LONDON -- Stormtroopers mingled with Vikings at the Up Helly Aa fire festival in Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, on Wednesday. Thousands of men paraded through the streets in full costume for the annual event before surrounding a massive replica longship and setting it on fire.
The gathering, which is based on Viking tradition but actually only dates back to the 1880s, saw the festival leader - the Guizer Jarl - bring his squad of armed men through the town before reaching the ship after nightfall. Hundreds of spectators gathered to join in the madness.
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