I'm all for reclaiming our pagan heritage from those Roman imperialist attempts to falsify these islands' history with an onslaught of Christian propaganda - but this is just bollocks.These blokes look more like extras from a particularly camp Wagnerian operatic production than Viking warriors. Where are the beards, the long braided hair, the tattoo sleeves, the eyeliner and the clothes washed in cow's piss that our Nordic ancestors were famous for ? Surely everybody knows these days that Vikings never wore helmets with horns or wings - that's straight out of Flash Gordon.
The Northern Islands does have a genuinely strong Norse heritage - evident in language and dialect, place name and archaeology - but the 'Up Hely-A' festival has no place in it. Apparently it dates all the way back to the 1870's when the locals were looking to celebrate civic pride and have an excuse for a bit of a piss-up. Although they didn't look any less unconvincing then:
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