Did you know?
-For nearly 400 years Christmas was not celebrated (until 1958) in Scotland due to the Protestant Reformation. For Scots the big celebration would be at the Winter Solstice holiday which became Hogmanay.
– It is not known exactly where the word comes from, although it is believed to come from the French word ‘hoginane’ meaning ‘gala day’.
– First footing is a Scots traditional part of Hogmanay celebrations. First footing is when you visit friends or family immediately after midnight in order to become the first person to visit them and go into their house in the new year. Your very first foot – the first person to visit you in the new year – should traditionally be a tall, dark-haired man. That is said to date back to the Viking invasions, as Vikings were typically fairer haired, so the arrival of a blonde man could have meant imminent danger!
-In Shetland, where the Viking influence remains strongest, New Year is still called Yules, deriving from the Scandinavian word for the midwinter festival of Yule.
– The Highland custom of saining (or blessing) the house and livestock goes far back in time, but is still practised today in some households. The ritual involves the drinking of water believed to be magic – this is sourced from a river ford that’s said to be crossed by both the living and the dead.
-Redding the house, rather than a Spring clean, the Scots have a New Year’s clean to welcome in the New Year. Starting the New Year with a dirty house is bad luck.
-Another Hogmanay Scottish custom was paying off all outstanding debts before the stroke of midnight and starting the new year without debt.
– The residents of Burghead in Moray don’t celebrate their New Year on 31 December. Instead, they ignore the Gregorian calendar introduced in the 1750s and continue to celebrate ‘old Hogmanay’ on 11 January instead.