Shetland's Viking Fire Festival

Posted by Mike Gerrard Nov 2, 2006

Are you going out anywhere to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night? If you want some last-minute ideas for celebrating November 5th in London then read my Article on London's Guy Fawkes Celebrations here.

But it's never too early to plan ahead, so November 5th seemed a good day to publish a piece letting you know about the biggest fire festival in Europe. This takes place at Lerwick in the Shetland Isles of Scotland at the end of January. As the end of January is more likely to find me in southern Arizona than northern Scotland, it's probably an event I'll never get to witness. So I asked two top Scottish experts who have been there, Hugh Taylor and Moira McCrossan, to tell you all about it. You can read their account of the day's events here, and see one of Hugh's amazing images of the longship burning and one of the local 'Vikings' too.

The article will also tell you where to get more information from the local tourist office, who can help you plan a trip and book accommodation before it all goes. But you'll have to be quick, which is why I'm putting the information up now and not the day before it happens!