Up Helly Aa can be described as a celebration of the old, mixed with the new. It is a yearly, or “calendrical” event, which involves role reversal and sacra (“sacred things” in Latin) that are displayed as actions (Turner: 1967). Role reversal in this event is shown by the “Guizer Jarl”, or head disguised man since he is treated like a king for the day. He leads the top squad of men along with the galley to where it is burned, and he is expected to participate in the night's festivities. The men chosen to be the “Guizer Jarl, however, are not just anyone. They are the men of the elected committee of 16 specifically in charge of the celebration of Up Helly Aa. Each man on the committee has only one year when he gets to be the “Guizer Jarl”, and it is a great honor (Scotsman.com). The “Guizer Jarl” in Up Helly Aa shows social stratification in the Shetlanders' society. This man is an honored and upstanding member of the community and often waits patiently for many years for his turn as “Guizer Jarl”, but he is also part of the Up Helly Aa committee. This committee, although democratically elected, consists of only men, and they are in control of the event. The “Guizer Jarl” is especially powerful on the night of the event, as he is treated like a king.

          The performance of the parade of the galley and its burning can be considered sacra, or a sacred act. According to Turner (1967), sacred acts are “designed to bring about a restoration of the [past]”. In the celebration of Up Helly Aa, this can be explained by the Shetlander's closeness to their history. The past for this island of Scotland has held many tribulations, from the arrival of Christianity to the exchange of the Shetland Island from Denmark to Scottish rule. Due to these difficulties, the celebration of Up Helly Aa can also be considered a kind of revitalization movement, similar to the “Ghost Dance” of the Sioux (Turner: 1967). When Christianity came to Shetland, their old holiday of “Yule” was changed into Christmas. The religious holy period following Christmas continued for about a month afterwards, during which the Shetlanders were forbidden to feast, drink or hold bonfires. Up Helly Aa began to indicate the end of the holy period and to celebrate the coming of spring. According to Wallace (1856:265), “a revitalization movement is defined as a deliberate, organized, conscious effort by members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture.” This concept goes along with how revitalization within a culture is generally a response to pressures from outside forces, such as the arrival of Christianity in Shetland. If the Shetlanders had not altered their celebration to accommodate those of Christianity, the forces that brought Christianity would have forced their religion upon the native Shetlanders anyway. Also, holidays that are the result of cultural revitalization endure the test of time tend by being institutionalized, or recognized by the government and are part of a yearly calendar (Turner: 1967). Up Helly Aa fits this description since it is both approved of by the government of Shetland, and it has been celebrated on the last Tuesday in January since the end of the 19 th century.

           Up Helly Aa is a very important celebration for the culture of the Shetland Island since it involves “communitas”(Turner: 1967). This is the bond that ties a group of people together and looks beyond social class or status and challenges human identities. Jankowiak's (1999:336) study of Mardi Gras led to a definition of communitas that describes that of Up Helly Aa as well, “communitas is characterized by the loss of status distinctions, boundaries, and a sense of merging that manifests itself in a profound sense of emotional fusion.” The squads of guizers who march together in the parade certainly hold a bond between them, and since everyone is in disguise, it is difficult to tell who holds more social standing than others, excluding the “Guizer Jarl”. All of the guizers participate in the parade to the burning site where the galley is set ablaze and then they also attend the festivities afterwards, this categorizes the guizers together as a whole, but each man in his costume still holds his individuality that is separate from the others, but still part of the whole. In Tramacchi's (2000:210) study of the “doof” or rave rituals in Australia , he made an important observation on communitas, “collective rituals … can stimulate profound subjective individual experiences, but they are simultaneously a socially dynamic collective force”. This relates to the Shetlanders since Up Helly Aa has the ability to create feelings of individuality and collectivity at the same time. Each person has their own role in the event, but they all come together as a whole to create the essence of what the celebration is.

           The Shetlanders' costumes are representative of Viking warriors just as the galley represents the traditional Viking seafaring vessel. During both the day and night of Up Helly Aa, there is a great deal of feasting, and when people eat together, they share a bond. Shetlanders share many bonds through this celebration, from eating communally to participating in the parade together, and the bond that the community holds is important to life and cultural identity on the Shetland Island . In Wang's (2003:18) observations of Chinese immigrants to Japan , he deducted that, “festivals and performances … serve as an effective medium for maintaining and transmitting ethnicity.” The oneness with the culture and the community of Shetlanders is transmitted through their celebration of Up Helly Aa. Gibson (1991: 1) says that “the essence of ritual is the transgression of commonly held norms and institutions”, meaning that a reason people have celebrations (rituals) is to bring together a community through their shared actions and ideas. He also suggests that rituals tend to push the norms to their extremes, as in Up Helly Aa, with the burning of a ship and a night of intense revelry. Up Helly Aa is able to pull the Shetlander's community together and help them realize their ancestry, which involves ties to Viking history.