In the morning there is a parade of the Jarl Squad down the main streets, followed by the Head Jarl who rides on the Gally - the dragon boat thing.
And this is the 2010 Jarl Squad.
We got our picture taken with a Guizer!
So then after that Im not entirely sure what they do, I imagine they rest. Or start drinking, wouldnt put it past these Shetland folk. We went wandering. To the museum - Jacqui and Lyall had some fun in the maritime history display.
Then we went walking to another Broch - this one you can go right inside and climb all over. It was cool. Lyall said its a regular hang out of dilinquent drunken youths.
After this we went back to Lyall's place to rest up for the long night ahead. At about 7pm we went down to the 'toon' to get a spot for the procession. They begin at the town hall where they all light up their torches. Its not just one Viking squad, there are about 5000 participants. All men. This picture is them just begining, they turn all the street lights off for the procession and the sky was red from all the fire.
This is the beginning of the procession - the Gally is there too.
This video is quite long, but it shows the procession as it went right past us. They are singing the Up Helly Aa song. The only bit I know is "The waves are rolling on!" but its generally viking themed. Its rather incredible that this festival is still going considering how much fire is involved and how little there seems to be in the way of saftey measures. Awesome though.
So after all 5000 men walk up and down the main streets chanting and singing. They lead the Gally into a playground. They all march in after it and form a huge circle formation around it and then wait for the Head Jarl to get off it and they throw their torches at it setting it alight. Thats porbably the most dangerous bit. We saw a couple of guys run off to the first aid tent. It was a pretty cool sight. Fire everywhere, chanting vikings, men in stupid outfits. There were fireworks too. This is a picture of the Gally burning.
So, as far as the children are concerned that is all there is to Up Helly Aa. How grossly misinformed the wee ones are. The next phase of the festival is the Halls. There are several community centres, school halls, hotels, the town hall and even the ferry terminal which are set up as party halls. The different Jarl squads travel between all these places doing dances and skits as the audiences get drunker and drunker. This explains the ridiculous outfits you would have seen in the above video. This doesnt stop til 8am. 8AM! So the idea is that from about 9pm-8am you stay in the halls watching men in stupid outfits dance and sing while you drink obscene amounts and eat scones. So committed are the people of Shetland to this 140year old tradition, that the following day is a public holiday, recovery day. Rather considerate of the council really. But yes, I never thought I would find myself sitting in a primary school hall, drunk as a skunk, watching 10 grown men in silver lycra dance to 'The Love Game' by Lady Gaga. There was another act which involved men dancing provocatively with each other until they were joined by other men in pea pod costumes. Why? Because they were dancing to a Black Eyed Peas song. Duh.
I doubt I will see an odder sight in my lifetime.
We did our best to make it through til 8am - but Jacqui and I lacked the stamina that these locals seem to have acquired. We made it til the Main Jarl squad arrived. That was at about 6am.
We left after that. The Jarls had 3 halls left to go to at that point. That is serious commitment in all that chain mail. It must be tough.
We slept the next day til about 2 in the afternoon. Then Lorraine made us a spectacular meal and got on the ferry again. Mickey and Neil were catching the Thursday one so the trip back was just the three of us. About 18 hours later we got back to Glasgow.
Im exhausted. But man it was an amazing few days. So lucky we met Lyall really or we would never have gone.
Next adventure: London for Waitangi weekend! Study shmudy.
xxooo
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