HOGMANAY CUSTOMS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 114, 6 January 1932, Page 7

HOGMANAY CUSTOMS

GUID NEW YEAR QUAINT SUPERSTITION S OBSERVED BY SCOTS. FIRST FOOTING CEREMONIES. i New Year is Scotland's supreme time for jubilation and many of the customs celebrated on , the night of December 31 — January 1 in Englishspeaking countries have their origin north of the Tweed. In the Lowlands "first-footing" is the special feature of the day, although it seems to be dying out to a great extent. Within the last half-century crowds of revellers used to meet at some central place in each town, such as the Tron Church in Edinburgh, or the Cross in Glasgow, and wait patiently until the "Tron" clock had finished striking twelve on the last night of the year. Then a glad_cheer would arise from the crowd. "A Guid New Year" would pass from lip to lip as each one shook hands with his neighbour, and bottles of whisky would be drawn from numberless pockets and "preed." Then | the revellers wor Id separate and start on their "first-f c oting" expeditions. Peculiar Superstitions. This first-footing had a multitude of little superstitions, which were peculiar ly its own. A person who had a low instep was never desirable as a first-foot. A first-foot, who. entered a house empty-handed, would he deemed very unlucky, and his advent would mean the beginning of a year of poverty, hardship and misfortune for the occupants of the house. Should he enter unshod he would simply he inviting death to visit the household during the year, and so be to all intents and purposes a murderer. Even although the "first-foot" should make his appearance, laden with all the good things of the season, and his feet covered with the best shoes in the j

countryside, he might still be an undesirable visitor on account of his being personally obnoxious to the fates; an unlucky sort of fellow in all respects. First-footing was, and is, a matter which should never be entered upon without due reflection, for the blame of anything in the way of disaster which may happen during the year is always laid on the shoulders of the "first-foot," and many a decent man has had his reputation blasted owing to circumstances over which he had absolutely no control . On the other hand, some men have asquired great local honour from being regarded as "guid first-fruits," and to them the opening day of each year was truly a season of refreshing and rejoicing. . In the olden days if a fire happened to go out in a household on New Year's Day it was eonsidered a sign of impending disaster. No one would lend a neighbour a shoveful of lighted coal on that day, and if a man entered a house and desired a light for his pipe he would he very rudely and peremptorily refused. To give away a light on New 'Year's Day was regarded as equivalent to giving away a life, and the person giving was deemed sure to he the victim. This was simply the snrvival of the old reverence for fire which existed among the people from the earliest times in their history. In the Highlands. In the Highlands "first-footing" was also a feature of the New Year's celebrations, and most of the superstitions current in the south Belonged to the north. The late Rev. Alexander Macgregor, of Inverness, writes: "On New Year's Eve, they (the Highlanders) surrounded each others' honses, carrying dried cowhides, and beating them with sticks, thrashing the walls with clubs, all the time crying, shouting and repeating hymns." This was supposed to operate as a charm against demons and spirits of every order. They provide themselves with the flap or hanging part of the hide on the cow's neck, which they singed in the fire and presented to the inmates of the family, one after another, to smell as a charm against all injuries from demons and spirits. A specimen of the rhymes repeated, with loud chorusf is as follows: — Great good luck to the House, Good luck to the family, Good luck to every rafter of it, And to every worldly thing in it. Good luck to horses and cattle, Good luck to the sheep. Good luck to everything. And good luck to all your means, Good luck to the guid wife, "Good luck to the children, Good luck to every friend, Good luck and health to all.