A beautiful glow lights up the former St Ringan’s Church, now the home of the Shetland Library as the 2009 Up-Helly-Aa procession gets underway in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland. Featuring nearly 1000 torch-bearing guizers this annual fire festival, reckoned to be the biggest of it’s kind anywhere, takes place on the final Tuesday of January. A 24+ hour festival of song, dance, street theatre, fire, music and feasting, accompanied by a few drams along the way Up-Helly-Aa is eagerly awaited by locals and an ever-increasing number of visitors every year. Up-Helly-Aa is organised entirely by volunteers, most of whom put in a tremendous amount of time and effort. If you’re planning a visit book early and don’t plan on doing much the day after….!!!
superb I love it. Really must make it one year to see for myself.
Thanks Fraser. Yes, you should visit Up-Helly-Aa for yourself, complete with camera of course. If you do decide to come PM me and I can tell you how to get the best from the day (and night). Be prepared for little sleep..!!
– Del419
karentillotsonabout 3 years ago
Quite an incredible image…looks like the world is going up in flames. I’m sure this is an exciting and festive event…but from here, it sure looks kind of scary! LOL!
Thank you, Karen. Let’s just say a formal Risk Assessment would make interesting reading. It looks scary but injuries are extremely rare. Everyone knows to look out for each other. Another interesting fact is that “there will be no postponement due to weather” is taken literally. 60 degrees north in January can prove tough going some years. You should come and see it for yourself.
– Del419
karentillotsonabout 3 years ago
Seeing Scotland one day is definitely on my “bucket list”…so I’ll have to write this event in as a must-see!!! (But I’ll be wearing my flame-retardant gear and carrying a fire extinguisher just in case…lol… =))
Looking forward to your visit, Karen. Don’t worry about the fire precautions, just wrap up warm. You’ll have a blast..!!!
Comments
fantastic angle and use of light! :))
Brilliant work, Del!
superb I love it. Really must make it one year to see for myself.
Thanks Fraser. Yes, you should visit Up-Helly-Aa for yourself, complete with camera of course. If you do decide to come PM me and I can tell you how to get the best from the day (and night). Be prepared for little sleep..!!
– Del419
Quite an incredible image…looks like the world is going up in flames. I’m sure this is an exciting and festive event…but from here, it sure looks kind of scary! LOL!
Thank you, Karen.
Let’s just say a formal Risk Assessment would make interesting reading. It looks scary but injuries are extremely rare. Everyone knows to look out for each other. Another interesting fact is that “there will be no postponement due to weather” is taken literally. 60 degrees north in January can prove tough going some years.
You should come and see it for yourself.
– Del419
Seeing Scotland one day is definitely on my “bucket list”…so I’ll have to write this event in as a must-see!!! (But I’ll be wearing my flame-retardant gear and carrying a fire extinguisher just in case…lol… =))
Looking forward to your visit, Karen. Don’t worry about the fire precautions, just wrap up warm. You’ll have a blast..!!!
– Del419