Hogmanay

Deb: Don’t you love that New Year smell?! A brand new year ripe with possibility. It’s a

second chance to fix the bad things in your life and watch the good things blossom.

How long does it take for your New Year smell to wear off? If you break your resolution just once, do you still keep going or does it get bumped to next year’s crop?

Many people I know don’t even bother to make resolutions anymore. I do though and always will. Because succeed or fail at my intentions, I have to. For I am of Scottish descent. New Year’s is huge with my peeps. The Scots call it “Hogmanay” and to dyed-in-the wool Scots, it is more precious than Christmas. Certainly more important.

Scots do have the most devastating sense of humor. The Brits are hilarious too, but the Scots have something different. They are dark. Funny and tragic all at the same time. “Merry Go Sorry” is the expression that springs to mind, which means the height of hilarity and the depth of despair––all at the same time! This is what makes their humour so unique and this is what makes Hogmanay so important to them. It’s a time to laugh and celebrate and it’s a time to wallow. Oh how the Scots love to wallow. Their minds are never far from the grave. Anyone’s grave. Those who have died, those who are about to die, and the rest who will die eventually. Scots were the first people I ever knew who photographed the graves of loved ones. Yes, they did. They’d put it in their photo album and say, “Auchhh, there’s ooour wee Jamie” and “Accchhhh, that was a cold day when we buried ooooorrrr Meg.”

The Scots love an opportunity to wallow. And there is no better time to have a good wee wallow than Hogmanay. And conversely the Scots are second to none at celebrating and welcoming the New Year!

Traditionally the New Year’s celebration starts with something called “First Footing”, and it gets its name from the first person who crosses your threshold after 12 midnight. The most desired “first footer” is a tall dark man (let’s face it, isn’t that what everyone wants?!!!) A redhead first footer could mean chaos and uncertainty in your new year. When the first footer enters your home, they bring a gift to mark the first footing. Salt was an old tradition, but now it varies from whisky to a black bun (a very rich fruit cake) intended to bring luck to the householder. The party begins after the first footing and goes until the morning when the guests are treated to a sumptuous breakfast before leaving. However, many Hogmanay celebrations go into the 2nd of January, which is a bank holiday. In the modern world, the whole of January is filled with these New Year’s celebrations in Scotland.

So, although it is a universal “out with the old, in with the new”, it is never thus with those of us of Scottish heritage. Hogmanay is a time to hold in our hearts those who have gone before us and to conjure up memories of years past when we all celebrated Hogmanay together, laughing, eating, and holding each other so dear.

And I will do the same as I have done every year and my heart will soar with joy and sink with melancholy, and at the stroke of midnight we will kiss and salute the New Year and sing. And on the last verse we will clasp crossed arms ... and remember.

Writer Robbie Burns

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll tak a right guide-willy waught,

For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo,

For auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Barbara: Auchhh, Deb, I want a wee New Year’s celebration like your Hogmanay. It sounds like just the perfect way to honour the past and look ahead to the future, while merrying it up in the present like nobody’s business.

When it comes to celebrating New Year’s, we’re usually of the “less is more” variety. Usually it’s just a few close friends (Deb and Colin as often as not—although not this year as relatives on both sides take center stage), eating a cozy meal, playing games like Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit, then getting in jammies sometime after the champagne and playing some more. We’ve tried the fancy shindigs—which are schmancy and all––but they don’t fit us quite as well as the intimate tête-a-têtes in our own home.

That said, there’s always a little resolution-ing going on. I like the idea of the clean slate and the new beginning and the boundless possibilities. As for a Hogmanay-type hootenanny, that sounds like the best of all worlds (minus the whole night of revelry, which sad to say, I am pretty unlikely to be able to manage anymore …. hmmm, could I ever?) Thanks, Deb, for pulling me into your Scottish tradition and making that celebration so very palpable and real.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And auld lang syne!

And let’s not forget our new acquaintance! Thank you for all your lovely Christmas wishes and for sharing your own festivities with us. See you bright and early in the New Year and for the whole of the year to come. May all your resolutions be merry and may your dreams come true! Happy New Year!


And for your viewing pleasure, here's an apropos New Year's card from Deb and gang!