Hunting Viking spirit in Shetland

What’s not to love about a series of raucous fire festivals celebrating the end of winter and the coming of spring, where torchlit processions of Vikings set a galley ship alight before partying through the night?

January to March would normally see Shetland come alive during Up Helly Aa, the festival that echoes dramatic Norse rituals of cremating celebrated Viking leaders in their ships. The event has evolved over time, and can be attributed to a heady combination of influences: the Norse tradition of celebrating the end of Yuletide; masked and disguised “guizers” visiting neighbours; and lively male fire-starters rolling flaming tar-barrels through the Shetland streets (a practice that was banned in 1874). By the late 19th century, Up Helly Aa included the torchlit procession and galley ship we know today, while the “Viking squads” were introduced after the First World War.  

Like much of our cultural calendar, this year’s event has sadly been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. But you don’t have to rub shoulders with burly, bearded men to find Viking spirit in Shetland. My family and I arrived at Aberdeen ferry terminal to find a Northlink service emblazoned with a picture of a muscular Viking across its side. It certainly set the tone as we set sail for the remote archipelago in the North Sea, tucked between Norway, the Faroes and mainland Scotland – the very heart of Viking territory.  

After disembarking in Lerwick, Shetland’s capital, we drove to the first place on our bucket list – the sweeping white sands of St Ninian’s Isle. We’d seen it in photographs, but they didn’t do justice to this “tombolo", where the tide comes in at both sides of the beach. It’s staggeringly beautiful in reality. As the children splashed in the waves, I tried to engage them with tales of treasure hidden from Viking invaders. Eighth-century Pictish silverware had been buried under a church on St Ninian’s Isle, and was discovered by a schoolboy in 1958. The original hoard is housed at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, but we admired replicas at the Shetland Museum in Lerwick.

We continued following in the footsteps of Vikings, heading to Jarlshof, at Sumburgh, on the southern tip of mainland Shetland. Archaeology here isn’t hidden behind security tape or glass panels – you walk among it. This prehistoric settlement goes back an astonishing 4,000 years: it offers up Norse structures alongside a Bronze Age smithy and houses, plus Iron Age homes, wheelhouses, and a broch. Vikings from Norway settled at Jarlshof in the 800s, and, rather remarkably, a traditional longhouse is still visible. Luckily for modern-day visitors, there have never been many trees in blustery Shetland, and its rock-built settlements have stood the test of time. As the children ran and weaved through the coastal settlement, their voices whipped away by the wind as the waves crashed on the shore, I was left feeling slightly overwhelmed by how much history I could reach out and touch.

In need of some warmth and light relief, our next stop was the Hoswick Visitor Centre. While it displays an idiosyncratic mix of local artefacts, and its cafe dishes up lunches, refreshments and hot drinks, the main attraction here is a splendid array of Viking costumes for all ages. As our children donned a mix of helmets, tunics and shields, swinging swords while bellowing in their deepest voices, they got to engage with the stories and sights they’d experienced so far in a new way.

To come right up to date with Shetland’s Viking vibe, it was time to meet some real life boat-burners in person. Tucked away in a relatively quiet Lerwick street stands the Galley Shed. This unassuming building is the place where, each year, the Up Helly Aa galley ship is constructed, along with the 800 torches used to set fire to it. From May to September the shed is transformed into a relaxed exhibition space, manned by Up Helly Aa veterans and aficionados who will answer any and all of your fire festival questions.  

I discovered that each year one man secures the prestigious role of “Guizer Jarl”, top dog of the festival. His lads, the “Jarl's Squad”, have the honour of wearing Viking costumes on the night of Up Helly Aa. Every other squad wears fancy dress – and anything goes, from cross-dressing to the Muppets. For some men, participation in the Jarl’s Squad is a precious, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The Galley Shed is full of dazzling costumes from years gone by. The Up Helly Aa website’s claim that “many long hours of hard work go into the design and production of their fabulous outfits” makes it sound more like an episode of Strictly than a manly fire festival, but on closer inspection the costumes are indeed a thing of beauty: intricate, detailed, bespoke designs, lovingly crafted and worn with pride. As I admired their richness I suspected that most “Jarls” were more excited by their Viking garb than by the outfit they had worn on their wedding day. Feathers, chain mail, fur, engravings – it’s one of the few opportunities local men have to truly dress up and be the centre of attention.  

As the sun set, and my husband and I bundled our sleepy mini-Vikings back onto the ferry, we were full of tall tales of treasure, fire and adventure. For the truly inspired, it’s perhaps time to get planning for Up Helly Aa 2022.

Up Helly Aa 2022 will be held on Tuesday 25th January

Sail to Shetland with NorthLink Ferries

For tourist information and accommodation, go to visitscotland.com