Community / Sigurd ‘snake in the eye’ leads Up Helly Aa celebrations in Northmavine
SNAKES, sea serpents and dragons are in full force today as Viking warrior Sigurd ‘snake in the eye’ brings the return of Up Helly Aa to Northmavine after a two year postponement.
The ninth century Danish King Sigurd is brought to life by Guizer Jarl Robin Sinclair who is relieved to be finally leading his squad of 32 Vikings in the community fire festival.
Speaking to Shetland News earlier in the week, Robin expressed how “it has been a mixture of stress and excitement trying to get everything finished but the boys have worked hard, everyone’s looking forward to it actually happening!”
With old Norse myths considering the serpent a powerful symbol of regeneration it is perhaps a fitting symbol for Robin to choose to bring the community back into celebration after two weary years of lockdowns, restrictions and Covid.
Robin explained how he liked the saga of Sigurd and his serpent ancestry. His mother, Aslaug had prophesised that her son would be born with the image of Fafnir (a serpent dragon from Norse myth) and true to prophecy Sigurd was born with a defamation in one of his pupils that looked like a snake biting his own tail.
The saga inspired Robin to make serpent eyes for his dragon galley which he has named Sjoorm from Norse meaning sea serpent. Made from glass domes and painted with many layers of nail varnish the dragon eyes and hand carved serpent head on Sjoorm will add an interesting twist to the traditional dragon galleys of old.
Serpent heads feature on the squad axe heads and cloaks, with all the axe handles made from hard wood such as mahogany, maple, oak and cherry, that squad members had laying around in sheds at home with the axe heads cast by the squad using scrap aluminium.
Robin, who works in flooring as a living, explained: “We have made everything in-house, all the leather work, the cutting, the dyeing, the riveting we have done ourselves.
“Up Helly Aa to me is about squad members getting together on a winters night to mak’ stuff and show off their skills, their crafts and their abilities. We’re saying, this is what we can do as craftsmen and tradesmen. There’s a lot of handcrafted, upcycling and recycling involved.”
All 32 squad kirtles are made this year by Lorna Erikson from Northmavine. Black, hop sack material with a purple tone embossed with green stitching depicting the northern lights.
“It’s an authentic, rugged Viking look. We look like we’ve come from battle rather than going into it.”
Even the youngest squad member who is only one and a half has his own outfit in miniature complete with armour and shield. Although Robin felt “it might be a bit dangerous giving him an axe as he’s a peerie livewire and he might fell someone”.
To honour the three ex jarls in his squad, Robin has engraved on their axe heads, the original emblem from their shield for the year they were jarl and their initials carved in runes.
Robin’s father, Peter is in the squad and was jarl in 1975, famously the first year Northmavine resumed Up Helly Aa since its demise after the Second World War. Also in the squad is his uncle Alastair, who was jarl in 1985, and Brydon Anderson, jarl in 2010.
Following breakfast at the galley shed, the jarl squad will visit the primary schools in Urafirth, Ollaberry and North Roe with lunch at the North Roe Hall and photographs with galley at the Booth waterfront at 3pm before the torchlit procession begins at 7.30pm.
Festivities will continue through the night at the local halls in Hillswick, North Roe and Sullom.
Alex Purbrick
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