Experiencing Cullivoe Up Helly Aa

Who knew that Vikings had such big hearts!

Well the 15 happy souls who embraced the annual Cullivoe Up Helly Aa were the life and soul of the party and determined to share their fun with the whole community of Yell, Shetland’s second biggest island.

The festival made history last year when health visitor Alice Jamieson was made the Chief Guizer, a first for the island and only the second female to take the honour across the islands.

With the main Lerwick Up Helly Aa well and truly over, Cullivoe joined ten other small communities to celebrate the fire festivals, marking the long Norse period in Shetland, which lasted 600 years after the first Vikings landed on its shores in 800 AD, with the islands part of the Kingdom of Norway until the late 15^th century.

The event is about bringing people together to respect the history and the Norse dialect of Norn, a North Germanic language which developed from Old Norse after Viking settlers arrived in the 9^th century. It became extinct as a spoken language by the 19^th century, replaced by Scots English and its remnants are still strong in the modern Shetland dialect, especially in Yell.

Dubbed a “man’s wedding” to mark all the partying and hell raising, the island’s Up Helly Aa began as a children’s event in Sellafirth in the late 1950’s and grew when people found it too hard to get to the Lerwick festival which dates back to the 1800s.

Held on the last Friday in February, the Cullivoe Up Helly Aa is solid tradition, with Yell’s 900 residents joining together to have fun.

The festival made history last year when health visitor Alice Jamieson was made the Guizer Jarl, a first for the island and only the second female to take the honour across the islands.

Alice had followed in the footsteps of her father Robert who had the honour in 1981 and led her jarl squad with aplomb, adding feminine touches, including commissioning a pendant and ring in honour of Valkyrie, Norse chooser of the slain, made specially by Shetland Jewellery. She learnt her trade as a youngster at Cullivoe Primary School, which has its own jarl squad, made up of the wee pupils.

The modern approach was mixed with tradition, with Alice undertaking all the official duties, including having her head shaved in true Viking style.

This year Alice started Cullivoe’s partying by handing over the reins to crofter Stephen Saunders, who had the grand title of Sigurd den Rause Utheim, meaning big-hearted warrior who looks after his flock.

And Stephen and his merry band were on a mission to party hard, but at the same time respect the ancient ceremony which has the community at the heart of its message.

To make the occasion even more special, Stephen opted for a new style for the official outfit. He enlisted the help of talented seamstress Norma Anderson to create a two-piece herringbone kilt for the men and one piece dresses in a similar style for the women, with swords and helmets, with a ram’s head on the front and the Cullivoe raven on the back, 3D printed by Joe Drever in Orkney.

Farming was at the centre of the celebrations with the galley named Hrútr, old norse for ram, with a huge sheep’s head carved from cedar wood taking pride at the front of the ship, which had been built during the winter by the jarl squad, with each member making a monthly donation to pay for all the festivities.

The cold months are spent in the Cullivoe Gallery Shed painstakingly preparing for the big event which sees the whole island joining together.

Very much a community event, the celebrations take in all aspects of the island, from the bairns to the elderly and it’s an incredible sight to see the Vikings on the march around the local schools, community centres and care homes and spreading their message of looking after each other.

Every one gets a look in and at each stop, the Vikings, joined by their band, entertain with their galley song telling their story and commitment to “honour, freedom, love and beauty, in the feast, the dance, the song” and their squad tune, which this year, Stephen chose the 2017 country-rock song, “Recover” by Irish singer, Marty Mone, centered on the gentle art of drinking!

In return, the community entertains the jarl squad, with sketches very much centred on the Guizer Jarl, which meant lots of inventive teasing of Stephen, especially from the pupils at Mid Yell Junior High School.

The main event sees the main Jarl Squad unveil the galley for the first time and escort it full of excited children from Cullivoe Hall to the local primary school, ready for the torch lit procession at night, when the whole island made up of costume wearing ferry men, fire fighters, crofters and sportsmen walk with huge torches, made of wooden fence posts, topped with concrete and wrapped in hessian, and soaked in paraffin, to the harbour where the galley is sitting in the water.

After marching round the harbour three times, each member of the procession, led by the Vikings, is invited to throw their torchlight into the longship and set it alight to mark the return of light after winter and symbolically destroy the old to start anew.

The fun continues with a night of hilarity in the hall, with the Vikings entertained by the community and traditional music and dancing, followed the next evening with the Guizers’ Hop Variety Concert, dubbed a “remedy for a sore head!”

There’s a few days off and then the Guizer’s Return, giving everyone a chance to have more fun and dance the night away, as well as admire each other’s newly shaved heads, which are used to collect money for local good causes.

Revellers have the advantage of Yell’s coastal settlements and stunning moorland scenery to enjoy and the island is rich in community life, with many locals helping run The Old Haa in Burravoe, the island’s historic museum housed in 1672 building.

Wildlife is in abundance and the island is known as the otter capital of Great Britain. Locally nicknamed “the dratsies”, they rub alongside the many puffins and gannets, seals and Shetland ponies dotted around this very special island and its caring community.

Yell Factfile

Getting there:
NorthLink Ferries run daily sailings from Aberdeen to Lerwick
Car hire is available from Lerwick
Yell is linked to the mainland via a 20 minute ferry from Toft to Ulsta

Accommodation:
Robert and Ann Goodlad are the perfect hosts at Quam Bed and Breakfast in West sandwick, six miles from the Ulsta ferry, with good appointed modern rooms and home cooked meals. https://stay.shetland.org/accommodation

Tourism and Up Helly Aa – For more information on Yell, check out: https://www.shetland.org/visit/plan/areas/yell, https://www.visitscotland.com, https://www.shetland.org/visit/events/cullivoe-uha and https://www.shetland.org/fire

By Rebecca Hay Proud Lancastrian, Rebecca Hay, enjoys nothing more than exploring her adopted country and birthplace of her teenage children, Ruaridh and Flossie. An old-fashioned journalist, Rebecca is also a jubilant member of the British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures on X via @EmojiAdventurer.

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