Tourists brave stormy weather to experience Shetland’s Viking fi Up Helly Aa, Europe’s largest fire festival takes place in Lerwick, Shetland on the last Tuesday of every January. It is the culmination of a year’s worth of work by the community from designing the costumes to building the Viking galley ship. Each year a new chief (called a Jarl) is chosen to lead the torch-lit parade of guizers which ends with the burning of the galley. The event, which pays homage to the island’s Viking heritage, attracts tourists from around the world. This year the crowds braved force-eight gale winds and rain to watch the dramatic spectacle on Britain’s most northerly islands. Despite fears that the Up Helly Aa might have been postponed due to the stormy weather, the event has only ever been cancelled a handful of times, for deaths of Queen Victoria, King George V and Winston Churchill. Images and soundbites.