Up Helly Aa

Trade your bagpipes for a broadsword: Lerwick in the Shetland Islands is celebrating Up Helly Aa, a commemoration of the five centuries of Norse rule that preceded Scotland’s annexation of the islands. A parade of a thousand Shetlanders in Viking guise visits hospitals and schools not to rape and plunder, but to entertain. The master of ceremonies, who assumes the identity of a hero from the Norse sagas, then leads his torch-bearing followers to the harbour, where they set fire to a replica Viking galley. This pyromania is only the beginning of the party: the pseudo-Vikings then visit dance halls throughout the town, wooing maidens and revelling until eight o’clock the next morning.