Inside the remote Scottish island where Christmas won’t be for another TWO WEEKS – as its habitants who were the world’s last Norse speakers insists the rest of the world has changed, not them

A British island whose inhabitants were among the last in the world to speak Nordic will not celebrate Christmas for another two weeks.

Foula in Shetland is one of Britain's most remote permanently inhabited islands.

The small community of about 30 people has a strong Norwegian tradition of folklore, music and special festivities.

The inhabitants still adhere to the old Julian calendar, which means that Yule, i.e. Christmas, will fall on January 7 and New Year, what we call New Year, will be a week later.

Islanders traditionally gather in one house to celebrate Christmas, where they will exchange gifts and greetings.

Amazingly, the people of Foula were the last to speak Norn, a form of Old Norse that became extinct around 1800. But they insist that it is 'everyone' who has changed.

One islander said: 'It's not just part of our tradition, but part of the world. Everyone has changed, not us.

'We are not unique. Other parts of the world, such as parts of Russia, still celebrate the old calendar.”

Foula is located 25 kilometers west of mainland Shetland and 160 kilometers north of mainland Scotland, on the same latitude as southern Greenland.

The island is three and a half miles long and two and a half miles wide and at one point was home to 287 people.

Foula received running water in 1982 and full electricity in 1984, supplied by a diesel generator.

It currently has a renewable energy system, mainly photovoltaic, supported by diesel.

The island is so remote and susceptible to weather that attempts by a previous visiting Church of Scotland minister, the Reverend Tom Macintyre, to reach it for a Christmas service had to be abandoned after three attempts.

At Foula, Mr Macintyre performed one wedding, when he married Amy and Wullie Ratter in their farm garden, one funeral, which required mourners to walk a mile from the church to the cemetery and, sadly, no baptisms in the five years he was in charge had. .

Foula, which means 'bird island' in Old Norse, was the location for the film The Edge of the World.

The RMS Oceanic was wrecked on the nearby Shaalds of Foula.

The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used civil calendar internationally.

It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582.

The rest of Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, but Foula stuck with the old Julian calendar.

The change was made because the Gregorian had a correction of 0.002 percent on the length of the year.

The change left Foula's calendar thirteen days behind the rest of Britain, although this moved to twelve when the island did not have a leap year in 1900.

The Julian calendar is still used by the Berbers of the Maghreb in the form of the Berber calendar.

Ironically, Ukrainian Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas for the first time this year on December 25.

Ukraine traditionally uses the Julian calendar, which is also used by Russia, where Christmas falls on January 7.

In a further shift from Russia, it now celebrates Christmas according to the Western – or Gregorian – calendar, which it uses in everyday life.

To reach Foula you either need to take the ferry from Walls on Shetland's western mainland, which takes around two hours, or a flight from Tingwall, which is much quicker at 15 minutes.

Renowned for its dramatic landscapes and birdlife, the island is home to Britain's second highest sea cliff, reaching over 350 metres.