the Jarl, meticulously recreating the costumes and weapons," historian Brian Smith explains. An archivist at the Shetland Museum, Smith traces the origins of the festival back to the years just ...

In the early Viking Age, society was divided into three classes. Jarls were rich landowners or traders. They had land, property, ships and people working for them. Jarls had to protect and provide ...

Participants don Viking-style ... In 1949, the festival became a highly organised event for the first time, after years of ad-hoc celebrations. It began today with the chief jarl leading his ...

The people of Shetland, a group of islands north of Scotland, are welcoming the arrival of spring in dramatic style by ...