The raucous celebration of the new year and the islands’ Nordic heritage culminates in the ritual burning of a longship – and much drinking
Beyond a misty veil, dawn breaks above Shetland – sort of. The days feel as if they never quite get going here at this time of year, and it’s important, as the long nights of winter drag on, to have a hobby. Here in Lerwick, the capital of the archipelago, the locals have divined a unique way of passing the time, while honouring the deep-rooted Scandinavian influences on Shetland’s culture and history.
A rattling and murmuring begins to grow, and round a corner emerges a marching horde of lusty Vikings in homemade costumes, brandishing axes and round shields, beards flowing over leather breastplates. They carry turquoise standards bearing the flag of Haraldr Óláfsson, the 13th-century king of Mann and the Isles, and sing battle songs of raven flags flying in distant lands, of blazing torches and Vikings ruling over oceans vast.
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