In Scotland, women were allowed to participate in the Viking festival for the first time

Large-scale burning of a longship took place in the Shetland Islands

The Viking Fire Festival in Shetland has taken place every year for almost 2 centuries. The current form of Up Helly Aa is about 140 years old, but the traditions of the festival go back about “12 centuries or more” and are associated with ancient Norse rituals marking the return of the Sun after winter. The culmination of the festival each year is the burning of the Viking ship Drakkar. The mayor of the city hands over the reins of government to the Vikings for one night.

Up Helly Aa is one of 12 celebrations of Shetland’s Norse heritage, culminating in the burning of a replica longship. For the first time in the event’s 143-year history, women and girls joined the main “squad” at the head of the procession through the city.

Fire festivals celebrate the islands’ Viking past, with communities coming together for a night of ‘ginging’ (dressing up as historical characters), lighting torches in the streets and enjoying traditional Shetland music.

Preparations are carried out in the strictest secrecy, and the entire city stops working completely for a while. The festival begins in the morning when Geezer Jarl leads his troop through the city, singing songs.

The festival is organized by volunteers and run by a committee of 17 members elected by the organizers, with a new member elected each year. To become a Geezer Jarl, a member of the committee must serve for 16 years. In 2024, Richard Moar of the Home Improvement Team, who had not been in the Jarl group since 1965, became Geezer Jarl.

Richard Moar is a 47-year-old engineer and a festival participant since 1990, and joined the organizing committee in 2008 after two unsuccessful attempts. Now that it’s his turn to become Geezer Jarl in 2024, he will be joined in the procession by his teenage daughter Jen and three nieces. It is especially emphasized that for the first time women are participating in the detachment.

In the evening the torches are lit and, accompanied by a brass band, they are joined by 46 other costumed troops. Each participant carries a torch soaked in paraffin. The drakkar is built by a team every year, and its burning marks the end of the festival. It takes the Vikings half an hour to drag the ship to the burial site through a crowd of more than 5 thousand spectators.

Like many such festivals, its origins are murky. Some experts believe that it occurs at a time of year when the days begin to lengthen slightly after a long winter, which is commonly observed in pagan societies. But it also has roots in 19th-century celebrations associated with Christmas and New Year, others respond. The festival takes place in January according to the old Julian calendar, which Shetlanders followed until 1879.

Early medieval expert Natalia Budur believes that local residents turned one holiday into another.

“In the 1870s, the dangerous festival practice of rolling burning tar barrels through the city streets was banned, and soon after Lerwegians (residents of Lerwick) began holding “Ap Heli Aa.” The burning of tar barrels was replaced by a procession with torches, and in 1882 the first burning of a Viking boat took place,” comments Natalia Budur to MK.

Women and girls have participated in many Up Helly Aa events before, but they are not allowed to take part in the processions. In 2024 this changed and Jen Moar became one of the first female members of the Jarl Team at the Lerwick Festival. Let us remind you that the abolition of gender restrictions for the festival began in the city in 2023. The decision to open the procession to everyone follows a campaign that began in the 1980s.

Traditionally, women were only involved as “hostesses”, whose role was to organize parties held in public halls throughout the Shetland capital. For example, the Vikings visit the city’s schools, hospitals, nursing homes and the Shetland Museum.

This is a major change to the event, but with 16 years’ service on the Aa Up Helly committee required before taking on a leading role, it will be some time before Lerwick has its first female Jarl.