GREETING 1939

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23233, 30 December 1938, Page 11

GREETING 1939

NEW YEAB BEVELS CELEBRATION OF HOGMANAY SCOTS' ANNUAL CUSTOM If good fortune is sought for the household in 1939 it is essential that the first visitors to cross the doorstep after midnight to-morrow should be a dark man and a fair woman. Equally essential it will be that neither should be empty-handed. Dame Fortune will not mind if those who usher in the Now Year are drawn from the guests of the house, so long as they are outside when midnight strikes. Custom also decrees, but not emphatically, that the male visitor should carry something with which to toast the New Year, but it will suffice that there is within the house the wherewithal tr lo the honours. This i. but one of the traditional ceremonies of the Scottish and North England Hogmanay, which lesser peoples know as New Year's Eve. In many households in Auckland where there is a fondness for old-time practices all the rites of first-footing will be observed. Those who do not know of other times may be expected to "make whoopee'' in American fashion. Queen Street Orowds The fact that New Year's Eve this year falls on a Saturday night, which is not a late shopping night, may reduce the number of revellers who assemble annually at the foot of Queen Street to greet the Ne.w Year when neighbouring clocks strike midnight. This very factor, however, may swell the numbers at the inevitable round of parties and festivities in suburban homes.

The passing of time has robbed Hogmanav of many of its original ceremonies, but as long as there are Scots to assemble the occasion will be celebrated with whisky, music, dancing, reminiscences, first-footing, and certainly more whisky. Children in New Zealand do not make a round of the neighbours begging for oaten cake on Hogmanay, but other customs associated with the beginning of the new year are scrupulously observed in many an Auckland home. In the Scotland of former days Hogmanay marked the beginning of a holiday of uproarious joviality. Most of the quaint customs have disappeared, but first-footing is still a rite of importance. The origin of the name Hogmanay is quite uncertain. A popular belief, however, is that it is the survival of an ancient ceremony of the Druids, in which the offering of sacrifices was followed by a banquet, and the gathering of mistletoe. Scottish Customs More palatable fare than oaten cakes is associated with the modern celebration of Hogmanay. Scots hospitality is at its height oil this happy occasion, and. apart from the invited guests, any chance caller is offered food and drink, usuallv in the form ot rich cake and whisky. Dancing and the singing of favourite Scots songs help pass the evening, and sometimes, the stirring music oi the pipes in a suburban home delights the guests and scandalises the neighbours Reminiscences of young days in Scotland. of happy years at a great university, or of simple life in city or country, flow freely as the celebrations continue. A climax is reached at midnight, when the first-footing commences. Sometimes it is only one of the guests who leaves the house and with due ceremony enters the front door, to be received with acclaim and to take part in the subsequent toasting. Calls are paid on neighbours and Scots folk living in the vicinity, the revelry continuing until the New Year has well and truly welcomed.