New Year Celebrations Hogmanay
A Cultural look at New Year Celebrations in Scotland, including a brief history.
Celebrating New Year or Hogmanay
As December looms in 2010, the countdown to Christmas has begun, it is one of the most celebrated events around the world and yet for one culture an equally and some may argue more important celebration is just around the corner, the coming of New Years day beginning on the 31st of December.
The culture I am referring to is of course the good people of Scotland who have their own name for New Year – ‘Hogmanay’, a word many may have heard of but few understand the origins of, steeped in mystery it may go back as far as the 1600s coming from the French ‘Homme est né’ translating to ‘man is born’ This is the most widely accepted origin but no one will ever know for sure.
So why do the Scottish people place so much importance on celebrating the coming of the New Year?
It may surprise you to know that religion played a major role, indeed during the reformation 1560, the Church or ‘Kirk’ led by John Knox actually banned Christmas celebrations, on the justification there are no references to celebrating the birth of Jesus in the bible. The ban was vigorously enforced with those who chose to defy it facing punishment. The ban came into force in 1583 and lasted right through until 1958 when it was eventually declared a public holiday, (before 1958 Christmas was officially a normal working day for Scottish people).
The Scottish people therefore celebrated the coming of the New Year instead on the 31st of December where they would eat, drink and exchange gifts with family and friends. There are many different traditions and customs associated with “Hogmanay” some strange and some still observed today, for example:
· First Footing – A custom where preferably a male sets foot in the house, the first foot of a visitor of the New Year. It is said to bring good luck to the household. The First Foot traditionally brings a gift, for example whisky or shortbread.
· New Year Ceremony – Now a spectacular event, with thousands of people flocking all over Scotland’s cities, where some of the most magnificent fireworks displays can be observed and yet this too is rooted to the past. Ancient Scots would light bonfires, throw lighted torches and roll fire fuelled barrels of tar.
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