20% off all nielanell collections, online
24th-31st January
We are not suggesting pillage and rampage, just a wee shop in the sale in celebration of Shetland’s world-famous fiery festival – Up Helly Aa.
Sale excludes our Other Makers collections, Burra Bear and Paparwork.
Photographer: Cecil Duncan, Hoswick, 2011
People go to extremes in sales!
An annual community event since the late 19th century, the Lerwick Up Helly Aa takes place on the last Tuesday in January.
The torchlit procession now numbers around 1000 guizers -Vikings for the day - and attracts over 5000 spectators who follow the guizers to Valhalla where the galley is consumed in a final inferno.
All through the night the guizers travel from dance hall to dance hall, entertaining the local folk with satiric sketches about the year gone by. The Wednesday is a public holiday to allow Vikings and their families to attend the annual Hop and recover.
During the following weeks, local communities hold their own festivities, burning galleys at sea, as is seen in Cecil’s photo when the celebrations of the South Mainland Up Helly Aa culminated in our own Hoswick Bay.