Happy new year!
I went down to Stonehaven last night for the Hogmanay celebrations and watched as 48 locals swung the traditional 'fireballs' to bring in the new year down the historic high street. The snow and full moon made for a really special atmosphere last night and it was great event. The programme guide to the evening provided me with some interesting insights into Hogmanay in Scotland which I had never known before!
For many centuries in Scotland, Christmas was not the major celebration and it was only in the 1950s that Christmas became popular. Christmas was virtually banned for a time before this after a Protestant Reformation as the Kirk portrayed christmas as a Catholic feast.
'Redding the house' is one popular tradition in which the home is given a thorough clean on Hogmanay, particularly the fireplace, in prepration for the new year. Another tradition is 'first-footing' in which the first person to enter the house after midnight brings gifts such as salt, coal, shortbread, whisky or a black bun to bring luck to the householder. A tall, dark, hansome young man is said to bring the best luck whilst women and vicars are unlucky. A blonde or red-head is unlucky because they are assumed to be unwelcome Norsemen.
The idea of the Stonehaven fireballs is to 'burn off the bad spirits left from the old year so that the spirits of the New Year can enter, clean and fresh. The ceremony goes back for over 150 years and unlike the Glasgow / Edinburgh street parties has apparently never been cancelled! To be eligible to be a fireball swinger you have to be either from Stonehaven or have family from the area, and have to volunteer to help at the event for atleast two years beforehand.
No comments:
Post a Comment