Viking festival Jarl Squad includes female participants for first time

More than 1,000 torches are lit on the annual event to celebrates Shetland’s Norse heritage.

Published Jan 30

Last updated Jan 30

The key element in a Viking festival has embraced female participants for the first time.

Up Helly Aa in Lerwick, Shetland, began in the 1880s but it only allowed women and girls to join the Jarl Squad and lead the torchlight procession for the first time in 2024.

Up Helly Aa festival — Members of the Jarl Squad marching through Lerwick for Up Helly Aa (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Jen and Richard Moar — Jarl Squad member Jen Moar alongside her father, Guizer Jarl Richard (Andrew Milligan/PA)

The members don Viking-style clothing for the event, which celebrates Shetland’s Norse heritage.

Guizer Jarl Mr Moar has been involved in the festival since 1990, with his first taste of guizing that year as a fiddlebox carrier.

At 7.30pm, fireworks will be set off to signal the lighting of torches.

An imitation Viking boat, named the Galley, along with Guizer Jarl’s squad and a brass band will lead a procession, with 46 other squads in fancy dress behind them.