Up Helly Aa

Up Helly Aa. Tuesday


We went to the music on Monday night, after a delicious meal at The Ghurka Kitchen. Both were really good.

There were about 12 bands and each band played 2-3 sets of tunes. One of the bands was lead by a (maybe) 12-year-old accordion player who was very good. A keen observer (such as me) would notice that several of the individual performers showed up in multiple bands. One was a lady who is normally the receptionist at the clinic where Alison works, who is an accomplished fiddle player and very cute to boot.

There was also a larger lady who looked out of place with her hair all done up and lots of bling. She played fiddle and then sang a French song, after telling us a story related to her reputation for bling. Very funny. She had a fantastic voice and sounded like a larger version of Edith Piaf.

So all sorts of surprises but a very good evening was had by all.

Tuesday saw the start of Up Helly Aa proper.

It is difficult to describe the event, but I will try.

There are a number of “Squads” consisting of about 15 – 20 men of various ages, some as young as 12 or so and each squad decide on a theme for their squad for the year. Squad members are known at Jarls. You have to be a Shetland resident for a minimum of 5 years to be invited on to a squad, and the Lerwick Up Helly Aa is still all male, although the squads and Up Helly Aa events on the other islands have women in the squads also. There is increasing pressure for Lerwick to change of course

An elite squad supervised by the Guizer Jarl (the overall head of the event) constructs over the winter a replica of a Viking Longboat. Both the construction of the longboat and the themes for the other squads are closely guarded secrets and so the morning parade is the first opportunity for everyone to see the designs. This year’s Guizer Jarl has had his father and Grandfather as Guizer Jarls in past years. Clearly it is an honor to be elected.

It is quite a sight to see about 900 men all dressed up in a variety of costumes, from Vikings to Penguins or leprechauns, and watch them parade through this small town.

All the school kids are out and pretty much anybody who is in town.

The squads then disperse until the evening with some making tours of the local schools and also the senior homes and care facilities, so everyone gets a chance to join in. There is also a junior squad who has their own parade earlier in the evening. Their ship is not burned, nor do they carry lighted torches ad the adults do.

The main event starts at 7.30 prompt with a “maroon” , which is a red flare being shot in the air to signal the lighting of the torches. The torches are about 3 ft long, and are infused with something flammable. Suddenly the shy takes on this orange hue as the torches are lit and in a few minutes the first of the procession comes in to view. There are a total of about 900 Jarls that parade and they follow the Viking Longboat that has been lovingly built over the past 3 months or so. It is paraded around a fairly small number of streets before being placed in a park where all the Jarls gather and eventually march around the longboat in concentric circles singing about 3 different songs in order. Eventually there is a second maroon and that is the signal to throw the lighted torches on to the ship, and it begins to burn. The parade has taken about 50 minutes and the ship is engulfed in just a couple of minutes. Remarkably nobody catches fire or is hurt in any way, and the event has an excellent safety record. I am sure that not all of the Jarls are entirely sober at this point.

This is the end of the public event. We were very lucky to have been invited to view from someone’s front yard that is very close to the burn site, and on this occasion is upwind of the burning, so we had an excellent view of the whole event.

There are a number (11 or 12 I think) of “halls” that are private parties held in various community halls and one has to be invited to these. We were, and we attended South Hall. Each of the squads puts together and practices some sort of skit that they then perform in all of the halls until they are done. This can take until 7am the next day. Fortunatly the Wednesday is a public holiday. Just as well as nobody would show up for work anyway, or indeed be in a fit condition to work.

We did not stay for the whole thing, but saw several skits including a Shetland rendering of Lord of the Dance, and a skit based on Bollywood style dancing. All this from Shetland men, who are generally built short and round as a defense against strong winds. It is also a strange contrast as these are not generally extroverts, but their inhibitions are absent maybe just for that one evening.

As well as the skits there is lots of dancing, and there are small kids and grannies all dancing away and having a great time. Each hall has a Scottish Dance band and there are some traditional dances in between the skits and food is also served and is part of the package. You are not allowed to have alcoholic drinks in the dance hall but there is a side room where drinking is allowed. I was impressed by how everyone danced. There were teenage girls all dressed up to get the boys attention and younger kids who were taking it all in and joining in the dances. In many respects it was a reminder of school dances with girls clustered together and boys daring each other to ask the girls for a dance. I did not see anyone refusing a dance.

I had a really good time and it was first class people watching for sure. Who knows I may be back next year.