Cullivoe Up Helly Aa 2025: March up the Ranks
Guizer Jarl Alice Jamieson leading her squad up the ranks at the start of the Cullivoe Up Helly Aa 2025 evening procession.
Alice chose to portray Aslaug Kráka, a legendary queen from Norse mythology. According to the sagas, Aslaug was a daughter of the Valkyrie Brynhildr, and mother of the famous Vikings Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Ivar the Boneless.
Shetland.org features a blog post about the 2025 Cullivoe Up Helly Aa by Genevieve White. In it Alice, a former Royal Navy nurse, explains: “The Valkyries would collect the dead from the battlegrounds Vikings fought and I saw a connection between being a Valkyrie and a military nurse. And Aslaug was fearsome when it came to her sons and I am when it comes to mine.”
The squad’s green suits and the Jarl’s iridescent shield were inspired by the Northern Lights. It was a Viking belief that aurora was reflections from Valkyries’ armour as they led fallen warriors to Valhalla.
The 2025 Cullivoe festival is the first in its 68-year history to be led by a female Guizer Jarl.
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