Blog @ StrathArchives - LibGuides at University of Strathclyde

Photograph of procession of men with fire torches at the Up-helly-aa festival.

Up-helly-aa festival is celebrated throughout towns and villages in Shetland, towards the end of January and into February. It is a fitting time of year, then, to promote our newly published catalogue for the oral history project of historian, and previous director of the Scottish Oral History Centre, Callum Brown which explores the important community festival.

In 1997 Callum Brown interviewed residents of Lerwick and Bressay to find out more about the Up-Helly-Aa festivals that take place there. These interviews give wonderful descriptions of different aspects of the festival, including: the preparations; Jarl squads and their duties; dances; costumes; the Bill (a notice board produced for Up-helly-aa that includes local jokes and satire featuring members of the community); the role of women and children in the festival, and the procession itself.

Please contact us if you would like access to the transcripts and recordings of these fascinating interviews.

Professor Callum Brown published a book following this project: 'Up-Helly-Aa: custom, culture and community in Shetland', 1998. This is available in the University of Strathclyde Library collection or available for consultation in the Archives and Special Collections reading room.

Further information:

Scottish Oral History Centre Archive: Up-Helly-Aa oral history project catalogue (ref: SOHC 14).

Up-Helly-Aa: custom, culture, and community in Shetland by Callum G. Brown

Call Number: D 394.2694 BRO

ISBN: 1901341070

Publication Date: 1999

Lerwick Up-Helly-Aa website.

[Image above: Up-Helly-Aa festival procession in Uyeasound. Source: Wikimedia Commons.]

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Up-helly-aa oral histories: newly published catalogue

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