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New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 651, 21 December 1951, Page 5

Sir,-May I add my word to the story of Hogmanay? During the early 1900’s I was a small girl in Edinburgh, and it was the custom in our family for my brother and myself to present ourselves at the front door just on the stroke of midnight on the last night of the year. We shouted out the old rhyme quoted in your_article and hammered on the door. After a certain amount of byplay, when Father pretended to think we were beggars, Mother would take us in and give us "Currant Bun" (a Scots cake associated with New Year), and a drink of some sort of cordial to "hansel" the New Year. This was an old custom and appeared to be confined to members of the’ family and not first-footers. Hogmanay is actually New Year’s Eve, that day is always called Hogmanay in Scotland. Hansel is a word connected with good luck and is used in many ways. A gift of a purse, for instance, usually has a small coin to "hansel" the purse -bring luck. I was delighted to see the old rhyme in print, it was like meeting an old friend. A SCOT (Auckland), Sir-A letter from "New Zealand Scot" gives the derivation of the word "Hogmanay" as from the Latin in hoc anno. For years I have lived under the misconception that the word derived from the French Au gui menez-"Lead to the mistletoe," a cry used by the boys and girls of France when out on their guising expeditions on the last day of the year. Since many Scottish words and customs can be traced to the old French through Scotland’s alliance with France, I accepted this as the most probable origin of the name.

A SCOTTISH SCOT

(Christchurch),