Every year on the last Tuesday of January, the people of Lerwick, Scotland go out into the streets and set the town ablaze with their parades and partying. Literally.
It’s time for the Up Helly Aa Festival — a fire festival that marks the end of the Yule season in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. And a few nights ago, nearly 1000 members of the town honored their Norse ancestors by dressing up in fully fledged Viking costumes and taking torches to the street. It’s a wild, raucous event that celebrates tradition as the volunteer vikings, called guizers (and led by the the honory position of Guizer Jarl), parade through the streets.
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Pictures of the event are stunning as the flames swarming the streets, making the whole town look like it’s been set on fire.
The parade culminates with the guizers and onlookers reaching a giant replica of a Viking galley. It’s a ship that took months to build, and only one night to destroy as the men throw their torches into the wood to watch it cathartically burn to ash.
But the night isn’t over yet! There’s a reason the day following the Up Helly Aa Festival is a public holiday. After the big blaze the partying starts with halls and pubs all around the town holding huge parties with tons of dancing, and drinking that the squads of guizers rotate around all night.
If these photos are any indication, it looks like a blast. And a fiery one at that.
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