Up Helly Aa: Great Balls O’ Fire!

One of the things on my bucket list is a trip to Scotland, which I’m hoping to accomplish as a graduation gift to myself in a year or two. Ideally, I’d like to visit in the summer time, when the weather is less sucky and the heather is a-bloomin’ on the moors… but the problem is that a summer visit means I’d miss Up Helly Aa!

Up Helly Aa is a Shetland festival that’s a throwback to the islands’ Viking heritage. If you ever do any Sheltand Island genealogy research, you’ll know what I’m talking about – I’ve got people with names like Angus MacDonald marrying people named Gunnhild Olafsdottir, and the like. It’s a very odd mishmash of cultures, and Up Helly Aa, which falls at the end of January every year, is a celebration of that blend.

And really, it’s a festival that has fire, food, and drinking – all of which are very Scottish and very Viking, so how could it be anything but awesome? Here’s a bit more: Up Helly Aa