THE JORVIK Viking Festival in York has been postponed until later in the year, due to concerns over large gatherings and availability of staff.

The festival normally takes place during York’s February half term week - and tickets for two highlight events sold out after they went on sale in November.

However, That JORVIK Viking Thing, the online event which replaced last year's festival, will take place again this year from February 19 - 27 as planned.

Festival manager, Gareth Henry, said: "We have been working on plans for the festival since last summer, so we are determined that it will still take place in 2022. But with parts of the UK still under restrictions on public gatherings, we consider it would be unwise to host events that draw crowds of thousands at this time.

"As we experienced in 2020 when we had to cancel our evening event due to high winds, weather can also impact on the event.

"Moving to the May half term week should give us a far higher probability of hosting the festival that tens of thousands of people know and love, complete with march, fiery battle spectacular, living history, Symposium and so much more – including a host of free events thanks to support from City of York Council.”

However, the February half term will not be entirely without a Viking presence, as a host of livestreamed events and on-demand videos are planned for the week. 

"We had always planned to continue hosting That JORVIK Viking Thing alongside the festival, so we’re just finalising a revised programme now – we will be announcing more details in the next few weeks", added Mr Henry.

"We also have a couple of exciting plans within JORVIK Viking Centre for anyone still keen on a face-to-face Viking encounter that we will be revealing shortly", he said.

Those who have already purchased tickets to the Viking Feast and Battle Spectacular will have priority to transfer their tickets over to the rescheduled events in May.

For more information on That JORVIK Viking Thing, visit: jorvikthing.com