A THOUSAND TORCHES, ONE BURNING LONGSHIP: THE VIKINGS SET FIRE TO THE END OF WINTER IN SHETLAND!
Night falls early in late January in Lerwick — we are in Shetland, closer to Norway than to Edinburgh. And suddenly, the night catches fire: hundreds of costumed men, the "guizers", stream down the streets carrying torches, led by the Guizer Jarl and his squad dressed as Vikings. At the end of the procession, they drag a replica longship — a "galley" built for the occasion — to the pyre. The ship burns amid singing. Welcome to Up Helly Aa, the greatest of Shetland's fire festivals.
Tradition marks the end of Yule's season, the end of the year celebrations. It was born of a more rough custom, the tar barrelling — a burning tar barrel dragged into the streets — which was transformed into a torches procession in the late 19th century; the replica of drakkar had been in smoke since the 1880s (1889, according to the FindingTheUniversus guide). The first edition in its present form dates back to 1881, and British guides present it as the largest fire festival in Europe: up to about 1,000 guizers in the procession — each with its own torch, nearly a thousand torches (according to Wikipedia) and thousands of spectators, according to LoveToVisitScotland. Lerwick is only the capital of the ritual: ten more Up Helly Aa illuminate the Shetland from January to March.
Everything is carried by a volunteer committee — the drakkar is built in secret for months, for one night of glory and flames. The next appointment is also the closest to our Top 10: Up Helly Aa is still on the last Tuesday of January, Tuesday 26 January 2027. Honesty is necessary in passing: during our audit of October 17, 2026, the official website of the festival could not be read directly by our tools; the facts of this article are intertwined by the Shetland Promotion Office, Wikipedia and two independent guides — and they agree. Number 5 of our Top 10 most unusual festivals: where winter ends with Viking fireworks.
Practical information
Up Helly Aa (Lerwick Up Helly Aa)
Where: Lerwick, Shetland Islands (Scotland, United Kingdom)
Next edition: Tuesday, 26 January 2027 (always the last Tuesday of January)
Organiser: the volunteer Lerwick Up Helly Aa committee
Official website: https://www.uphellyaa.com — information also via Shetland's office: https://www.shetland.org/fire-festivals/up-helly-aa
Tickets: prices not published in the sources consulted (checked on 17 October 2026) — enquire with the organiser
— Moïse 1er, the Festival Explorer