Photos: The Up Helly Aa Viking Fire Festival

In Scotland’s Shetland Islands, a fire festival named Up Helly Aa takes place every January to mark the end of the yule season. The festival has been on hold for the past two years due to COVID-19 restrictions but was held again this year. Local participants, called guizers, celebrate their Norse heritage by dressing in Viking gear and marching through the town of Lerwick with battle axes and torches, dragging a ceremonial Viking longboat with them. At the end of the procession, the guizers hurl their flaming torches onto the longboat and set it ablaze. Gathered below are images from several Up Helly Aa processions over the past 20 years.