GUIZERS & DOLLS
Women to join Viking fire festival for first time
WOMEN will be able to join squads at the main Up Helly Aa fire festival in Shetland for the first time next year.
The Lerwick Up Helly Aa Committee decided to relax the long-standing custom of only allowing males to take part in the procession.
It will take place on January 31 after a two-year absence due to the pandemic.
Visitors travel from around the world for the event in which people dressed as Vikings march through the streets of Lerwick to recreate its ancient Viking past.
The tradition dates back to the 19th century.
The walk is led by the Guizer Jarl, or chief guizer, and culminates in a torch-lit procession and a replica longboat being set alight.
The committee said Up Helly Aa guizers will be able to manage their squads, with no gender restrictions, for next year’s event.
But the other criteria for participation – that guizers must be aged 16 or older and have lived in Shetland continuously for five years – will remain the same.
The festival appointed its first female Jarl in 2015 and the decision on the Lerwick event comes after people campaigned for women to be allowed to take part.
Up Helly Aa Committee secretary Robert Geddes said: “We felt it was time to give squads a choice over their guizers, including female participation.
“Everybody is looking forward to the return of Up Helly Aa after an unprecedented two-year break.”