Up-Helly-Aa. The Shetlands are islands near Scotland. In the ninth century the Vikings from Norway came to the Shetlands. They came to Britain in ships and took away gold, animals and sometimes people.
Now, 1000 years later, people in the Shetlands remember the Vikings with the festival, which they call " Up-Helly -Aa".
Every winter people of Zerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands, make a model of a Viking longship with the head of a dragon at the front. Then, on Up-Helly-Aa night in January, the Shetlanders dress in Viking clothes and carry the ship through the town to the sea and burn it there. The festival is a party for the people of the Shetland Islands.
Carol Singing. Originally, carols were songs performed with dancing at Christmas and other festivals. They were often sung outside houses by fantastically-dressed actors called Mummers. Many of today's carols have been written since the 19th century as Christmas hymns celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ