HOGMANAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 703, 31 December 1909, Page 9

HOGMANAY.

NEW YEAR'S EVE IN SCOTLAND. (By William Andrews, in the "Bristol Obseiver.") Scotland does not celebrate the Chrietraas festival, but reserves its merrymaking until the evo of the New Year. The Scolßmnn at Homo nnd abroad devotes tho closing hours of the passing yoai to much joviality, often with boisterous merriment. It seems altogether out of harmony with the sober and eeK-respect-inj? native of Cnlcdonia. In many quarters, it is true, there is not Wanting the indication of refinement which lifts the holiday saturnalia to a timo of happy family gatherings. Many curious customs nnd supeistitions are associated w.th the season, more especially in the ne>rthern parts of Scotland. Tho holidays are known as daft (wild) days. No satisfac-, tory,solution hoe been given to the dejivation of the term Hogmanay. It remains a puzzle for antiquaries to solve, but appears to belong to pruidical tiroes. The customs connected with the carnival belong to tho days of the Druids. It lias long been the practice of the poorer children in thp remoter parts or Scotland on the morning of the last day in the year to get themselves swaddled m a great sheet, doubled up so as to form a large pocket, ivnd ro along the roads in little bands, nnd call at the homes of the more wealthy jihabitants to solicit whenten bread. The request is usually made in rhyme. The following is a popular example:— Gel up, goodwife, and shake your feathers, And dinna think that wo aro beggars; For we arc bairns come out to pUiy, Got up, and gie's our Hogmanay. Here is another specimen:— Hogmanay, Trqlloday; Give us of your white breod and none o! your grey. A third runs as follows:— Get up, goodwife, and binna ewelr, And deaf your bread to them that's here; , " , For the time will come when ye 11 be dead, ' , And then ye'H noithor need ale nor bread. , The most popular and moro pointed one is tho next:— .My feefs caiild, my shoon's thin. Gie's my cakej., and let me rin! At Eiehmond, in Yorkshire, the Corporation Pindcr was used to bing a Jlogmanay song. Only this fragment of it has como down, to modern times:— To-night it is New Year's uigbt, tomorrow is tho day, ° ... , And we are come from our right ana our ray, , i As wo used to-day in old, King Henrys ■' Sing, follows* sing Hogtnaii-Heigh. If you go to the'bacon-flick cut me a good bit; , , Cut, cut, and low, beware of your man; Cut, out, and round, beware of your thumb, That me and ray, merry men may have some. ' _ , Sing, fellows, Bing Hogman-Heigh. If you go to the black-ark bring mo X mark; , Tea mark, ten pounds, throw it down 1 upon tho ground, Tliut mp and my merry men may have some. '' . Sing, fellows, sing Hogman-Heigh. Clarkso'n, the historian, of Richmond, explains) tho term ray in the second )ine of tho song: "Bay, roe, or rey, a Portuguese coin, 100 of which are equal to sixpence English." We suppose tho pinder and his'fellows fared yery well at the oxpenso of tho inhabitants living ronud about the old Norman castle which overshadows tho town. We are,told that in Scotland, so liberal are the gifts, that the children can scarcely waddlo under tho heavy loads, • In- the chief cities and towns of Scok land in bvgono times on the New Year's Eve the streets werg alive with people, consisting of rich and ipoor, and even to-day, many, Scotsmen are in the stroots. Not only'in'their native land, but round St. Paul' 6, ,in London. Horo under the arch of hcavon they pass tho whisky bottle round add wisu each other a guide Now Year. The folk aro good-natured,' if not always sober. ' Revelry prevails until tho sma' hours of New Year s morning. ' * A check to tho Hogmanay customs occurred at Edinburgh,in 1811. ' 1 The festive gathering was going on as usual. Some of the more prosperous citizens were joining in the fun, the hot toddy was being consumed, aad all was going on happily as & marriage belli when , a large band of roughs commenced rob. bing operations. All the well-dressed citizens 'were marked .mon, and surrounded by the ruffians, and if they refused to give up their valuables were knocked down and robbed. Two men, including a policeman, wero, murdered, and several others wire wounded. The savago band kopfc possession of the streets until four o'clock in tho morning, Betting at defiance tho local authorities. They reaped a rich harvest, but rapid justico followed the ringleaders, who were soon arrested, and four of thorn were publicly hanged. If a girl were caught in tho streots on Hogmanay night, even if under the charge of an escort, she ran the risk of being kissed by tho youths who met her, and no offence was taken. • The towns were alive with first-footers, who are the first to enter the houses on Now Year's Bay. It is regarded as luoky for a man to be tho first to enter tho dwelling, and under no consideration is a woman permitted to bo the firstfooter. A dark-haired person is usually selected. In Lancashire a light-haired person is considered to be aa unlucky as a woman. In various parts of the country tho ceremony varies. For instance, in -Worcestershire we aro. tdld luck is ensured by laying, hands on the first carol-singer who presents himself at tho front door, leading him through the house, and letting him out at tue back. We obtain , from Chambers's "Book of Days" some interesting particulars of an ancient custom in tho primitive Earish of Deorness, in Orkney. In the eginning of tho nineteenth century it was tho practice for old and young of the common class or people to assemble 'in a great band on the : "evcning of ; tho last! day of the year, and continence a round of visits thfongh the district. At every house, say's tho contributor, they knocked at tho door, and on being ad* mitted commenced singing, tp a tune of their own, a song appropriate -to the occasion. The following is 'what may be termed a restored version of this chant,' the imagination having been called on to make up in several of tho lines what was deficient in memory. The "Queen Mary" alluded to is evidently tho Virgin: This nighi it is guid No'w'r E'an's night, We're a' here Queon Mary's meni And we're come hore to crave our right, And that'B before our Lady. The very first thing which We do oravo, We're a' hero Queon Mary's men; A bonny whito candlo we must havo, And-that's before our Lady, Goodwifo. gao to your buter-ark, And weigh us here ten mark. Ton mark, ten pund, ' (Look that ye grip weol to the grund. Goodwife, gao to your geoHn-vat And fetch us here a skeel o that. , Gang to your awmrie, gin ye please, And bring fiom there a yow-milk cheese And syne bring hero a sharplng-stane . We'll sharp out whittles ilka ano. Ye'll cut the eheeso, and eke tho round But aye take care ye cutna.your thooni Gao fill the three-pint cog of ale, The maut maun bo aboon the meal. Wo houp your ftlo is stavk and stout, For men to drink the auld year out. Yβ kon the weather's Bnahr ahd sltot, Stir up the fire to warm'our feet. Our shoon's mado o' mare's skin, ,Como opon the door, and lot's in. Tho song boing finished, the inner door o tho house was opened and a' rush wn mado to tho ben o' tho dwelling, when tho party was regaled with beer and goot fare. As tho boer was .consumed then was an expression of good wishes, ,A each homestead tho same singing, feast ing, and drinking toftk place. It is sur S rising how tho,visitors tmrvivo Under th rinking and oa'ting customs. Any'of th' farmers .would have regai'ded -it as, i slight if the New Year's singers htid failei to call and accept their hospitality.