Blaze of glory: Scottish islanders don helmets for Viking fire festival

Residents of Scotland’s remote Shetland Islands brandishing swords and shields have celebrated their Nordic roots at a spectacular fire festival which culminated in them burning a replica Viking ship.

Wearing winged helmets and boasting some impressive beards, hundreds of people marched through the streets of Lerwick to mark the Up-Helly-Aa festival in the archipelago’s only town on Tuesday.

After darkness fell, the festivities culminated in a torchlit parade headed by the Guizer Jarl or Viking chief.

Revellers circled the replica boat before throwing their flaming torches on to it, setting it alight and creating a huge pyre with flames shooting high in the air.

The nine-metre long Viking boat was built by a group of local tradesmen who had been working on it since October.

The Shetland Islands are the northernmost outpost of the British Isles and are closer to Oslo than London.

Around 165km northeast of the Scottish mainland, Shetland was invaded by Vikings in the late eighth and early ninth centuries.