Scottish Blog

Hogmanay is the Scottish celebration of the last day of the year.

Technically Hogmanay is the equivalent of the Scottish celebration of New Year, although putting it in such plain terms is certainly unfair to the event. In an interesting paradox, Hogmanay has become more a more unified celebration of the approaching year then its equivalent elsewhere, but it has achieved this by its un-unified customs and traditions that are localized to areas and even towns.

Hogmany is thought to stem from the Norse celebration of Winter Solstice and the Gaeilic celebration of Samhain. A number of other celebrations of the same time contributed to shape Hogmanay, as the celebration of the Winter Solstice is almost universal.
As I said earlier, Hogmany is unique due to its varying traditions, although there are some which are practiced throughout the country. One of these is the tradition of “first-footing”, which involves the first person to cross the threshold of their friend’s house after midnight giving them a symbolic gift. Originally this gift could have been salt, although this is no longer common, and a bigger gift like a piece of Scottish heirloom jewelry would be a more likely sight.

More regionalized traditions of Hogmanay vary greatly from one area to another. As an example Stonehaven in Kincardineshire has a tradition of constructing balls made out of flammable materials and featuring them in a parade which starts at the stroke of midnight. Some small fishing villages base their first-footing gifts around the local produce, normally in the form of a decorated hearing. While metropolitan areas of Scotland, like Edinburgh are said to lean more to the heavy consumption of alcohol and signing for their Hogmanay merriment.