EXPERIENCE & CONTEXT

This piece was penned, well typed, shortly after watching the 2020 Up Helly Aa, Europe’s biggest fire festival held annually in Lerwick, Shetland, on the last Tuesday of January. It is a truly remarkable occasion with a long history. The celebration involves the whole community. The Internet and the sponsorship of Northlink Ferries (see: https://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/ ) has made it possible for others scattered around the world to be involved in the parade, as it happens, streamed live.

This year, events in Australia have changed the way this festival is seen. What is of interest is how context and experience changes things. The circumstance is not unrelated to matters architectural.

An Australian Up Helly Aa

The alarm buzzed with a rhythmic annoyance at 5:00am: Wednesday morning, 29 January 2020. The clouds in the east had turned a gorgeous pink as the sky lightened. The wafting air stirred by the ceiling fan made the warm, humid stillness feel fresher, a little cooler: it was an early rise for Up Helly Aa in Australia. The cuppa was put on.

Shuffling through the various sites, avoiding the one that wanted all one's personal details and credit card information in order to watch, the Northlink site was eventually found. Why is it always so difficult to discover the livestream? Last year it could not be found, but the effort was successful this time.

The town hall clock, glowing as a bright disc in the dark over Lerwick, with the exclamatory flagpole above, displayed the time as 7: 26pm: just in time - then it started. The first glimmer of light very quickly became a blazing screen of glowing fire on the tablet: the coverage was working well.

As the camera zoomed back from the fiery fancy dress, the bright orange-red aura of the blaze highlighted the silhouettes of the nearby buildings. A shiver of fear ran through the body. One was immediately reminded of the images of burning homes and bushland seen in the news over the last few months in Australia. These recollections changed perceptions of this annual celebration by putting fire into another context, suggesting a similar spectacle with a horrible outcome: raw terror; horror; choking smoke.

These thoughts and emotions lingered as the flames paraded through the darkness, weaving unbelievable, dotted processional lines through the town. Up Helly Aa remains as impressive as ever, but it had become burdened with the depressive reminiscence of the harsh reality of a dry, burning country. Sadly, one recalled the loss of lives, the scorched flora and fauna, and the homes and livelihoods gone, as Lerwick lauded the culprit.

New Year fireworks, Sydney Australia

Lerwick and its Town Hall

Given Australia's debate with celebratory New Year fireworks exploded just for entertainment while nearby regions are being burned by the flames of fierce blazes blasted by winds; and noting the science of climate change, and the impact of carbon dioxide on the environment, the thought arose: might Up Helly Aa soon change into an LED display, complete with drones buzzing patterns into the night sky? Maybe the galley could become a hologram? The enlivening smell of paraffin need not be missed, perhaps being added as a misted fog to capture the olfactory experience so loved by the commentator: "exhilarating!" The terrible problem of petrol sniffing in Australia came to mind.

LED displays

Hologram

The town hall clock happily chimed throughout the parade, marking time. The morning sky was much brighter, whiter now as the circles formed around the galley, and the flaming torches were thrown to burn as a pile into a huge, final flush of flames: the brilliant sun shone through the trees as a blazing ball. It was going to be another hot day here - 28C already. The tablet was put down for a few more minutes of dozy snoozing as the folk of Lerwick moved into the halls for a night of fun and food, and drink and dance, starting, as the programne noted, at 9:15pm. Up Helly Aa organisational skills always amaze with their impressive planning and rigour.

Fun in the halls

Fire as festival shows the happier side of a ferocious, feared foe. While Up Helly Aa is unforgettable, this Australian summer is too, but for starkly different reasons. The Internet gives rise to some startling contrasts and ironies as images flick through times across the countries of the world, putting the Up Helly Aa procession into drought, desert, burnt and burning bush, and flooding rains, and many other climes. Just yesterday, the array of towns that have no water was published as an alarming map; another diagram illustrated the fires that are still burning in the southeast: meanwhile reports tell of monsoon rains flooding the north - "record downpours overnight."

Drought

Fire

Flood

We'll be thinking of Lerwick as the day warms up to the predicted 35C. It is now 7:08am - time for coffee: 30C already. Thank goodness for the ceiling fan and the Internet. We are pleased we were able to avoid the site that wanted all our personal details: thanks Northlink. It is good to see a company giving back to a community, especially something so universally anticipated and loved; an event that stirs the desire for homecoming. Happy Up Helly Aa!

NOTE:

This piece was published in The Shetland Times Friday, 31 January 2020.