Flora Patterns Blog

As a Scot celebrating Hogmanay, seeing out the ‘old years night’ is important to me. Why? Well for over 400 years, since the time of the Scottish reformation celebrating Christmas or Yuletide was illegal.  People did mark Christmas, but it was a low-key family affair, and it wasn’t a public holiday.  In 1958 the ban was overturned, and the Scots started to take on English and American traditions of gift-giving and Santa. 

Hogmanay was celebrated as having been brought into Scotland by the Vikings in the early 8th and 9th centuries. The tradition involved cleaning the home and hearth and clearing all your debts before ‘the bells’ at midnight on Dec 31st or Old Year's Night. You go into the New Year clean and tidy, with your affairs in order.  In my youth, we would go 'First Footing' after midnight.  Taking a bottle and a piece of coal with you. We would knock on your neighbour’s door and have a drink with them before moving on to the next house. If you had a tall dark handsome young man with you it brought good luck. We would say ‘Lang may yer lum reek!’. This is where the coal comes into play you a gifting someone warmth. Very often we ended up merry and having a dip in the North Sea.

Sadly, this tradition in the part of Scotland I came from has died out and has been replaced with drinking, fireworks, and Auld Lang Syne.  However, a new tradition has developed which I have never taken part in.  The Loony Dook is a mad sponsored dip (not a swim, too cold in the North Sea) or Dook in the Sea around Scotland. 

Today I live in Cornwall and if I said let’s go First Footing, they would think me mad. However, this year my neighbours held a winter solstice gathering which had the spirit of the First Footing tradition. Neighbours came together, outside around a log fire to mark a point in winter. To this day I also feel drawn to clean the house in preparation for the New Year.

Therefore, A guid New Year to ane an' a' and mony may ye see.

slàinte var