Here There Be Vikings!

Alright... Here is what you've all been waiting for, the BIG VIKINGS UPDATE! It's been 4 or so days since the viking festival but it's all pretty fresh, there are just somethings one doesn't forget too quickly. Close your eyes and let me entertain you with my recollections (well don't actually CLOSE your eyes... how are you going to read silly? I'm being theatrical!) Let's begin...

Jackie and I had just stepped off the boat and not knowing where to go or what to do (or what to expect) we decided to take a wander to the centre of town. Hearing off in the far distance the haunting strains of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!” we thought to ourselves that this is something we should check this out! We walked a little further and happened upon some men in kilts. Men in kilts, although interesting and worthy of comment on a regular day, were not what we were is search so we continue to follow our ears. Further on we hit the jackpot! Vikings, parading down the street, we took chase and were able to gain prime watching spots to see them enter the building where they are given permission to roam the town for 24 hours.

Posing with the Viking Boat (pre-burning).

When the vikings and all the “important” people were inside we continued further down the road and saw a large group of people, we immediately became like sheep and went to stand with the crowd. These instincts proved correct as not 45 minutes later(!) the vikings paraded past once again (one assumes with permission this time). Not only were there vikings this time but bag pipes, marching drums, a junior viking squad, and the viking boat filled with mini-vikings! The parade went around a number of times and then all the men congregated around the boat for a photo opportunity. Not knowing much about vikings we assumed that this was typical behaviour and these were faithful re-enactments.

Authentic Viking Behaviour.

After this we booked into our hotel as the day-light shenanigans seemed to be at an end. However come 4:30pm we made our way down (in the dark) to the Shetland Museum where we heard the vikings would be available for photo opportunities. This dear readers is when our most favourite memory occurred! Before we even entered the museum we saw a viking posing for a photograph, we seized this opportunity for ourselves and asked to have a photo also! What we did not realise was that the people taking photos were actually reporters for the Scotland Sunday paper and the reporter was interested in speaking to people who had traveled to attend Up Helly A'. Not sure what had tipped us off as foreigners (so many possibilities) we confirmed that we were indeed Australian and we proceeded to provide a range of potentially embarrassing quotes for him to use. Ones that spring to mind in response to the question “Why did you decide to come to Up Helly A'?” were “We don't have vikings in Australia” (Jackie) and “What better thing to do in our first week in UK?” (Sally). So it's possible we have made it into the Scotland Sunday newspaper and we eagerly await Sunday in order to find out! When we finally made it into the museum we enjoyed a few songs sung by the viking squad.

Arghh!

Much later that (absolutely freezing) night we wandered up to the town hall and parked ourselves in a semi-prime spot on the wall surrounding the local park (where we froze for the next hour before anything happened). This park was to be the final burning sight for the viking boat that had played an important part in the parades of the day. However before the Burning, the BIG night parade was scheduled. Now this parade was MORE than just vikings! Oh yes! This parade included thousands of men, from the surrounding local areas, who formed groups, came up with names and designed appropriate outfits! Some of these groups are as follow.... “California Kateing Gurls”, “Flappers 'n Slappers”, “Nun o' Atween da Wadders (Fermit)” and “Cat in Wheelie Bin”. These (possibly deranged) men marched proudly with flaming torches in their fancy dress for a good hour before finally ending up in the park surrounding the viking boat. 

The night parade!

These thousand people then threw their flaming torches onto the boat which went up in the most spectacular of flames. All the waiting, the cold, the numbness, the camera frustrations were worth it at this point! To see that boat flaming merrily, surrounded by the locals cheering, made the potential frostbite and pneumonia worth while. Props to you Lerwick, home of Up Helly A'!