page_title: Northern Isles
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Northern Isles / Modern times / Culture
caption_attribution_description: SMUHA _MG_0724
context_page_description: The Northern Isles are a pair of archipelagos off the north coast of mainland Scotland, comprising Orkney and Shetland. The climate is cool and temperate and much influenced by the surrounding seas. There are a total of 26 inhabited islands with landscapes of the fertile agricultural islands of Orkney contrasting with the more rugged Shetland islands to the north, where the economy is more dependent on fishing and the oil wealth of the surrounding seas. Both have a developing renewable energy industry. They also share a common Pictish and Norse history. Both island groups were absorbed into the Kingdom of Scotland in the 15th century and remained part of the country following the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, and later the United Kingdom after 1801. The islands played a significant naval role during the world wars of the 20th century.
  Tourism is important to both archipelagos, with their distinctive prehistoric ruins playing a key part in their attraction, and there are regular ferry and air connections with mainland Scotland.
context_section_description: The Northern Isles have a rich folklore. For example, there are many Orcadian tales concerning trows, a form of troll that draws on the islands' Scandinavian connections. Local customs in the past included marriage ceremonies at the Odin Stone that forms part of the Stones of Stenness.
  The best known literary figures from modern Orkney are the poet Edwin Muir, the poet and novelist George Mackay Brown and the novelist Eric Linklater.
  Shetland has a strong tradition of local music. The Forty Fiddlers was formed in the 1950s to promote the traditional fiddle style, which is a vibrant part of local culture today.  Notable exponents of Shetland folk music include Aly Bain and the late Tom Anderson and Peerie Willie Johnson.  Thomas Fraser was a country musician who never released a commercial recording during his life, but whose work has become popular more than 20 years after his untimely death in 1978.
caption: Jarl squad for the South Mainland Up Helly Aa, one of several of Shetland's Viking fire festivals.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 700D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2016:03:11 16:16:07", "Image Artist": "", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[299/1000, 587/1000, 57/500]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "2412", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "13324", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "13438", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8778", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "14", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:03:11 13:14:35", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:03:11 13:14:35", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "61/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "61/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "29", "EXIF SubSecTime": "17", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "17", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "17", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5184", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3208", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R03", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "13178", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "864000/149", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1152000/199", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "3A72AD9D0B9547F6BBF06399568AF54D", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "153032034145", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 55, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "00000cd2ab", "EXIF Gamma": "11/5", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4012"}