes and torches, they dragged with them a ceremonial Viking longboat. Thousands of spectators lined the route on Tuesday night. At the end of the procession, the guizers threw their torches onto the longboat and set it alight. As the flames began to subside, the traditional song "The Norseman's Home" was sung and a night of celebration took place. Words to the songs sang at Up Helly Aa can be found on the official website. 

Shetland is an island group that lies to the north-east of Scotland. The islands are some 50 miles (80 km) to the northeast of Orkney and 170 miles (280 km) southeast of the Faroe Islands forming part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. In Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands, a fire festival named Up Helly Aa is held every last Tuesday in January. Other smaller such festivals are also held on other parts of the Shetland Islands.