HOGMANAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20760, 31 December 1930, Page 8

HOGMANAY.

OLD SCOTTISH CUSTOM.

To-day, the last of the old year, is the Bay that ywas very widely celebrated in Scotland and in parts of the North of England under the name of Hogmanay. The same,name was given to the oatmeal cakes that wero customarily given to childron on that d«iy. On the morning of Ne>v Year's Eve children used to visit tho houses of friends and solicit gifts by crying out that they had come for their Hogmanay. From door to door they .would go singing Hogmanay, Trollolay.Gie's o' your white bread and nane o' your grey. Another jinglo very widely used on the occasion and boisterously sung by children at neighbours' doors ran thus:— Rise up pood wife nnd ehako your feathers. Dinna think that wo are boggnre. Je are . bairns come out to play. Get up nnd gie's our hogmanay. Many people who were brought up in Scotland vivid recollections of taking part as children in these festive visits, but it is doubtful if tho custom is still celebrated anywhere in New Zealand.

word Hogmanay, which is spelt in many different ways, appears to be of rrench derivation, but the origin of the custom is probably lost in obscurity, alnoujjh some would trace it back to year Uldic rites at the turn of tho