Excerpt and image from bbc.com

It was 08:00 but the sunrise was only just beginning to blush the corners of the long January night in Lerwick, the capital of Scotland’s Shetland archipelago. A couple of fireworks boomed overhead as a group of men passed around a hipflask of whisky – the best defence against the bone-chilling wind that rattles through the Shetland Islands like a poltergeist all winter.

There was a commotion behind the doors of a huge hangar-like shed, which swung open to reveal a vast wooden longship, 30ft from stern to prow, carved in the form of a fearsome dragon and painted a glacial blue. This was the galley, the ceremonial burning of which would happen later that night as the focal point of the festival of Up Hellya Aa – a pyromaniac celebration of the return of the light after winter and an honouring of Shetland’s proud Norse heritage.

From around the corner came the pounding of feet, the clatter of steel and the swelling sound of drums, punctuated with loud battle cries: a marauding gang of Vikings, known as the “Jarl Squad”, who are the main players in the festivities. They would be spending the day parading the galley through town in resplendent Viking clothing – turquoise cloaks, winged helmets, axes and shields – while stopping off at various points to sing Norse songs; pose for photos; and eat, drink and make merry. The leader of the squad, elected 15 years in advance, is known as the “Guizer Jarl” and dresses up as a historical Viking; this year’s incumbent, the magnificently bearded Richard Moar, chose Haraldr Óláfsson, who died in a shipwreck off Shetland’s south coast in 1248.