New Year from a Scottish Point of View
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ธ.ค. 2021
- Hogmanay and New Year 's Day was always a special time in Scotland. So why was a Scottish New Year special and how has it changed over the years? Scottish History Tour Guide Bruce Fummey talks to two people from Leith in the Wee Museum of Memory
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Scotland History Tours is here for people who want to learn about Scottish history and get ideas for Scottish history tours. I try to make videos which tell you tales from Scotland's past and give you information about key dates in Scottish history and historical places to visit in Scotland. Not all videos are tales from Scotland's history, some of them are about men from Scotland's past or women from Scotland's past. Basically the people who made Scotland. From April 2020 onward I've tried to give ideas for historic days out in Scotland. Essentially these are days out in Scotland for adults who are interested in historical places to visit in Scotland.
As a Scottish history tour guide people ask: Help me plan a Scottish holiday, or help me plan a Scottish vacation if your from the US. So I've tried to give a bit of history, but some places of interest in Scotland as well.
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The story behind the Folk Song MacPherson's Rant at th-cam.com/video/t-laDwhTvuI/w-d-xo.html
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Whatever Happened to the Haggis Hunting Dog th-cam.com/video/zDqTZOYntwQ/w-d-xo.html
Merry Christmas and happy new year in advance
wishes from India
The Leith police dismisseth us?
I remember my dad telling me during his national service in the Border Regiment he was due to be sent to Korea (then a war zone) but during transit through the Suez canal he was fortunately redeployed to Sudan. During these decolonising times, I am told, the local population rioted mostly around the English holiday of Christmas. This suited a certain Cumbrian corporal, whose regiment took leave and were replaced by Scottish regiments with a reputation for enjoying firing guns at the natives. By New Year the English regiments replaced the Scots, and enjoyed a quieter time than would normally be expected. Bottoms up, and a happy New Year to all!
Don’t think you meant to say 31st January bruce at the beginning .. new year would be a month in … happy new year when it comes 😂
Have you watched history debunked ?
It's so lovely hearing Bruce use his Scottish full accent and lingo.
Exactly my thoughts, he is a wonderful man to talk to and makes you feel very comfortable to talk to. His knowledge is tremendous.
Makes me feel like I'm back with my departed Scots friends. Never hide the patwa!
@@butternutsquash6984 Patwa?!? Maybe one day Bruce will do a video on the history of the Scots language, then ye'll ken a aboot it.
Patois. 😄
I agree. He reminded me of Billy Connolly at times, but maybe that's just me.
In Geordie land Christmas was for the kids, New year was for the adults. We were allowed to stay up to see the New year in, given homemade ginger wine and a bowl of homemade soup, watched the neighbour playing the bagpipes on the green. First footer had to be a dark haired man, with a lump of coal and a glass of whiskey. The house had a full spring clean.
I am working night shift Right now Christmas Eve/Christmas I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this chat. Just what I am missing visiting with my elders telling me stories Of Christmas/ NY past. Thank you
Beautiful
@@ScotlandHistoryTours I'm from kilmaurs but my folks brought me to the south of England when I was 15 now I'm disabled and can hardly leave the house and really could do with a shorts scotch pie and a bottle of red cola but I'm stuck in the arse of England 😮
we go to our friends house for a Hogmanay party, where we have food, drink, a quiz and all the craic and banter.
These are the stories I've heard from my mother about my parents and Christmas and New Year in Scotland.
My father (born 1928): rated Christmas as good if he'd been given enough lollies (sweeties for Scots readers, candy for American) to throw up before breakfast. From all I heard, his family did celebrate Christmas. On his father's side they came from the Highlands and Islands, his mother's side were from the lowlands - with some intriguing Irish hints.
My mother (born 1932): her parents had migrated from Scotland to Argentina. They also celebrated Christmas, although some years sound as if they'd been decidedly dismal.
Hogmanay: my mother went to university in Scotland and also went to Scotland when she married my father. She was somewhat darker complected than most Scots (at one stage 23anem gave her a hint of sub-Saharan African and they still give her some Iberian) and so she was in demand for first footing. As discussed in this video she used to give people gifts of coal and bread. They came with the phrases "may you never want for heat and may you never want for food" or something like that. (Shortbread would have been problematic when she was a student - at that stage there was the post-war rationing, which, if anything, was even more restrictive than the rationing during the war had been.)
Both sets of grandparents were influenced by the temperance movement - and my mother still thinks it's unconscionable to get children to sign the pledge when they are barely old enough to be able to read, let alone enter into a contract. So, with a great deal of disapproval from my maternal grandmother, there was alcohol provided for New Year's Eve party guests. (My impression is that they didn't start throwing the New Year's Eve parties until my mother was well into her mid to late teens.) The New Year's Eve party was quite big and there was a lot of food - rather more than the slightly puritanical Christmases.
My paternal grandmother's father was an alcoholic and apparently, not a nice one. So it was understandable that my paternal grandmother wasn't too keen on people drinking. My paternal grandfather liked the occasional dram and my grandmother gave him hell for days afterwards if he had a drink or two.
As an interesting "compare and contrast", a Vietnamese friend told me that Christmas in Vietnam tends to be celebrated with friends, whereas New Year is the family celebration.
Superb Bruce🙏
I grew up in Canada, in the 70s-80s. My mum (a nurse - done her midwifery in Dunfermline before emigrating) ALWAYS worked Xmas day so she could have the Hogmanay off. Christmas was always a low key affair - apart from most others over here🇨🇦
...we also carried on with the "first fit" every year, where I'd grown up (though it took the neighbours a few years to get used to the startling "intrusion", when all our lot would freely wander in with cheer!)
"Here's tae us!"😁
🏴Forever😎👍
I'm 31 years younger than you - and I can't tell you how precious interviews like this are to my generation, and how much I hope we treasure them. I certainly do. 🙂
Ah brilliant
Bruce, the video is prompting me to comment as it goes on. I remembered my gran’s homemade ginger wine. It was warming and hot and jaggy. I’d forgotten all about it! I remember my maw cleaning the whole hoose, ironing done, hoovered and dusted, everything just so for January 1st. I always thought ginger wine was alcoholic! The grownups were downstairs, taking drink and singing a’ the old songs, “Go on, Jimmy, gie”s a wee turn” In my mid teens a naughty aunt used to smuggle strong dink to me in bed and give me a wee snog! I suppose it would be considered child abuse nowadays! but ah didnae. Then later teens meant parties for long hours and even days trying for a lumber and usually failing. My record was no’ getting home till January 4th. Folk coming out their houses and taking a dram in the street. Oh, bugger Covid. A guid New Year, Bruce, and many ‘o them.
Brilliant
as long as i hear piper playing in the bells im happy
As a child in Edinburgh, we had a great time going to each other's houses having a carry on while the adults were getting blootered.
I remember one year, my brother chased my into our [empty] house and I slammed the glass door on him. He smashed right through the glass. Not a mark on him but I knew I was in trouble immediately.
Been away from Scotland for 49yrs I still keep with the traditions at Hogmanay, I have a piece of coal from an old steam train and dried thistle picked from Culloden Moor
Being Cherokee, our New year was actually celebrated the the new moon of Du ni nv di (Month of Harvest or October to the rest of y'all). The day of the Great New Moon opened to everyone fasting, every fire put out and hearth swept clean, every home and part of the village or town being cleaned top to bottom, anything torn, dirty, or broken being tossed into a burn pit. Appointed elders and medicine people prayed throughout the day while the rest of the people made preparations - in addition to the cleaning, new clothing was being laid out, kindling for a ceremonial fire stacked in the pit that had been blessed for the purpose (all 7 sacred woods are used for the fire), and foods prepared. Late in the day, everyone bathed, thoroughly scrubbing from top to bottom as it were, hair oiled and braided and adorned, new clothes put on, and everyone gathered at dusk, waiting for the last bit of light to leave the sky. Once it was gone, the ceremonial fire was lit, prayers sung, and each man took a brand from the fire and handed it to his wife (or mother if his father was deceased) who then took it home to light the fire. There was feasting and dancing throughout the night.
Modern times, we still do these, albeit somewhat modified. That central fire represents to us the Creator, who is the Source of light and life, as well as the kinship of our people. We all belong to the same fire.
Ginger Wine was often homemade but as 10 year olds we were also given a whisky hot toddy at Hogmany
Lucky blighters😂
I really enjoyed thattalk with those folk. Growing up in 1960s Birmingham with a Scots father and an English mother seems strange to hear these things. My dad calmed his accent and did not want us kids to be singled out as being different so he frowned down on us if we used any of his dialect. At new year we opened the front and back door for the spirit's passing and my elder brother, a dark haired boy had to first foot at the immediate neighbours and at our door, he hated it as he viewed himself as English. As dad got older he used to look back at his youth and I used to see him reading about Scotland more and more. The bug got me and I followed it up more later, researching our family as much as I could and reclaiming our heritage. I am now a life member of Clan Maclaren and of the London Caledonian Society, where next month I will attend the Burns Night supper, and fortunately, later in the month the RBL Burns Night.
So twa haggis for me.
This is very late, but in Spain the tradition is to eat 12 grapes at the 12 strokes of midnight, using the clock tower in the Puerta del Sol, which is at the geographic centre of the country. This is pretty near universal. Little children may get the grapes seeded and peeled, and even in hospitals with the very sick they might give them a bit of grape juice or even put it through a feeding tube. I live in Scotland now, but we still do this on Spanish time (11pm Scottish). I would love to do it at local time, but no one cares about the 12 bells so no chance!
Bruce, I’m 71, born 1950, and I clearly remember a tree and presents wrapped gaily all around it before 1958 and waking at midnight and asking “has Santa been?” only to be sent back to bed.
One way or another it wisnae a public holiday
Christmas Eve is king in Wales. But even as a child growing up in the early 80’s in Wales I knew Hogmanay was the top dog in Scotland.
I grew up in Glasgow and my parents would usually have friends round on Hogmanay. First footing was still a tradition, but I don’t really remember it. Everyone would have a drink in their hand just before midnight to toast the new year, Andy Stewart would be on the telly, and at the bells we’d open a window to hear the ships on the Clyde sounding their horns. In my twenties I’d be out with friends and all I remember about it was reeling home shouting Happy New Year to everyone you met and there was such a friendly atmosphere. There’d be fireworks going off everywhere and a big display at Glasgow Green, although I only went there a couple of times. I remember drinking mulled wine out of a thermos flask.
As regards Crabbies Ginger Wine, there was a bottle in my parents’ small drinks cupboard, but they weren’t great drinkers and I don’t remember anybody drinking it (I certainly didn’t). It probably sat there for years.
Despite having Scot Irish ancestry, my German ancestors influenced our Christmas and New Years events. However one year, I spent Sylvester (German New Year) with a German Family and it was an evening of smoke salmon, capers and other foods. But the one saving grace was the German host did drink highland malt whisky. Now we simply toast the new year with family.
As a child born in the early 70's, I remember going for a sleep around 4pm till about 7pm, went down to my Gran & Gramps with my Mum and Dad where my other Gran and Grandpa, aunts and uncles, cousins would be waiting. Zulu would be on TV in the background, then Thingamayjig.
Gran 1 would make a big pot of Stovies, and Gran 2 would make a big pot of mince n tatties.
All in a tenement flat in Castlemilk.
That was a great talk, it brought back good memories. We would always CLEAN and throw out the trash before New Years, to hear them talk it make miss my granny.
Ah bless
I was born and raised in Brisbane (Australia). Dad was born in Glasgow. He was in a Scottish branch of the Masonic Lodge. We would go to a dance they had on New Years Eve (1960’s). I remember to this day, even when very young, we would join in a circle, cross-link arms, walk inward and outward in the circle while all singing Auld Lang Syne.
I was born in Edinburgh now off Clontarf Beach .
I think they still do that now
I'll be coming to Brisbane to do a live show on 30th March. Here's the link to tickets. Please spread the word www.eventbrite.com.au/e/bruce-fummey-stories-of-scotland-tickets-483604192157?aff=erelexpmlt
Another great video. Hogmanay and Ne'rday was a special time in Scotland. I was born in 1961 and can remember so much of what is described in the video. of course there were different New Year traditions and customs in various parts of Scotland but they all had the same basic core. Skittery Winters was a long tradition in some parts of Scotland but not where I'm from. A dark haired first foot or a red haired first foot depended on where you lived. I cringe when I hear Scots today talk of New Years Eve or New Years. That is just wrong! That English and American influence gets everywhere. Hogmanay at my Grandparents was special- the big pot o soup, cleaning the house, taking the ashes out, the last trip to the toilet. The ginger wine, short bread madeira cake, sherry, advocate for the weans. The kids playing the compendium of games they got for Christmas and reading the Broons/Oor Wullie annual. The kids waiting to get the auld calendar off the wall to cut the pictures out. Everybody doing their "turn" or party piece. Much of it survived into the 80s when the pubs and clubs shut early on Hogmanay and remained closed for the first week in of the New Year.Lumps of coal became harder to find with the switch to central heating. The television age helped anglicise the New year, diluting it and of course the London centric channels promoted an English Christmas and to a lesser extend the glamorous bountiful American supersized Christmas. The first time we ever saw lights hanging outside peoples houses was on the US shows like the Dick Van Dyke Show. Th Christmas lights decorating the outside of our homes only really became a thing in the 90s. TV helped promote Christmas to the main event while New Year lost it's dominance. Also the special feeling around Hogmanay and New Year was lost as people began to go out clubbing and partying every weekend of the year into the wee small hours. New Year lost its sparkle as a result. The passing on of the older generation of Grannies cut the final tie with the past and the traditions. Many families maintained the customs for a few more years but they too eventually gave up. Organised Ceilidhs and Hotel getaway New Year packages or holidaying abroad at Christmas and New Year became popular with some. Even the "traditional" Scots TV shows (most of which were absolute crap anyway) are also relegated to history. "New Year isn't what it used to be" is a common phrase we hear. My generation was the last to experience the traditional New Year and first to experience the new slick corporate organised repackaged events. Nothing lasts
Yes
@@roddymcniven8734 Much of that nostalgic New Year celebration of the 50s and 60s we fondly remember was in fact only a generation or two old. Looking at the conditions my mining ancestors lived- basic miners rows of one room with ma pa the 9 weans and the.auld granny sharing an outside dry closet toilet with no door with 4 other families and a roofless wash house- the grinding poverty- New Year celebrations would've been primitive by comparison. I also discovered that an ancestor, a 67 year old grand uncle of my fathers, was killed Doon the pit on Christmas Day 1935. "The good old days"...
@Betty aye right Betty doll, gun out n gettin pushed is Mair important than public health and trying to save yer auld granny fat catching covid- nice tae see you've got yer priorities right! The SNP have banned nothin' - the Scottish Government on the other hand have taken precautions that will slow down the spread of the current variant.
@Betty ach !…..behave yersel’
@Betty Ach !…….. dinnae get sweaty Betty !
'96-'97 last unticketed year on Princes St. I got caught in the reason for tickets at the foot of the mound. I nearly stood on another lass who was down in the crush and helped pull her up. Someone else saw what was happening and started helping, we got her over to one of the ambulances. It was terrifying. It got VERY close to someone dying. Have the council got everything right - no, does it need crowd limits - yes.
What a fantastic chat with three enthusiastic people who enjoy each others company. There were people in Newcastle Upon Tyne who wouldn’t leave the house until a dark haired man had crossed the threshold and the White Heather Club with Andy Stewart was also popular. My Mum’s first introduction to stottie cake was a disaster from which she never recovered 🌞
Personal comment of Laura Botten: Aye! Now I know where to take my husband, Jock, for a special birthday on Dec. 31! He's perfect for a Scottish New Year. 2021 we lost my Aunt Florence whose house was always full New Year's Day gathering the farming community around. The generations coming together no matter how far they've roamed. Everyone joking "I haven't seen you since last year!" and playing in the snow out in the field. Community, that's what it's about!
My Dad, a short, dark haired man, was based up in Lossiemouth back in the 50's. On New Year's Eve, he was given a lump of coal and was taken First Footing by his friend, all along the friend's mother's street. He quickly got plastered.
In the 1950's (as a child) i used to have to first foot with a lump of coal. Mind you as a teenager in West Sutherland New Year lasted for days !
Loved this - my husband tells me of ginger ... he says it was the name given to any pop for kids, and the cleaning the house and the pots of soup. And ... his dad was a butcher too. Lots of steak pie!!
Although the Edinburgh Street party is not a traditional Hogmanay as it is spent with your family and neighbours traditionally, I would like to say for those that have moved to Edinburgh and away from their families and missing them and their traditions, the atmosphere of being with others, the good will and warmth when you are walking through the streets is still a comfort and a lovely thing, rather than being alone and seperate.
Good point
Love this. When I get back to UK one of these days, I shall make a visit to the Wee Museum of Memory in Leith. Bruce is right, the half hearted "banning of Christmas" by Cromwell's Puritans in England was feeble compared to the full on Ban of John Knox in Scotland. I am 11 years older than Bruce, and do remember Christmas Day games of footy (First Division) as a child. These ended in 1959. In Scotland, the last full program of First Division games on Christmas Day, was in 1971. Games were patchy after that, and in 1975, the remaining Scottish Division One games were switched from Christmas Day.
Now that's interesting
Thanks for this years work Bruce, I'm Brithish and 57 years young and have never learnt as much in a year as in the rest of my life about Scottish history. This is down to how good you are at telling a story 😃. Bruce please have a wee dram or two for us.. looking forward to more in the new year..Nollaig chridheil Agus bliadhna mhath ur"
United States here, My mom used to have myself and older brothers go out the back door and come into the front door at midnight. Even into adulthood my mother would call me new years day and ask if I went out the back and into the front at midnight, which I did. Not sure where it came from. She's been gone 2 years now and I'm still carrying the tradition. Thanks for the great content!
Guid lass
I remember ginger wine--my mother would buy a bottle of the flavouring and add water. I also remember cleaning the house thoroughly before the bells,and putting out the tray with a bottle of whisky, a bottle of sherry and one of ginger wine. There was cherry cake as well, and shortbread. In those days, whisky was taken in wee glasses,with no ice or mixers. And at midnight we opened the window wide, to hear the bells and the ships' horns on the Clyde, and to let the new year in.
Ginger wine was always home made. You bought the flavouring and made it in a large pot. We always bought the flavouring from the Co-op.
Wow, that brought so many memories back for me. I was brought up in Manchester to a Scottish Dad, Isle of Bute, and an English Mum, Eccles! Dad always did the first footing in our house, he was tall and dark haired, sometimes he'd get annoyed (Dad was normally very placid), as Mum sent him out of the back door at least 5 mins before the bells and he'd have to wait in the freezing cold until the bells at midnight, and then he could knock on the front door with his whisky, coal and shortbread in his hand! For a lot of years, we would visit friends of my parents who were originally from North East England, and their traditions were pretty similar to ours, I remember we all stood around an upright piano singing, whilst everyone took their turn. Oh I really miss those days. I was going through my Mothers things shortly after she passed away (Dec. 2019) and found a piece of coal wrapped in a plastic bag and wondered, at first, what this was for, until I remembered, that this would have been the piece of coal Dad would first foot with, he must have kept it after we had central heating installed! I've still got the piece of coal as a wonderful reminder of lovely and happy Hogamanay's spent with my Parents. I try to keep up some of the traditions, to which some of my English friends think I'm nuts, but I don't care and I hate it when I hear people saying that they prefer Christmas to New Year! Anyway, All the very best to you all and Lang May Yer Lum Reek. x
Ah that's lovely
I remember many of the mentioned traditions back in England too as a boy. This year was our first new year as owners of a pub in a Scottish fishing village and the whole affair was very well supported by the many. New years day we gave away free food ( veggie chilli ) which was very well received and ginger beer is still a firm favourite for plenty down in the bar. We look forward to reinvigorating some of the old ways and traditions in our new Scottish home.
All the best for 22 to you and yours Bruce.
Used to love new year back in the day in Stronsay (Orkney isles) one of the smaller isles so proper old school community. Went first footing and would visit several houses. Dancing in the hall till the bells then off to one house for soup and drams, then another for music and drams and so on until getting your ‘breakfast’ at a final house before heading home having no idea how you made it there. Then New Year’s Day came and off our you went again and if you didn’t go out. Then you had folk into yours. If the lights were on there would be folk in the door. Sometimes this went on for days.
There was always a guitar or two passes round the room to anyone willing to play, with different generations playing different songs and those lacking in ability (such as myself) made up with enthusiasm. This accompanied by a fiddle, banjo keyboard or whatever depending on who was in at that time. I mind having relatives visiting and they took friends with them who stayed in self catering at the other end of the island. When they called a taxi these English guests couldn’t believe their eyes when the driver (egged on by the locals) proceeded to belt out a few classics on his keyboard and have a couple of OVDs before he took them home 😂. This was I should point out in the days before the drink driving laws were as tight as they are now.
Another year I recall we all got snowed in our Granny’s house. This was not a problem. The party just continued until the snow melted. Thankfully my dear old Granny (rest her soul) had ample food drams and tins in for everyone and we all just kipped where we could. One year I remember when me wee brother was around 12 he was tasked as ‘Barman’ if you will, asked to pour out the drams to all the guests. This turned out to be one of those bad ideas conceived by a room full of drunken people and was quickly stopped when it became apparent that Sam had been taking sky sips of drinks before handing them out. Safe to say young Sam required a fair amount of Lucozade come the morning of the first.
Miss those days so much. Now I live elsewhere and we never get first footers anymore me and my wife have a nip at the bells but that’s the height of it. Sad really. Maybe after covid this is the kind of thing we could bring back.
I am from Liverpool, we always looked forward to the Andy Stewart show and listening to the bagpipes on the TV. My mother always wanted a dark haired person to enter by the front door and leave by the back, we also had a coal fire, so she would have someone carry a piece into our house. I really miss the bagpipes!
As a child I can remember being allowed up late to see in the bells. My mum always had a a spread out with shortbread black bun sandwiches nuts crisps etc. Aunts and uncles would be there as well as neighbours. Everyone would take a turn singing or dancing. When I got older just before the bells I'd get sent outside the back door with a bottle or some food so that I could be the first foot of the new year.
Exactly
I grew up in a typical mixed Canadian household, my mother's parents were both immigrants from Scotland. Her mother was from Uig on the Isle of Lewis and her father from West Calder. My father was from Hungary. The holidays were always a mish-mash of their traditions. We did observe first footing on New Year's Day, which was a source of anxiety because my red-headed, Irish godmother was often an early visitor.
However, there was one sector of British Columbia's economy, mining, that celebrated January 2 as a holiday. It was affectionately known as "Wrestling Day". If "Boxing Day" occurs after Christmas, then it seems appropriate the "Wrestling Day" follows New Year's Day. The purpose was to allow miners to return to mine sites after the holidays. Most mines are in the far north away from any town. To travel to them, you have to fly on a scheduled flight to the nearest town then catch a small bush plane (or two) back to the mine site or drive for several hours. This allowed everyone to enjoy New Year's Eve and sober up before making the long trek back to work. As far as I know, this is the only sector that followed this practice. Logging is usually shut down in the winter.
A LUMP OF COAL
I had perplexing experience at work about a lump of coal left on my desk near Christmas time. Of course, in Scotland it is considered as good wishes for a warm hearth for the winter but in many European cultures it is considered a gift for bad children. A co-worker with a Scandinavian name left a piece on my desk. I was really worried about what I had done to piss her off but didn't say anything about it. She finally approached me late in the day about it and wondered why I hadn't said anything. I told her and she laughed. Her maiden name was MacDonald. So much for Multi-culturalism.
I grew up in Stonehaven and saw The Fireballs every Hogmanay. Highly recommend going to see them if you can!
Theyre aff this year they tell me
@@ScotlandHistoryTours
Aye, it really sucks. But when they’re on it’s spectacular.
@@Calumba1904 It’s become a bit too popular in recent years.
thank you, Bruce for another great installment of Scottish History. my parents were from Mississippi. every New Year's Day(January 1st), momma would try to have "black eyed" peas, boiled cabbage, and ham for a meal. each item had it's special purpose for good luck. it's been too long ago and I can't remember what each one was for. in the South, supper is our evening meal.(even in the Army, we called it supper.) in other places it's called dinner. thanks again for another great story.
Whit an absolute delight. Beautiful conversation. Brings back so many memories.
I was born in' '67, and came to Australia, with my parents of course, when I was two. Hogmanay is still my most important night of the year. We have a few friends round. It is normally very hot, so we entertain outside and BBQ, laugh and drink. At the bells I get out my pipes and play in the new year. Everyone at our party is in the street. We are loud but our neighbours aren't eejits so all is good. We finish off the night with more drinks and music. Next morning we have a bacon and eggs BBQ breakfast and bring in the new year at 11am, toasting with a dram the Scottish new year. (11am in a Australia is midnight in Scotland). Everyone who stayed the nights toasts again and the party goes on. Best night of the year
From a young age in the 1970s I was put out the house just before the Bells, with a bottle. When the Bells went I was the first foot. I also have memories of the extended family gathering on Hogmannay and having a good old sing song into the New Year.
I brought my version of Hogmanay to Ireland. I stayed in the pub till after 12 then went to an Irish friends house with Fruit cake(nae black bun) fire wood(nae coal) and whisky. They had no idea of this tradition but they loved it.. Its never to late to bring this back.
Also made soup and had steak pie.
Love your channel keep up the great work.
Lang may yer lum Reek.
Born in Rutherglen, Glasgow in '65, I fondly remember a rather quiet and sober whisky toast at the bells before waiting for our first foot. My dad always prearranged his dark-haired friend to come to avoid any bad luck at the start of the year brought with the appearance of someone with blond hair at the door. With shortbread and a bottle of whisky in a bag we would make our way up the street popping into the neighbours'' houses until we all landed at the designated house, now packed with people, food, drink and music. There we would all party the night away until the first signs of morning. Sadly Janeta, the vivacious host at number 61 passed away this year - I raise a glass!
I'm 65 Bruce and remember all this lovely couple said. I remember first footing with raspberry cordial and coal and shortbread at 12 years old. After that? Let me tell you a story!
😅
That was fantastic. Memories!
Thanks Bruce...from South Africa
You're welcome
My family is Welsh, growing up we lived in Bradford, I well remember the New Year, my mother scrubbed the house made sure everything was ready for the next day. Coal, silver, food and drink was always offered for the first footer. We still did it every year until we lost the coal fire. Opened doors and windows.
My family in Australia in the 70'S celebrated as was discussed, the cleaning of the house, the best table cloth and the house shining from the spring clean. Then good friends and family and first footing with a bottle, shortbread and a lump of coal. Thank you for bringing back such beautiful memories. Happy New Year fae Australia.
😘
I had my first Hogmanay in 1971 in Thurso. Me and my Dad left the house just after the bells, each with a piece of coal, slice of bread and a half bottle of whiskey. I quickly lost my Dad and didn't see him again for 3 days. Then, anybody who was holding a Hogmany party just left the door open. You just made your way from party to party, sometimes you even met the house owners. Nowadays sadly, no one would just go off to the niebours and leave the house open to all firstfooters. Such is progress.
I have a year or two on you Bruce, my memory of Christmas day was my dad in his working clothes, seeing us opening our presents before going to work. Santa visited my Grandparent's on Hogmanay so we had double hit of presents. Christmas was for kids and Hogmanay for adults. We were packed off o bed, where we listened to the muffled comings and goings, then surveyed the fallout in the morning. Then there was the first Hogmanay I was allowed to stay up wondering what the fuss had been about.
Great article Bruce! As a young American Sailor based at RAF Machrihanish in the late 70's and early 80's I
That was great Bruce. As a Canadian with Scottish Heritage it’s great learning about Hogmanay traditions. In Canada Christmas really starts after Remembrance Day and goes till Dec 25th. New Years Eve and New Years Day. As a boy always visited my grandparents and spent the time with them. I’d heard of first footing maybe from my grandpa who has Scottish background.
My Mom’s side is from Newfoundland and the kids always dressed up as Mummers to visit my Nan on Christmas Eve and she’d pretend she didn’t know who the kids were 😂.
At my age now I’m looking for more traditional ways to celebrate New Years. I guess working retail makes Christmas / New Years here feel a little manufactured, kind of like what you have going on Edinburgh it sounds like. We always have family get together on Christmas Day and New Years Day.
There are some traditional foods on Christmas. My Mom always makes her Shortbread. My in-laws do a turkey on the barbecue and have traditional same meal with same vegetables. Then have a conversation circle after dinner.
Then they go around the circle reviewing everyones last year goals. If you accomplished your goal you get cheered and if you didn’t you get booed 😂. Then they go around and everyone has to come up with a new goal for the new year.
The community based traditions like Newfoundland Mummers and Hogmanay really sound like fun and heart warming. Idea of a people walking down the street playing pipes or fiddle and being welcomed by neighbours sounds like a ton of fun.
Maybe it’s time to start some new traditions. Going to Open my window to let the old year out and the new one in. I better leave open for awhile though to make sure 2022 is good and gone😂.
Live shows in Canada in 2024. Shows in Halifax, Annapolis, New Glasgow, Moncton, Montreal, Perth , Ottawa, Toronto, Fergus, Seaforth, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria. Most of the details are here. www.brucefummey.co.uk/shows.aspx
During the war, my aunt, who lived in Ayr, worked at Prestwick Airport. They only got one day off over the festive season, but she said that there was something close to civil war between the Scots, who wanted New Year's day off, and the English , who wanted Christmas day off.
I must have watched this video a couple of years ago but I've just repeated the exercise. My wife was born in Bridge of Allan and her parents and her sister were all Scots, moving to Teesside in the late 1950s. In their street in Redcar there were at least a couple of other Scots families. Every year at Hogmanay there'd be a party which I (starting at 21yrs old?) and my friends (my best man used to go out with and later married, my wife's school friend) used to join in with. Basically my parents-in-law, as they became, used to do a big spread of food, and the group would go from house to house at the end of the cul-de-sac in which they lived. I remember we youngsters used to go to the pub first but would end up at the "party" after closing time. After the first year, we learned to "pace" ourselves because we were still going strong at the food and drink and listening to music as breakfast time approached. After we married and later moved to a village in North Yorkshire, I think the families in the cul-de-sac still partied but they agreed between themselves who would do what - "we'll go to the X's for a starter and some drinks, then go to Y's for a main course and more drinks, then to Z's for some pudding (clootie dumpling) and more drinks, then to ours for the rest of the night for nibbles/yet more drinks...."
As they got older, into their late 70s/80s they decided to go to a local hotel for a dinner/dance but eventually they moved away/became too old to do that and now none of them are left - not much of a surprise as they were middle aged then and we are talking about my joining in those Hogmanay celebrations almost 50 years ago.
The good news is that me + the wife are still married 42+ years later and my Best Man & his wife have been married a few years longer than that.
Although my family is Welsh, and lived in a different part of town, we did the first footing thing, too (less elaborate and less drink involved than the Scottish side of the family!) with some dark haired member of the family or a friend doing the deed carrying some food (bread), a drink and a lump of coal first through the door.
Happy Days! Probably a little quieter this New Year though .... In front of the TV with food & drink and probably won't even go to the pub because it will be filled to the rafters with part-time drinkers so that season-ticket-holding professional drinkers like us can't get near the bar ...
Good video though, as we expect from you, Bruce!
Nice comment Raymond.
Very sad to hear you don't do first footing anymore. I'll never forget the hospitality in Glasgow, at Hogmanay, how they would ply you with food and drink, very like Galicia, the Celtic area of Spain. And in the North East of England, you were welcome in anybody's house.
Bruce, thanks for doing the interview with the man & woman who grew up celebrating Hogmanay as it used to be...always best to hear of history & tradition from the people who lived/grew up with it.
I'm in the U.S., descended from mostly German immigrant stock, and I also see that some of the old traditions we used to follow have changed or gone away in my lifetime. We develop new traditions but they seem flimsy compared to the old ones, which were often due to poverty and/or necessity--such as your mention of traditionally bringing coal for a Hogmanay visit, so there'd be sure to be heat in the house for the celebration.
For my Grandpa, Tom & Jerrys were mandatory at Christmas and New Years--and that's the only time we drank them, I think because they had been an extravagant treat when Grandpa was growing up. (Tom & Jerry is a drink of fluffy beaten egg whites with the yolks and sugar mixed in, added to a glass of either cold or hot milk with rum for flavoring.) But now the few of us who remember drinking Tom & Jerrys with Grandpa drink pasteurized store-bought egg nog at Christmas (it's just not the same!), because the women who used to prepare the Tom & Jerrys (beat the egg whites & yolks separately, etc.) have either died and/or been replaced by younger women who say that Tom & Jerrys are too much work. And apparently the rest of us are too lazy to do the job ourselves, or too cowed into doing without (when I've tried to make them, I've sometimes been told "Get out of my kitchen...I have a meal to prepare!"...and I guess the tradition is not strong enough to be worth the fight??).
I'm laid up recuperating from rotator cuff shoulder surgery (*2nd* surgery on the same shoulder in 3 months!!), and that's how I found your channel, surfing TH-cam. I'm going to waste most of a year with recuperation & physical therapy....but it won't entirely be a waste, because I'm learning a lot of Scottish history from you. You're an excellent storyteller, which keeps your videos interesting, and I'm enjoying the ride....Thanks.
I relate this from a slightly different perspective than most. In 1965 I was a 14 year old American living in Edinburgh. Christmas was a real let down from an American boy's perspective, absolutely nothing! I think we were the only family on our block that really celebrated Christmas. New Year's was a totally different thing to a young American. As I understand it the tradition was to go from house to house with a bottle. It would start at one house then every one would grab their bottles and go to the next house on the street. This was repeated until no longer practical (sober?). My folks thought this was a great thing.
Thoroughly enjoyed this :) Thanks
You're welcome
What nice story-telling. I enjoyed those stories.
Thanks for listening
Just love how the Scots get their way about what they want one way or another! I’m a kid of the 60’s also. Raised in Denver, Colorado. We celebrate Christmas eve- going to church to hear the story of Christs birth and sing Christmas carols. Santa brings gifts that night when all kids are asleep; Stuffs stockings hung above the fireplace with wee gifts & candy. But the big gifts, if you were a good lad or lass all year, were left under the Christmas tree for you to open Christmas morning and we celebrate it as remembrance of the birth of Jesus and his gift of eternal life. A big Christmas dinner with Turkey or Ham, all the trimmings, pies and candies are all a part of the days celebration. People decorate their homes with lights and yard displays beginning just after our Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November. Christmas night our family always drives around to see them all, & to cap off the day! New Years eve is a huge party with food & drinks. At almost midnight there is a countdown of the last few seconds to the final second of letting go of the old year and welcoming the new. Lots of fireworks, music, champagne, kisses and cheers as midnight arrives.
Brought back many memories listening to this chat ...ginger wine, first footing, lump of coal... my Nana & Grandad, and Dad home for Christmas, if only in my heart and thoughts. Thank You.
Wonderful!
Being a continental import, took a few years for me to get the traditions thing, but when friends got married off to local lassies, I learnt that on parts of the Ayrshire coast, first footing is very much still a thing; I was quite a popular first footer, being 6'4"+ and a stranger (well, probably strangest...). Since leaving Scotland, been back a couple of times for Hogmanay with friends, but what I miss most is the post-hangover steak pie on New Year's Day.
Haha! My Grandma on Dad’s side was a strict Presbyterian. She disapproved of Christmas.
I saw a copy of a news paper from 1973, it was from the Scot’s side of the border. A minister (fun sponge) was having a campaign against a local school, they had the audacity to have a Christmas tree.
We had non alcoholic home made ginger wine. Alcohol was disapproved of. The whiskey came out for grandad at new year.
Nowadays I am up for all kinds of Christian/pagan fun and merrymaking. Even a bit of gayety!
Have a merry Hogmanay! All the best.
What! No Clootie Dumplin'? My mother made it every year in a pot on the fire with two sixpences inside. Never managed to get one. I remember the smell of the Mackeson stout with the stone stopper in the bottle that my father drank and Duncan Macrae on the TV singing "The Wee Cock Sparra".
My Yorkshire granny used to say My Wee Cock Sparra all the time
Thanks again Bruce. very heartwarming this...cheers!!
My pleasure!
A'reyt Bruce. Nice to hear from real peoples' experiences. I am a dinner and tea sort too.
I spent many New Years on a local pub crawl in fancy dress, many times in snow and ice. Then home to bring the coal in for good luck.
I moved to another smaller town and there the local club replaced the pubs. The local club in the city I grew up in had been burned down in a riot and many of my community moved away, so I get the idea of times gone and friends displaced. Oh, f'r old long sin'.
My girlfriend often asked about going to Edinburgh one New Year, but I assumed it would be commercial and instead suggested Benidorm for a genuine atmosphere, but we always end up with it being a busy time at work like you suggested, so never go. The last couple of years have been quiet at home. Strange times, hopefully soon replaced by future party times to come.
One New Year the pub shut at 00:30 and a friend had a new flat to show off. Another friend and I were invited to help ourselves to whisky, from a fresh bottle. The host nodded off. Come about six we woke him, thanked him for the drink, gave back the empty bottle and said we really had to go get home for breakfast. "Happy New Year".
...btw, we all had our "party pieces" as well (HATED IT - being put on the spot when we were kids - but it's the best thing families/communities could ever engage in!)
"OFF WITH THE TELLY!"
(apart from Fummey!)🤣
That was it for our New Years,mum being an exile Scot. Andy Stewart and the White Heather Club. Top of my head here but Kenneth McKellar and Moira Anderson in there too? Oh yes,and the Crabbies! Happy New Year!
Sounds about right
Good to hear about old traditions that are slowly forgotten but i reccon new are being made 👍👍👍👍👍
Harumph to the new traditions I say😠
How many memories this brought back . I am 83 and my memories are of the early 1940s in Glasgow.I thought Hogmanay was much more exciting than Christmas. Everything had to be clean and new clothes , even one item ready for wearing for New Year. Our Hebridean neighbors put out their fire and relit it when New Year rang in. The best cloth was on the table with Sultana cake and Cherry cake Shortbread and Ox tongue with bread and if you were lucky.,real butter. The kids were wakened up if they fell asleep and given a little hot toddy, would be considered child abuse now.
Ken Tait ,I remember the party piece, and if you were reluctant they sang … Tell a story, sing a sang,, show your bum or oot ye gang. The kids knew they would get some extra cash from their relatives , who had all had a few drinks. The door was opened to all, nobody would ever have been turned away. Such great days. Thank you Bruce. I have been away 63years and still miss it. I go through the motions at Christmas but it does not have the meaning of Hogmanay and Ne’ er day .
Bruce, you're wonderful.
You rock!
I was in the park, under the castle for the party at the end of 2004, headlined by Blondie and the Scissor Sisters. Couldn't see the stage due to a large bush but watching the locals laugh themselves into unconsciousness at ppl slipping down the muddy embankment we were standing on was FAR better. As an Aussie on his first trip abroad it was BRILLIANT. Thanks Edinburgh.
Blondie and Scissor Sisters sound great, but nothing to do with a Scottish New Year. That's kind of the point. Glad you enjoyed the trip though
Growing up in the sixties, ma granny made plain cake, current cake, the flavored wines, and of course, the nippy ginger wine. Good chat brought back childhood memories.
Here in New England, Christmas celebrations didn't really become popular until sometime in the 19th century: previously, the Puritan authorities actively suppressed the 'riot and disorder' they associated with the holiday. The New Year generally suffered the same fate for a long time.
"Definition of a Puritan: one who lies awake at night, tormented by the thought that somewhere, somebody may be enjoying himself."
Anyway, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
😂
I'm in the US and my family has a party every New Year's Eve for friends. We just gather and talk and have some food and sodas. One person likes to set off fireworks, so he does that right before midnight. I've never been to a manufactured New Year's party or event and I'm 73.
I'm U S so Christmas has always been celebrated right along with New Years Good Friday and Easter.
I so enjoyed this! It reminds me of my summers with my Gramma in Maine when I was little. I was always an old soul who had sheet for old ways & it was a regular thing for her to take me to one sister or brother’s house to “visit”. She had 6 siblings and I enjoyed listening to them reminisce about the way things used to be.
It was fun hearing all your “ayes” in convo!
For New Years in the 1st here, my grandparents were always with us in VA where they escaped their Maine winters. We would stay up watching Dick Clark and watch the ball drop in Times Square. My Gramma would almost be like a little kid with her excitement watching it. She’d been watching it on TV since the 50s. Once she got into her 80’s, she was nearly blond, so we put a kitchen chair up to the TV so she could get up close & watch as best she could. We have pics of her up there with her cane watching. She was adorable. Our family were strict Protestant fundamentalists so there wasn’t a drink or smoke in sight 😩🤷🏻♀️
I love the symbolism of coal, whiskey and Shortbreads. Thanks for sharing this ✨
Big shout out to the bloke wearing a very Port Adelaide looking jumper. Onya Bruce you always do everything in style.
😜 I have no idea what a Port Adelaide jumper is
@@ScotlandHistoryTours the colours he is wearing "Rocking ". Black, White and Teal.
I'm coming to Adelaide with a live show in February. Please spread the word adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/stories-of-scotland-af2023
I love Scotland! Specially new year!
We were allowed to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve, and were allowed one glass of wine on New Year’s Eve.
The Ginger Wine you mentioned, my Mum used to make it for when we put the tree up. It was a tonic wine cordial (non-alcoholic obviously) that she bought from the Co-Op and came in a brown glass medicine sized bottle with a few different flavour options (ginger being the worst of the bunch). It had to be massively diluted with sugar added and then boiled. Every year once the decorations were up, the big and wee lights were switched off, so that it was just the glow from the fire and the fairy lights, then my Mum would bring out her Granny’s decanter with matching shot glass sized glasses and we’d drink tonic wine cordial and eat hot mince pies with a dollop of cream.
On Hogmanay my Mum used to get us kids to help clean the house from top to bottom while she was doing the washing and making a pot of soup, my Dad would help too if he wasn’t working), my Dad would go off to a social club that he had to pay his annual dues at for an hour or two in the evening. The rest of us would all get showered and dressed in our best party clothes and settle down to watch The Steamie, Scotch and Rye and whatever Scottish New Year show was on. My Dad would be home just after 10, so with plenty of time to get a shower and dressed smartly and then he was ready to play barman to ensure everyone had a drink to bring in the bells. Once the greetings were exchanged, we’d dance around the living room to the Scottish music. Then once our First Foot had been, we’d go to our next door neighbour’s and be theirs.
New Year’s Day we’d visit my Dad’s parents where we would have roast beef cooked by my English Granny. Then we would go to my Godmother’s that night, as she always had quite a large typically Scottish party with lots of drinking and singing. The second was just like Boxing Day in that we all relaxed watching films, eating sweets and having relaxed meals.
My father had a taste from the bottle of CO-OP cordial , he danced arounnd like a man possessed!!!
I a ten year old ...loved ginger wine and the grannys would compete for the best version.
Sneaky drinks from the decanter had to be mastered... like a yard of ale!
You took me back
I spent Hogmanay in Edinburgh in 1989 with a group of other USAF from RAF Lakenheath. My best memory was going to the pubs and having all of the Scottish lassies just begging us to speak since we were Americans. They just wanted to hear the accent.
Aye, I hear ye😜
Interesting that the first known reference to the word 'Hogmanay' is from the household accounts of Sir Robert Waterton of Methley, Yorkshire, England in 1444.
It records payment for a big 'hogmanayse' and little 'hogmanayse'.
And there is no record at all of the phrase or custom of 'first footing' before 1800.
I'm from a German and Scottish family best of both worlds Christmas and New year.
Yay
Thanks Bruce was great to hear about how local people celebrated New Year, in urban Scotland in the past.
Here in west Cornwall for years, many local adults would flock to St Ives (CARS, BUS, TRAIN, TAXI) in "fancy dress" , great fun
When you got there you we would always bump into old friends, ( which u didnt recognise at first, due to fancy dress) when going from pup to pub.
There would be live music and buskers every street.
Real friendly atmosphere.
As the town clock struck midnight we would all rush out the pubs, on the streets (and the beach, if the tide was out) to count down and sing " old lang syne" watch the fireworks over the harbour, dance, go for a dip in the nude, party and smooch ..
Seemed to me each year there would be a fad of a particular fancy dress... one year there were hundreds of "Osma Bin Ladan" another year loads of Micheal Jackson....
I was always went as witch (chance for me to fly about on me broom)
fun times
Across in Fife you have a spectacular view of the fireworks for free.
I remember in the '70s that the police joined in the festivities.
Nice video about Scottish traditions, Bruce. I enjoyed it very much. It made me think how we celebrated Christmas and New Years in my old area of the USA (Detroit, Michigan) and how things changed, and not for the better. When I was a kid, Christmas was the big holiday, the majority of family and friends visiting was done on Christmas or within a day or two. New Years was a well controlled party. As time went on, Christmas traditions slowed down, many disappeared, and New Years turned into an amateur night drinking fest. Just not the same anymore. I live in Orlando, Florida now, and Christmas tends to be a strictly family affair, or would be if COVID wasn't around. My son and his tribe just left my place after spending Christmas Eve. He made a nice dinner (basically a Southern meal, honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, etc). We opened gifts and had a good time. My oldest daughter was going to hold a full family gathering, but she and her hubby got the Rona. We're going to try for a gathering on New Years instead. Our own little Hogmanay.
Midnight on the 31st of January !!!
Midnight 31st December best time to be there, for the bells
My granny used to make ginger wine from a concentrate like a cordial. It was non alcoholic (of course) and I have a vague memory she perhaps added sugar to ferment it but I wouldn’t swear to it.
My granny moved to Montreal, Canada when she was just a newborn, in 1921. I remember so many years later, and now so many years past, that we did almost everything that's been described in this video. Huge family gathering at my grandparents house, music, dancing, singing, drinking, and of course, first footing. I had no idea at the time that it was a Scottish tradition. My grandparents wouldn't have experienced Hogmanay in Scotland, I believe my grandpa was born in Canada, and my granny, as I mentioned, came here as a newborn, but obviously their own parents, my great-grandparents, had brought the tradition over with them,. That would have lasted a good 50+ years until everyone started moving farther and farther away from one another. Now I'm thinking of taking up the bagpipes so I can go out to the street on New Years Eve and terrorize my neighbours!!! 😆😆😆 But they'd probably call the police, cuz you're right, there's very little sense of community these days, and where I am, pretty much none whatsoever. Thanks for the video, brought back some good memories.
Yes, do that... but come and see one of my live shows in Canada as well... www.brucefummey.co.uk/shows.aspx
I have always enjoyed your videos finding them interesting and informative. This one? I felt like I was invited in to a family gathering, thank you! Exactly what I needed as this year comes to a close and my own family is far away.
Ah that's lovely Robby
This was fascinating Bruce, even for a spoiled American such as me. We just hang around the house, eat some snacks, like cheese and crackers, crack a bottle of champagne at midnight and watch Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rocking Eve and the ball drop at Times Square in New York City. Bless you and thanks for such interesting videos. I love them.
Ah thamks
Yes ginger wine was bought at the chemist in a small squareish dark bottle then made into about 8 pint bottles dads share had rum added to it. It was really hot and spicy 🤗
Being nearly 54 now but I remember one of the jobs leading to up to Christmas was making ginger wine with my dad ... That was always the kids tipple and always had a kick to it . Made a refreshing change for coke or lemonade.
my grandma on the other side babysitting let me sit up on her bed one year, I was eldest. she gave me a Stones Ginger Wine for midnight :-} I was 6. I was born in 1962.
Hi Bruce I was born and bred in the South of England my dear Dad was from Ireland and at Christmas he use to give us kids a wee glass of Guinness each saying it was good for us lots of iron in it.😁
I’m in Texas of Scots/Irish descent. In our family we always make Hoppin John Black Eyed Peas and Cornbread on New Years Day. Brings you good luck eating Black Eyed Peas…