Medieval Lerwick

Shetland's capital and the most northerly town in the UK, a stone harbour town on Bressay Sound in islands that were Norse until 1469, and host of Europe's largest fire festival, Up Helly Aa, on the last Tuesday of January.

1 festival no articles yet next event 26 January 2027

Medieval festivals in Lerwick

Mike Pennington · CC BY-SA 2.0

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Music, Feasts & Theatre Viking & Norse +1

Up Helly Aa (Lerwick)

Lerwick, Scotland

Up Helly Aa is Lerwick's Viking-themed fire festival, held on the last Tuesday of January: about a thousand torch-bearing guizers led by the Guizer Jarl's squad in Norse dress march through the town and burn a full-size replica longship, then tour a dozen halls performing skits until morning. It grew out of 19th-century tar-barrelling, with the first torch procession in 1881 and the first galley burning in 1889; the next edition is Tuesday 26 January 2027.

26 Jan 2027

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Months with a festival are linked. Expected dates say so. January

More medieval festivals in Scotland

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Viking & Norse Historic City Celebrations

Scalloway Fire Festival

Scalloway, Scotland

Scalloway's Viking fire festival opens Shetland's fire-festival season on the second Friday of January: a Guizer Jarl and a squad of men, women and children in Norse dress lead the torchlit procession through the village to the boating club slipway at Port Arthur, where the galley is set alight and cast adrift on the sea before a fireworks display and a night of hall performances. The next edition is Friday 8 January 2027.

8 Jan 2027

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Reenactment & Battles Living History & Museums +1

JORVIK Viking Festival

York, England

The JORVIK Viking Festival takes over York for a week every February half-term with a Viking encampment and traders' market in the city centre, a march of hundreds of warriors, talks, crafts, a best-beard contest and a ticketed finale battle with pyrotechnics. Founded in 1985 by the team behind the JORVIK Viking Centre, it is the largest Viking festival in Europe and draws around 40,000 people.

8–14 Feb 2027

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Tewkesbury Medieval Festival in Tewkesbury

Antony Stanley · CC BY-SA 2.0

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Reenactment & Battles Medieval Markets & Fairs +1

Tewkesbury Medieval Festival

Tewkesbury, England

A free two-day festival on the original 1471 battlefield that re-enacts the Battle of Tewkesbury with around 2,000 re-enactors, plus living-history camps and a large traders' market. Held every second full weekend of July since 1984, it is one of the largest medieval battle re-enactments in Europe.

10–11 Jul 2027

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Other medieval cities in Scotland: Battle · Loxwood · Nutley · Scalloway