Community / Tartan takes top billing in Bressay suit for jarl Young
GEORGE Young is feeling every emotion it is possible to experience, ranging from pride, nervousness, stress and excitement.
That is because he is about the lead the line at Bressay Up Helly Aa this morning (Friday) as guizer jarl, having waited the best part of a decade for his chance.
Initially set to be jarl in 2024, the Covid pandemic gave Young an extra two years to perfect his ideas – leading to a suit he says that “nobody’s ever done before”.
He is immensely proud of the outfits – which prominently display tartan colours – ahead of a packed day of activities that will take them across the sound to Lerwick and back.
Days before Bressay becomes the centre of the fire festival torchlight, Young said he was going through “all the feelings you can have”.
“It’s pretty exciting, but it’s also been pretty stressful,” he told Shetland News.
“There’s been a lot of late nights in the galley shed. It’s just pretty nuts at this point thinking that you’re going to be jarl”.
Young should have been jarl in 2024 but for the two-year delay due to Covid, and he says he is glad that he did have that extra period to work on his suit design.
“It’s definitely better that we had that two extra years,” he said.
“I was able to do so much more research about what we wanted to do.
“We were able to find better designs, and able to find something unique for my jarl’s suit.”
He believes he has devised “something that nobody’s ever done before” for his Bressay suit this year.
The Bressay squad will proudly feature tartan as part of their suit, a key inclusion for Scotland football fanatic Young.
In fact the squad will be wearing the same tartan that Young wore to his first away Scotland game, with the Bressay jarl following the team to far-flung locations like Peru.
They will display black leather breastplates, with Young and squad member Ross Gordon cutting the leather out themselves with a newly purchased laser cutter in the galley shed.
The shields will “stand out”, Young said, with a compass design and yellow colouring that has been picked to match up the burning galley.
Skins on the 32-strong squad’s backs have been deliberately not to match each other, with “different colours and different shades” to give members individuality.
They will also display axes, while the squad will mirror a recent trend by having 3D printed helmets – black, with an aluminium strip.
Young has chosen to feature a bear theme throughout the suit, and a bear head will be prominently displayed on the helmet and breastplate too.
“I’m very proud of it,” he said.
“It came out very close that what I had in my head. I’m over the moon about it.”
For the day he is becoming Magnus Olafsson – a former King of Norway in the late 10th century, who raided Scotland and picked up some of their fashion, culture and language.
Magnus Olafsson landed in Shetland before being killed in battle and never made it home with his vast fortune, which is said to be hidden somewhere in the isles.
Young said his jarl moniker fitted neatly with the choice to wear tartan on Up Helly Aa day.
He was relaxing in the lead-up to the festival this week, having finished everything up so that the squad were about to “relax and enjoy” the build-up.
The jarl will be joined by 27 adults and five bairns on his big day, with the squad entirely made up of friends – and with family coming from the mainland to watch it all unfold.
His galley name Bjarnarfættr effectively means “Bear foot”, linking back in to the animal at the suit’s core.
And the squad are set to make plenty of noise with a mash-up of the Good Charlotte songs The Anthem and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous guaranteed to get halls and schools rocking.
Bressay Up Helly Aa starts at 7.30am with the jarl squad breakfast at Speldiburn Café, before the squad comes to Lerwick to visit Bressay bairns at Bells Brae (10am) and Sound schools (11am).
They then return to Bressay at noon before visiting Maryfield at 12.45pm, Bressay shop at 3.45pm and then the hall at 4.30pm for tea.
The procession begins at 8pm, before the evening’s entertainment at the hall from 9pm.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
