Norik Up Helly Aa

 Up Helly Aa is the Viking fire festival celebrated in Shetland every winter. The big festival is in Lerwick at the end of January, and we watched it online. It's very dramatic. But very crowded. 

There are also another 12 smaller Up Helly Aa events. Last year, we went to parts of two of them, and it was really fun. They're very much community events, with the participants working for months to prepare, and touring the schools and care centers before the festival to show off their costumes. 

This year, we happened to be in Unst for the Norik Up Helly Aa, and our airbnb host kindly got us tickets to go to the hall afterwards (the rest is free). Seeing the whole thing was amazing. 

Saturday morning we stopped by the Norwick beach where the burning would occur. It is a spectacularly beautiful beach. 

At this event, they don't actually burn the beautiful galley (boat) every year. They burn a simple boat (see above) atop a huge bonfire, right above the beach. Everything was in readiness. 

A closeup view of the galley that will be burned. 

Then we headed over to the hall to "meet" the Vikings. 

And to see the official boat, with it's annual name - Nordrljos. Each year, the Jarl picks a name from history for himself and for his boat. He also leads the Jarl squad. 

That evening, we drove back down the single track road that ended at the beach. We went really early so we could get a parking place. It just didn't seem like there would be room for very many cars, and mom can't walk long distances in the dark. 

We got an amazing parking spot. Later, they parked up a LOT more cars, but we were still glad to have gotten there early. We bundled up and waited awhile as other folks arrived and the procession mustered. 

It was an incredibly beautiful night, with the full moon shining on the ocean. 

The jarl squad, followed by all the other guizer squads (groups dressed up "in disguise") walked up the hill so they could dramatically light their torches and walk back down to the beach. It was a beautiful sight, again reflected in the water below. 

The processed down to the galley and the pile of pallets and ceremonially threw their torches to start the bonfire. Amazingly, Up Helly Aa has a really good safety track record, even though it involves a LOT of naked flame!

Once this bonfire got going - it was REALLY hot! 

Then all the cars moved out in an orderly fashion along the single track road (that means there's only one lane for both directions, with small passing places when cars in opposing directions pass) to the North Unst hall. 

Almost the entire community showed up to celebrate. Each squad (there were 12 this time) did skits, starting with the Jarl squad. 

The skits were silly or fun or filled with in jokes. This one was a riff on the Barbie movie and was pretty amusing. Our host was in it too! 

And that's Up Helly Aa. The celebration at the hall went on until the wee hours, but we got tired and went home to bed, but it was an honor to be included in this little vibrant communities celebration.