Women join Scottish Viking festival for first time

STORY: Women and girls are carrying torches

in this Viking fire festival for the first time

Location: Lerwick, Scotland

Organizers lifted restrictions for

Shetland's 142-year-old Up Helly Aa festival

following a campaign that dates back to the 1980s

(Andrea Manson, Shetland Islands councilor)

“There's an extra buzz of excitement in the air this year because the lasses are getting to join in and at long last Lerwick has caught up with the countries Up Helly Aa who have had the women and girls participating for many, many years and we're all delighted to see that.”

Up Helly Aa is believed to be

the biggest fire festival in Europe