Up Helly Aa? The first 'Viking' galley was burnt in 1889, but it comes from a much older tradition. Tar barrelling was an event across the Uk and wider, a fire festival in winter. You set tar barrels on fire and take them round the village on sleds or sleighs, dancing, singing, getting drunk. Something similar still goes on, the burning of the clavie (still goes on in one village) which is celebrated around Hogmanay.

But in the 1870s, this practice was banned. Now a fire festival is traditional so if they can't do tar barrelling, then they'll still have fire! So they had a Yule night profession with torches in 1876, but the first time that torch procession occurred specifically on Up Helly Aa night was five years later.

Up Helly Aa itself is very old. In Shetland, up Helly Night was being celebrated (also known as Antonsmas) possibly for centuries, the main festival you probably watched however happened in Lerwick. It was around 1815 or so when Up Helly Aa and also New Year festivals too started to become more popular in Lerwick itself and within ten years it was firmly a part of local culture., but no tar barreling yet. Tar barrelling started in the 1840s. Why? Fire has a historical significance in winter celebrations and it was probably also because it looked grand and exciting, not just for symbolic reasons. Around the 1840s-1870s the night would have had tar barrelling, singing, guns would be shooting, probably a fair amount of fighting, music would be playing, the streets would be crowded.

There was also guising. Guisers or guizers would dress up for Up Helly A note, in a lot of Scotland, guising is the name for trick or treating on Halloween. Guising in Shetland probably dates back to the skeklers. Skekling is where you dress up in costumes as a disguise. They would dress up in straw clothing and dresses looking like they were pretending to be a (quite neat) haystack! Skekling would occur around Halloween and also around New Year- and Up Helly Aa. Traditionally skekling was for men and children only. Guising is now a big part of the Up Helly Aa festivals and it's roots are in skekling- as is trick or treating. Skeklers would go around houses and play tricks and make mischief, and if you're in disguise so no one knows you (or pretends not to know you) you can make fun out of the landowners and your neighbours, so it was obviously quite popular.

The Viking theme...well, there's no real historical reason for this. Shetland has a long history and connection with Vikings and Scandinavia. Their accents, slang words and festivals often have Norse roots. It could well have been from the Norse pagans that skekling originated, but nearly every culture likes the idea of disguising themselves and costumes. This history may have been one of the reasons for why the organisers thought of having a Viking theme as it was something which distinguished them from the rest of Scotland, and the UK as a whole. Although a lot of Scotland has Norse influence, nowhere was it as strong as in Shetland and Orkney. Possibly a rise of patriotism and Shetland pride prompted them to choose a Viking theme as representative of their history. At the time, it was a festival of poor, overlooked and fairly downtrodden people, a festival for working class men, and the excitement, difference and pride having a Viking festival would bring them would have been attractive. It was different, it was new and it was also very, very Shetland like, so it was a hit. Even during the depression and economy problems, Up Helly Aa and the galley burning still went on, it had become a point of pride for Shetland's inhabitants.