Just learned this from yourdictionary.com - it’s a holiday, or tradition anyway, in Scotland where little kids go door to door asking for presents. For adults it’s a wild New Year’s Eve party. It also says you’re supposed to welcome a tall, dark stranger at the stroke of midnight for luck, to oppose the blond-haired Vikings who brought only bad luck.
So, ScotDopers - does all this really go on, still? Or just the New Year’s Eve party stuff? What kind of presents do the kiddies get? I’ve never heard of this tradition before.
My enduring memory of growing up with a Scottish mother is being forced out into the street at 11.58pm to shiver with a box of matches (coal substitute) until invited back in. Never really saw the attraction myself.
“First Footing” is still done among Scots here in Canada (or many of them, anyway).
It’s important that he (and it is always a “he”) not be a minister or a doctor (as these visiting a house are associated with death or disease!). The First Footer is believed to bring with him (along with the coal, silver and blackbun) all the luck–good or ill–that will reside in the house for the New Year. Both the front and back doors of the house are opened at midnight to let the new year in, and the old year out repectively.
Like many other cultures, Scots believe that the New Year is a new beginning, and the house is cleaned top to bottom (and all the brass shone) and all the fireplaces must be cleared of old ashes in preparation for Hogmanay. All debts (or as many as you can afford) should be paid off, and old disagreements mended.
Until quite recently (circa 1950s), Hogmanay was a much bigger festival in Scotland than Christmas (which wasn’t even a holiday when my mother left Scotland in 1954).
I’ve never heard of kids going door to door for presents at Hogmannay; I think your sources are getting mixed up with Hallowe’en. First footing is still done though.
NB Hogmannay (the 31st of December) is an ordinary working day; it’s the 1st and 2nd of Jan that are holidays.
It’s still traditional to go out on Hogmanay and visit friends - and indeed only after midnight. Through the 80s and 90s the implicit rule used to be that you watched Scotch & Wry at home, then the bells and only then ventured out. The whole “tall dark stranger” and “lump of coal” stuff survives, but just as a joke. Kids really don’t feature at all.
I think Hogmanay would be a fun celebration to attend despite the cold temps. Edinburgh is a wonderful city. The recent fire there is sad because historical buildings/items were destroyed.
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I was in Edinburgh for New Years a couple of years ago, as a tourist.
There is a huge street party with bands. It is called Royal Bank Street Party. (I know because my favourite beanie says so! :p) Big screens showing overseas celebrations. Great Atmosphere.
It was funny, my brother and I were walking along, and we heard a voice yell “Queenslander!” (Queensland is my state, of which I am proud. ) So we spun around and there was a fella with one of those caps with the beer can on top with the straw to the mouth. And it was XXXX (which is a great Queensland beer).
It was very cool, so far away from home, to see that.
Earlier on in the night we did a ghost tour, Edinburgh is very old and famous for its ghosts, which was great fun. We then went to a traditional pub and had a few drinks.
We went outside and it started snowing! (We had been driving around England for a week and everywhere we’d been got snow and everwhere we were going’s snow had melted.) So we were very excited. It was beautiful, exciting, perfect.
After a while the snow turned to sleet, then drizzle, so we bought hot chips with curry sauce and stood in a bus shelter to wait for the rain to stop, which it did after not too long. That was our dinner.
sigh My weirdest, best New Years Eve. (I fell asleep for 1999-2000. Oops!)
Heh. If you’d been around the Tron on 31st December 1983, you’d have seen me there, reeling around in the company of several thousand other happy drunks, with a goofy grin on my face, and a rapidly emptying whisky bottle in my hand. I had a great time.
Well, so everybody told me, when I woke up on January 3rd.
I’ve done the Edinburgh New Year three times, although strangely only once in the four years I actually lived there. Had crap times two out of three of them (mostly due to lairy council estate lads thinking they were Rocky). Don’t plan to repeat it soon.
I’ve never done the Edinburgh New Year, but to be honest, if it’s anything like Trafalgar Square I’d rather not. Lots of drunk and slightly beligerent people! All in one place! No thanks!
Saying that, I was on the banks of the Thames for the millennium eve. Saw the “river of fire”. scoff But when we were walking down there, it felt like the whole of London was walking in the same direction, all proud that we were there. That was pretty cool.
There’s no “presents for the children” part of hogmanay that I’ve ever heard of. I think this has been confused with Hallowe’en. The American ‘trick or treat’ has it’s origin in Scottish traditions of children visiting friends and neighbours. But there’s nothing like that on Hogmanay.
Hogmanay has always been a big deal in Scotland, it’s only recently that it’s been passed by Christmas. That’s why you’ll find by far the largest (by population proportion) events in Scotland in the New Year. It’s also why everyone sings Auld Lang Syne. If only people would learn to do it properly!
Mmmmm…I would have absolutely no problem with inviting a tall, dark, handsome guy into my house on New Year’s Eve- now I just have to figure out how to convince everyone in the United States that Hogmanay is a vital part of New Year celebrations.
) So we spun around and there was a fella with one of those caps with the beer can on top with the straw to the mouth. And it was XXXX (which is a great Queensland beer).