Norse traditions are rekindled in the streets of Lerwick at the famous annual Up Helly Aa festival. Shetland has celebrated its Norse heritage with a firelit procession for over 140 years.

The streets of Lerwick are once again filled with fire and smoke as Shetland holds its world famous Up Helly Aa fire festival. The event, which is traditionally held on the last Tuesday of January ...

The event marks the end of the Yule season in Nordic culture, and features “guizers” in Viking costume marching through Lerwick, bearing torches. The event culminated in the burning of an ...

The annual Viking-inspired fire festival of Up Helly Aa, described by organizers as “a northern Mardi Gras,” was held in the town of Lerwick in Scotland’s Shetland Islands on Tuesday, January 28. The ...