This photo shows the procession for the Up Helly Aa Fire Festival in Shetland which is usually held every year on the last Tuesday in January. The festival celebrates Shetland's Norse heritage. Warriors parade through the streets of Shetland carrying torches before a replica Viking Longship is set alight.
This year there was something different about the parade of warriors. Can you guess what was allowed for the first time in the torch parade?
The Up Helly Aa Festival has been going for 142 years and a rule was changed this year. In 2023 for the first time a gender restriction was lifted.
Previously, females were allowed to join in the celebrations as hostesses in the many community halls across Shetland where parties took place after the festival. This year, females were allowed to join the torch parade.
In smaller versions of the festival on other islands, women have been allowed to join processions for some years. But this is the biggest and longest-running festival. There is a junior version for primary schools where no gender restrictions exist. But this means many girls have been joining Up Helly Aa processions till aged 12, and then from 13 years on as they leave primary school, they can only watch as the boys continue to march. That rule changed this year.
The group Up Helly Aa For All have been campaigning for this change for 40 years. Johan Adamson from the group says, "There's been a lot of people through the last 40 years campaigning for this and it's fantastic. It's so important. There was so much wrong with what's been happening like the girls being excluded, and that was just such a big wrong."
"You can sit in primary school and get involved and see the squads, make your shields, make your helmet and then be told at 11 or 12 you can't be in it. All that controversy about no girls taking part has stopped, so everyone can react in a positive way to the festival and long may it continue."
- Who were the Vikings?
- Where is Shetland?
- What is meant by Norse heritage?
- Why do you think only men have been allowed to join this annual torch procession for 142 years?
- Were there female Vikings? (Yes. The Birka grave in Sweden is of a female Viking warrior https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/viking-warrior-women-birka-grave)
- what is a gender stereotype and what is the stereotype about Vikings? Where does it come from?
- One could argue this is about tradition. Traditionally, men have marched in the Up Helly Aa processions. Should some traditions be kept? Is it about respecting history?
- Which British law has the Up Helly Aa festival been breaking since 2010? (The Equality Act)
- The Up Helly Aa For All group have been campaigning since the 1980s. That's 40 years! Why do you think this change has taken so long to happen?
- What can we learn from the Up Helly Aa Festival in 2023?
- Why is this about No Outsiders?
- Which British Value is this about?
www.no-outsiders.com
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