Hello Future!
It's been a busy few days lately so I've got a little behind with LJ. So while I catch up with all your posts and comments, I'm going to distract you with a photo of me. ohrioles requested one of me celebrating the New Year so here I am doing the first-footing on New Year's Eve.
This is a tradition in Scotland and northern parts of England, where the first-foot is the first person to enter the house in the New Year and therefore bring luck for the rest of the year. It's supposed to be a dark male, generally because it harks back to the days when a blond male on the doorstep tended to be a Viking with a big axe and therefore not a good way to start the new year! (I've also heard that it's considered bad luck for redheads to do the first-foot - so I, as a strawberry blond, am entirely the wrong person to do it!) It's acceptable for a member of the household to do the first-foot but they have to leave the house before midnight; in my house this tends to mean I go out the back door just before Big Ben starts chiming, go round the house and come in the front door as the chimes finish.
The first-foot is also required to bring certain items in with him and if you look on the bigger version of the photo, you'll see that I have my hands full. I have a piece of coal for warmth (and it's proper coal too, none of this modern smoke-less pseudo-coal stuff); whisky for good cheer; shortbread and salt represent food and flavour; and a silver coin for financial prosperity. You'll have to trust that I've got a 50p, I was holding it on the shortbread with my thumb so it's not really visible in the photo.
So that was my New Year's Eve. I'm curious as to whether anyone else has a tradition for the New Year, especially given that I have such an international audience. I hope you all had suitably enjoyable celebrations anyway :)
This is a tradition in Scotland and northern parts of England, where the first-foot is the first person to enter the house in the New Year and therefore bring luck for the rest of the year. It's supposed to be a dark male, generally because it harks back to the days when a blond male on the doorstep tended to be a Viking with a big axe and therefore not a good way to start the new year! (I've also heard that it's considered bad luck for redheads to do the first-foot - so I, as a strawberry blond, am entirely the wrong person to do it!) It's acceptable for a member of the household to do the first-foot but they have to leave the house before midnight; in my house this tends to mean I go out the back door just before Big Ben starts chiming, go round the house and come in the front door as the chimes finish.
The first-foot is also required to bring certain items in with him and if you look on the bigger version of the photo, you'll see that I have my hands full. I have a piece of coal for warmth (and it's proper coal too, none of this modern smoke-less pseudo-coal stuff); whisky for good cheer; shortbread and salt represent food and flavour; and a silver coin for financial prosperity. You'll have to trust that I've got a 50p, I was holding it on the shortbread with my thumb so it's not really visible in the photo.
So that was my New Year's Eve. I'm curious as to whether anyone else has a tradition for the New Year, especially given that I have such an international audience. I hope you all had suitably enjoyable celebrations anyway :)