Scottish Hogmany, History and origins of Hogmany, How to celebrate Old years night in Scotland, New Years day celebrations and events

'Hoots Man it's Hogmany!'

Hogmany is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year (Gregorian calendar) in the Scottish manner. Its official date is 31 December. However this is normally only the start of a celebration which lasts through the night until the morning of Ne'erday (1 January) or, in some cases, 2 January which is a Scottish Bank Holiday.

Origins

The roots of Hogmany perhaps reach back to the pagan celebration of the winter solstice among the Norse, as well as incorporating customs from the Gaelic New Year's celebration of Samhain.

Scottish Gaelic Og-Mhadainn/h' og maidne ("new morning") 

The Gaelic expression "theacht mean oiche" ("the arrival of midnight", pronounced "heacht meawn eehe")

Gaelic ochd meadhan oidhche ("eighth midnight" (from Christmas))

Customs

There are many customs, both national and local, associated with Hogmany. During the day of Hogmany the household would be busy cleaning so that the New Year could be welcomed into a tidy and neat house. It is considered ill luck to welcome in the New Year in a dirty uncleaned house. Fireplaces would be swept out and polished and some people would read the ashes of the very last fire of the year, to see what the New Year would hold. The act of cleaning the entire house was called the Redding, i.e. getting ready for the New Year.

The first stroke of the chimes at New Year is known as The Bells. People would sing Auld Lang Syne together whilst linking arms. A traditional Scottish New Year toast is:

'Lang may yer Lum reek!'

Which means long may your chimney smoke and originated when people had coal fires and if the chimney was smoking it meant that you could afford coal and keep warm.

First Footing

After the bells have rung people would go visiting friends and family, or first footing as it is known in Scotland. This would involve carrying a bottle of spirit such as whisky to offer people a new year dram. In olden days when people could only afford one bottle of spirit a year this bottle would take pride of place on the mantelpiece or by the fireplace and only opened at the stroke of midnight.

The most widespread national custom is the practice of first-footing which starts immediately after midnight. This involves being the first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbour and often involves the giving of symbolic gifts such as salt (less common today), coal, shortbread, whisky, and black bun (a fruit pudding) intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder. Food and drink are then given to the guests. This may go on throughout the early hours of the morning and well into the next day (although modern days see people visiting houses until the 3 January). The first-foot is supposed to set the luck for the rest of the year, so it is important that a suitable person does the job. A tall, handsome, and dark-haired man bearing a gift is strongly preferred. According to popular folklore, a man with dark hair was welcomed because he was assumed to be a fellow Scotsman; a blond or red-haired stranger was assumed to be an unwelcome Norseman.

Het Pint

In olden days villagers would carry a drink called Het Pint which was a boiling mixture of ale mulled with nutmeg and whisky. It was served from a copper kettle and this steaming liquid would be offered to anyone the first footer met. Modern first footer carry a bottle of spirits such as whisky.

Stonehaven Fireball swinging

An example of a local Hogmany custom is the fireball swinging that takes place in Stonehaven, Kincardineshire in north-east Scotland. This involves local people making up balls of chicken wire and tar, paper, and other flammable material up to a diameter of 61 cm. Each ball has 2 m of wire, chain or nonflammable rope attached. The balls are then each assigned to a swinger, who swings the ball round and round their head and body by the rope while walking through the streets of Stonehaven from the harbour to the Sheriff court and back. At the end of the ceremony any fireballs that are still burning are cast into the harbour. Many people enjoy this display, which is more impressive in the dark than it would be during the day. As a result large crowds flock to the town to see it.

The Burning of the Clavie

Another example of a pagan fire festival is The Burning of the Clavie that takes place in the town of Burghead in Moray.

Opinions differ as to the roots of the ancient festival of the burning of the Clavie, condemned in the 18th century as, 'an abominable heathenish practise'. But even in the third millennium it still goes on...

Pictish, Celtic, Viking or Roman in origin, the burning of the Clavie, which takes place at Burghead, in moray, is without a doubt one of the most bizarre of Scotland's Hogmany Festivals.

A group of grown men carting a barrel of fire around the town? It doesn't get stranger than that..

The Ritual

The event takes place on the night of January 11th ( the original Hogmany before the calendar changed in 1660). The 'Clavie' is a half barrel filled with wood shavings and tar. In the past it would have been a herring barrel. Today, iron-hooped whisky barrels daubed with creosote are used.

The barrel is nailed onto a carrying post - the same nail is ritually used every year - which is then hoisted onto the shoulders of a local villager.

The Clavie is then lit, traditionally by a peat from the hearth of an old Burghead provost and from there carried by the elected Clavie king.

Each of the ten or so men (traditionally fishermen) take it in turn to carry the burning Clavie clockwise around the streets of  Burghead, occasionally stooping at the houses of former eminent citizens to present a smouldering faggot of the Clavie in the doorway to bring the household good luck for the year ahead.

The men proceed to the stone alter of an old fort on the ancient Doorie hill, the Clavie is set down here and more fuel is added until the hillside is ablaze with a beacon of fire.

The flaming embers are snatched up by onlookers and used to kindle a special new year fire at home, kept for luck or even sent to relations or friends who have moved away from Burghead.

Origins

As well as drawing comparisons with the Celtic festival of Samhain, various theories link it's origins to the picts (there was once a Pictish fort at Burghead) and the Romans. The word Clavie may have originated from the Latin 'Clavus' meaning 'nail' and it is speculated that the fort at Doorie hill may have been an ancient roman alter.

However, contrary views suggest that there is not enough evidence to prove that the Romans came this far north. The festival also has many similarities with ancient Norse culture.

Whatever the origins, the practise of Clavie burning probably took place at many villages in the north east centuries ago, but was not always tolerated by the powers that be. It was condemned by the strict Presbyterian establishment as 'superstitious, idolatrous, and sinful, an abonimible heathenish practise. 'In 1704 a law was passed against Clavies. But the ritual practise of Clavie burning still continues each January 11th.

Up Helly-aa

In Lerwick, the Shetland Islands, there is the festival of 'Up Helly-aa' where the villagers make a full scale Viking galley boat with detail such as oars and shields. The boat is built over the preceding months. At the festival, which takes place at night, the boat is pulled down to the beach by villagers who are dressed as Viking Warriors. The other villagers carry lit fire torches and when the Viking long boat reaches the beach the villagers give three cheers to the builders. Following the cheering a bugle sounds and the boat is torched alight. The 'Up Helly-aa' is held on the last Tuesday of January. Many Shetlanders who no longer live on the Isle return home each year for this festival.

The Saining

A old custom in the Highlands, which has survived to a small extent and seen some degree of revival, is to celebrate Hogmany with the saining (protecting, blessing) of the household and livestock. This was done early on New Year's morning with the smoke of burning juniper, and by drinking and then sprinkling "magic water" from "a dead and living ford" around the house ("a dead and living ford" refers to a river ford which is routinely crossed by both the living and the dead). After the sprinkling of the water in every room, on the beds and all the inhabitants, the house was sealed up tight and the burning juniper carried through the house and byre. The smoke was allowed to thoroughly fumigate the buildings until it caused sneezing and coughing among the inhabitants. Then all the doors and windows were flung open to let in the cold, fresh air of the new year. The woman of the house then administered "a restorative" from the whisky bottle, and the household sat down to their New Year breakfast.

New Year Resolutions

Resolutions are made at New Year, the most popular being to stop smoking or to loose weight. Scots may seem a sentimental race who hark back to the past, but we are also a race who look forward to the future and so Scotland invented making a New Year resolution. I can’t find much historical evidence for New Year resolutions but it seems to have originated in Victorian times.

Creaming of the Well

Households who still have wells should perform the creaming of the well tradition - the first water to be drawn from the well in the New Year. A woman who wishes to wed a particular man would try to get him to drink from this water by the end of the day to guarantee marriage. In olden days when there was a community well the villagers would rush to be the first to cream the well because it would foretell good fortune for the year.

Hogmany Guising

Much like Halloween children would have gone out guising around the neighbourhood knocking on doors an oatcake, a piece of black bun, shortbread sweets or money. A popular Scottish Hogmany guising song was:

Rise up, guid wife, an' shake your feathers,
Dinna think that we are beggars:
We are bairns come out to play,
Get up and gie's our Hogmany!

Ne'erday

When Ne'erday falls on a Sunday, 3 January becomes an additional public holiday in Scotland; when Ne'erday falls on a Saturday, both 3 January and 4 January will be public holidays in Scotland. As in the rest of the world, the four largest Scottish cities, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee, hold all-night celebrations, as does Stirling.

Handsel Day

Historically presents were given in Scotland on the first Monday of the New Year. This would be celebrated often by the employer giving his staff presents and parents giving children presents. A roast dinner would be eaten to celebrate the festival. Handsel was a word for gift box and hence Handsel Day. In modern Scotland this practice has died out.

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