Shetland Islands Festival January

Viking long boats droning horns beating drums and a torchlight parade up helly aa is an authentic viking experience.

Shetland islands festival january. Up helly aa can refer to any of twelve fire festivals held annually from january to march in shetland scotland to mark the end of the yule season. January in shetland is a very special place to be. The up helly aa the end of the holly days festival takes place at shetland islands. Each festival involves a torchlit procession by squads of costumed participants that culminates in the burning of viking galley.

The main lerwick event draws visitors from around the world every january as shetland s viking heritage is celebrated. The 2021 festival will now take place on tuesday 25th january 2022. The popular event which takes place annually in. The largest and best known is up helly aa in lerwick but there are a total of 12 festivals every winter.

The other rural festivals see lower numbers. The last tuesday of january is when one of the biggest events of the year takes place up helly aa. On the last tuesday of january each year a series of grand marches and processions take place ultimately leading to a ceremonial burning of a 9 meter long galley a traditional nordic long boat. In other island communities january february and march are the quietest months of the year but this is not so in shetland.

And there are some fantastic events to attend. From the start of january until early march the country up helly aas take place throughout the isles all of them rooted in their local communities and celebrating the gradual lightening of the year. On sunday 6th january 2019 at 13 40 in the mareel there will be a screening of lincoln center theater s production of rodgers and hammerstein s the king and i it stars kelli o hara ken watanabe and is recorded live at the london palladium. Lerwick up helly aa may be the biggest fire festival but it s by no means the only one.

At up helly aa a festival in scotland s shetland islands the people remain loyal to their scandinavian ancestral roots. All the participants are dressed as vikings or other customs that are changed yearly. Up helly aa every winter between january and march communities across shetland organise and run a series of spectacular up helly aa fire festivals. It is one of the glories fire festivals in the world.

Welcome to up helly aa welcome to the official website for up helly aa which takes place in lerwick shetland on the last tuesday in january every year. The organisers of the 2021 up helly aaviking festival have taken the difficult decision to postpone until 2022 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Organisers said they had made the extremely hard but unanimous decision to.