Hogmanay
Festival Location: All Areas, Scotland
Festival Type(s): New Year Celebrations, Parties
Featured Festival: Hogmanay
Hogmanay Media:
Hogmanay
by © Christopher Kliks 2009
Hogmanay is the traditional Scottish New Year's Eve festival celebrated on December 31. It is a huge affair which often includes many celebrations and parties for which tickets are sold. Festivities usually begin in the early evening and continue late into the night. When midnight strikes that is the peak of the celebration with the singing of the traditional tune Auld Lang Syne. Then everyone kisses each other and the party continues.
The origin of the name "Hogmanay" has many possibilities, and no one really seems to know exactly where it came from. Some suggest that it may have come from the Gaelic word "oge maidne", meaning "new morning". Others suggest that it might be Anglo-Saxon in origin, from "Haleg Moneth", meaning "holy month". Still, there are some that believe it came from either French or Flemmish. Whatever its origins, it is certain that Hogmanay originated back in the pagan, or pre-Christian days when the inhabitants of what is now Scotland practiced sun and fire worship in mid-winter. The traditions also coincided with the Vikings' Yule celebrations, which became the Twelve Days of Christmas.Such festivities went underground during the Reformation, but by the 18th Century the customs emerged that we know today.
As the early pagans worshipped fire, it is not surprising then that fire has become one of the symbols of Hogmanay. In today's New Year's Eve celebrations, the lighting of fires has a symbolic meaning. It is believed that the lighting of a fire at Hogmanay brings knowledge and wisdom from the old year into the new one. It is also a way of dispensing with the past, forgetting about all the bad things that may have happened during the previous year, and carrying forth hope for the New Year.
Among the customs that take place at Hogmanay are torch light processions, fireball swinging, lighting New Year's fires (all in keeping with the tradition of the paganistic fire worshipping), and Scottish dances known as ceilidhs, (pronounced like kay-lee), and "first footing". It is said that the New Year will be a prosperous one if at midnight, a dark stranger appears at your doorstep with a lump of coal for your fire. In exchange, food and perhaps even a bit of whisky was offered. The stranger who appears at your door should be dark, it is thought, because a blond stranger could mean bad luck. This may have been because of the memory of the Vikings, mostly blond, who invaded Scotland from the 4th to the 12th centuries.
In today's Hogmanay celebrations, families and friends may get together and take turns from year to year providing food and meals for one another on the occasion. They may exchange gifts which might even include the traditional lump of coal.The largest Hogmanay celebrations take place in Edinburgh and Glasgow. In recent years, street celebrations have become commonplace, and many of these are now ticketed due to the large throngs of people who attend these events.
If you are interested in doing something different this New Year's Eve, try joining hand and singing, or reciting the words to Auld Lang Syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o'kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
Hogmanay Dates and Location
Hogmonay is the new year festival celebrated all over Scotland on December 31. The largest and most well known of these celebrations take place in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
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