Lots of drinking! Lots of men wandering around dressed as Vikings! Very little daylight! Lots of wind! And general mayhem!

There are public parades etc and a couple of parties for which tickets are on sale to the public but each group of 'Guizers' ie 'Viking' clubs, will also be holding a private party in various pubs and village halls but Shetlanders are very friendly and if you get into conversation in a pub no doubt someone will know someone who will be able to get you into one. If offered the chance to go to one take them up on it! And if offered another the chance to go to more than one or to one of the other Guizer band's do's then do take that up too because the local tradition is to travel around between them.

People put a lot of effort into the costumes and the different groups of Guizers all have their 'uniform' and so don't be surprised at seeing gangs of identically dressed vikings 'marauding' round the streets brandishing their battleaxes and shields etc.

For those of you out there who no idea of what we're talking about, have a look at

http://www.visitshetland.com/events/up-helly-aa-event/

and

http://heritage.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=760

SM

Very interesting - thanks for that SM

Thanks for the info !

Most appreciated