Viking for a day

Published on Wednesday 19 January 2005 00:52

If you’re looking for a Burns Supper in Shetland this year, you can forget it. Whisky will be much in evidence as will the Bard’s sentiments on camaraderie and brotherhood, but Burns night this year happens to coincide with the last Tuesday in January, so there’s no contest. That’s the night Shetland firmly detaches itself from Scotland and goes Norse, big style.

To guarantee that the new Norse year is ushered in free from trows (trolls) and other evil spirits you need a fire festival to well and truly spook the spooks. In the beginning, people organised themselves into local squads and ran around torching even the most cleverly hidden trows. Disguise was essential to make sure the demons couldn’t take revenge for having their evil intentions thwarted.

The current Up Helly Aa celebrations stick pretty closely to that principle with Guizer squads exorcising all manner of devils - local and otherwise - under cover of whatever persona they’ve adopted. (Political correctness is definitely not the order of the day and if you’ve been in the local news for whatever reason, prepare to be embarrassed.)

What has changed - and what makes Up Helly Aa such a splendid spectacle - is that the original practice of setting light to tar barrels was outlawed and around a century ago, replaced by the more romantic activity of longship burning. The leader of the festivities - the Worthy Chief Guizer - became the Guizer Jarl, and the parading of the Jarl’s squad and its longship through Lerwick, followed by the symbolic torching of the vessel, is now the focal point of the celebrations.

It’s pretty impressive. The Jarl’s squad in their Viking splendour, bellowing out the festival song, Up Helly Aa, as they march along with blazing torches held aloft, can’t fail to stir even the most phlegmatic of bystanders. Participation in the elite squad is eagerly sought after, and the wait is long.

It doesn’t come cheap either. Lerwick lifeboat coxswain Neil Clark, invited in by this year’s Guizer Jarl, has spent around 1,500 on his Viking regalia. Along with 44 of his fellows and five boys, Clark has been spending three nights a week putting the finishing touches to his top secret costume.

One would think that there would be a limit to the variations on a Viking theme, but it seems no two Jarl’s squads have ever been dressed the same for the best part of a century.

What they have in common, though, is the beard. No self-respecting Viking goes on public show bare faced, and Clark has been cultivating a growth since September, much to his wife’s disgust. However, before it can be shaved off, the Guizer Jarl squad will join the 48 other squads - around 900 guizers in all - for a two-day endurance trial that would test the mettle of any warrior.

At 6:30am on Tuesday, Clark and his fellow Jarl squaddies begin their duties, which include visiting the very young and the very old who won’t be out on the streets for the big procession. For this, among other responsibilities, they receive the freedom of Lerwick for the day, and unlimited refreshments, mostly of the liquid variety.

The Guizer and his Jarl squad accompany the beautifully painted, yet not long for this earth, longship to Alexandra Wharf where the vessel is shown off during the day. They rejoin the longship in time for the dramatic torchlight parade. The Guizer Jarl then stands atop the longship as the flaming procession heads for the galley burning site. Here the squaddies form a ten-deep circle and their Jarl praises the galley builders. When they start singing The Norseman’s Home, he gets out swiftly before 900 torches get thrown in.

The whole ritual is very democratic - each squad has its own leader, and each appointed leader serves on a general Up Helly Aa committee until his turn comes round to be the Guizer Jarl (around 15 years). His squad then becomes the elite Jarl squad.

The revelries continue all through the night, when the faint-hearted crawl home for some sleep. Wednesday has long been a public holiday since there’s no point expecting anybody to turn up for work. The general consensus is that crashing out at 9am on Wednesday makes you feel worse than just carrying on the festivities, which most of them do.

• Up Helly Aa 2005 takes place in Lerwick, Shetland on Tuesday. For more details, log on to www.visitshetland.com