Hogmanay!

[wigglewhiz]

I can' believe it's bloody Hogmanay already. Hogmanay, non-Scottish people, is December 31st. NOT January 1st, which is New Year's Day. There's been some confusion re: the actual DATE of Hogmanay here in Noo Zillund from the less Sottishly-exposed.

Anyway, aside from wondering WHERE DID THE YEAR GO?! (into a six month haze of unemployment-related POVERTY and BOREDOM, that's bloody where) and mulling over that whole New Year's Resolutions thingie, I've been thinking about old Scottish Hogmanay traditions and wondering if they're different from anywhere else.

Hogmanay is meant to really be The Main Event for us Scottish people, bigger than Christmas (and therefore Bigger Than Jesus, just like The Beatles). I reckon that's probably mostly to do with the capacity for EXCESSIVE DRINK, but anyway. It's not The Main Event for me, I've always been a bit blah about New Year. It's a New Year! Just like last one! And the one before that! YAY! o_O

Anyway, in the event that Scottish Hogmanay Tradtitions may be of interest to any of you, here's the ones I could think of:

1. It's Good Luck for the first person over your threshold (the first footer) after the bells (midnight) to be a tall dark stranger (male, of course).
2. It's BAD LUCK to leave the house before you have been first footed. (But SOMEONE'S got to be first, right?! Hence the tall dark stranger nonsense - clearly he is Not From Round Here, and it's all about our odd tribal hospitality thing, a bit like bedouins)
3. The person to answer the door to the first footer should be the Man Of The House. The Wimmen Of The House should stay in the main room together, to be protected in the event that the first footer is rascally Auld Nick (the devil) come to make trouble.
4. First footing presents which you should take with you to first foot someone (it's your duty to do at least one), should be some black bun and a piece of coal - symbolising food and warmth for the recipient family for all the year to come.
5. What you're doing at the bells is what you'll be doing for the rest of the year. Which, in Scotland, is typically DRINKING and perhaps kissing strangers. So... yeah. o_O

Those are the main ones I can think of, and I have to say were very much in decline in Scotland even by the time I was an adult. It's weird to think of "traditions", presumably quite old, dying out within a lifetime. I imagine there are certainly still people doing them, and I think it might be one of those odd parabolic curve things where we youngsters stop doing that UNCOOL shit our parents did as soon as we're able to celebrate Hogmanay in our own way (by getting shit-faced, generally), and then suddenly come back to the old ways all nostalgic when we're proper grown-us or have our own families or whatnot.

One other thing that should be mentioned is madiera cake. You HAVE to have madeira cake for Hogmanay and New Year's Day, it's practically TEH LAW. I always remember how there was a subtle shift in the supermarkets from HUGE PILES OF CHRISTMAS CAKE to HUGE PILES OF MADEIRA CAKE in the intervening days between Christmas and Hogmanay. My personal favourites were just the lemon one and the sultana-filled one. NOT the one full of disgusting chewy tasteless glace cherries. BLERG.

O_O

I have the WORST craving for a piece of madeira cake now. GODDAMMIT SOCIAL CONDITIONING! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

In fact, I'm going to a New Year's thingie at the house of one of Himself's workmates. I might just look and see if I can find a madeira cake recipe and bake one to take with. And possibly buy a fruitcake and some pastry (CHEAT that I am) and see if I can locate a piece of coal. EX-PAT BECOMING SCOTTISHER THAN THOU, that's me!!1!

Edited to add: Now soliciting suggestions for a choon for Online Practise Club, to begin in the New Year! I've been trawling through my own collection, but any suggestions will also be considered! With many thanks to replyhazy  for the idea to kick our own collective asses. Yay!