The island with 360 residents has been without fire cover since November because the men’s beards prevent them from wearing breathing apparatus in an emergency. In the event of a fire, a crew from Lerwick would be ferried across the harbour, while officers from the island have been handing out fire prevention advice as a precautionary measure to the island’s 360 residents.

Local senior officer for the Shetland, Orkney and Western Isles, Billy Wilson, said: “Our retained staff do an excellent job and we recognise that the history and culture of a community will influence when members of a station may require time away from the service.”

“It is crucial as a service that we balance that with the wider issue of public safety and for that reason we have developed contingency plans.”

Up Helly Aa is an annual event held on a variety of differnt Shetland Islands to mark the end of the Yule season. It features a band of latter-day Viking warriors known as the Jarl Squad, and draws visitors from around the world. The Vikings traditionally spend much of the day making public appearances followed by celebrations which proceed well into the night. The day after is always a holiday on Shetland, allowing time for the vikings to recover.

Here’s the best of this years reactions on Twitter so far, and a live stream is also available from 2pm local time here

and so it begins….#UpHellyAa pic.twitter.com/h04UM0lOBG

— Bombskare (@B0MBSKARE) January 28, 2014

Hearing lots of hairy men shouting outside #uphellyaa

— Chris Cope (@chrismcope) January 28, 2014

Its no every day you sit in hairdresser an 100+ marauding vikings and a brass band march past! Must be #uphellyaa

— Rachel Laurenson (@Rua2000) January 28, 2014

Vikings having breakfast. This must be Shetland! #uphellyaa pic.twitter.com/V5pnbFcAbA

— Andy Buchanan (@acbphoto) January 28, 2014

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Originally influenced by the Old Norse spoken by Norwegian settlers in the 8th Century, Norn gradually developed in the Northern Isles into its own distinctive language. The sheer scale of Norse settlement obliterated the Pictish language previously spoken in the Northern Isles, with Norn becoming the dominant language over the coming centuries. Interestingly Gaelic was never spoken in the islands, unless the language of Orkney’s Pictish inhabitants – the predecessors of the Norsemen – was variant, or precursor, to Gaelic.

Scots gradually began to replace Norn after control of Shetland and Orkney passed from Denmark to Scotland in the 15th century. From 1400 many people also moved to the islands from the Scottish mainland and as Scots became the official language, Norn became marginalised as the language of poor crofters and fishermen and thus was never written down. Although official documents do exist from this period, they were generally written in Norwegian.

When the Reformation reached Scotland in 1560, new Scots-medium schools were set up in the islands, along with Scots-speaking clergy. From 1740 an English version of the Bible was being taught in schools, and negative attitudes to Norn were becoming common. By the 19th century the shift from Norn to Scots was more or less complete, except on the more isolated islands such as Foula, Unst, Yell and Fetlar, where some people knew fragments of the language, such as songs and poems until the 1890s. The last native speaker of Norn is cited as Walter Sutherland from Skaw in Unst, who died in 1850.

Before the discovery of the dictionary, very few texts and no recordings of Norn were known to exist, making details of Norn pronounciation uncertain. Attempts have been made to reconstruct and revive Norn, including the Nynorn Project which aims to re-create Norn as a usable language.

The Lord’s Prayer*  in Orkney Norn:

Favor i ir i chimrie,
Helleur ir i nam thite,
gilla cosdum thite cumma,
veya thine mota vara gort
o yurn sinna gort i chimrie,
ga vus da on da dalight brow vora
Firgive vus sinna vora
sin vee Firgive sindara mutha vus, lyv vus ye i tumtation,
min delivera vus fro olt ilt,
Amen.

_______

*Recorded in the late 1690′s by James Wallace and first published in his An Account of the Islands of Orkney.

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The Uncertainty of Identity project maps Great Britain’s most popular surnames by area.

A map of Great Britain’s most popular surnames shows the dominance that clan areas still hold in Scotland, while other areas show the effects of modern-day immigration. Created by experts from three English Universities, Uncertainty of Identity uses surnames listed on the electoral roll to find the three most popular names in each electoral ward.

Mackay and Sutherland are the most popular names in the North Highlands, echoing the ancient territories and stronghold of the clans. Mackenzie, Fraser and Ross are the most popular in the area North of Inverness, while MacLeod and MacDonald dominate the Western Isles – data that directly corresponds with clan territory maps.

In the Northern Isles Halcrow, Drever and Flett survive as the third most common surnames, while Shetland still boasts a diverse mix of Spences, Rendalls and Sinclairs. Carole Hough, professor of onomastics – the study of name origins – at Glasgow University, said the surnames of Orkney and Shetland differ from much of mainland Scotland due to naming traditions.

“Shetland and Orkney are unique in that they have a much higher proportion of surnames from local place names, which makes them quite distinctive. Place names tend to cluster around their 
origin, which is surprising 
given how mobile people are,” she added

The English derived surname Smith is the most dominant across the whole of Great Britain with a considerable stronghold in the lowlands and east of Scotland. Modern-day immigration shows in areas such a Glasgow’s Pollokshield’s East, with Ahmed, Ali and Singh popular surnames. Jones, Davies and Williams dominate in Wales.

Looking to the future, a resurgence in the popularity of traditional Scottish forenames in recent years is likely to combat Anglicisation, said Hough.

“Far more Gaelic and Celtic-derived personal names are being chosen by parents in Scotland, which can be a way of affirming national identity,” she says. “Gaelic-derived forenames that are in the top 100 names in Scotland at the moment include Aiden, Callum and Finlay. Cameron is originally a clan name, and Lewis, Evan and Isla are all place names.”

You can view a map of Scotland’s most popular surnames at Tartan Footprint.

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One of the world’s leading travel guides has named the Shetland Islands as one of the top 10 regions on earth to visit.

The Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011 places the islands at number six in the world.

You can see some of my photos from when I visited the Shetland Islands in 2014 – Shetland & Fair Isle Gallery

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