Up Helly Aa festival in Lerwick on the Shetland Isles

Participants dressed as Vikings throw their burning torches into the symbolic longship as they take part in the Up Helly Aa festival in Lerwick on the Shetland Isles, Scotland, on Tuesday Jan. 29, 2008, with the "Jarl Squad" dressed in Viking costume in a procession with The Galley, a 30-foot wooden longship. The Galley is burnt as the climax of the Up Helly Aa festival, which originated as a Norse pagan festival but has been adopted by Christians as a traditional celebration in Shetland Isles.

Participants dressed as Vikings surround a symbolic longship, as they take part in the Up Helly Aa festival in Lerwick on the Shetland Isles, Scotland, on Tuesday Jan. 29, 2008, with the "Jarl Squad" dressed in Viking costume in a procession with The Galley, a 30-foot wooden longship. The Galley is burnt as the climax of the Up Helly Aa festival, which originated as a Norse pagan festival but has been adopted by Christians as a traditional celebration in Shetland Isles.

Participants dressed as Vikings take part in the Up Helly Aa festival in Lerwick on the Shetland Isles, Scotland, on Tuesday Jan. 29, 2008, with the "Jarl Squad" dressed in Viking costume in a procession with The Galley, a 30-foot wooden longship. The Galley is burnt as the climax of the Up Helly Aa festival, which originated as a Norse pagan festival but has been adopted by Christians as a traditional celebration in Shetland Isles.