At midnight, they take to the streets, whirling their balls from five-foot-long wire handles, sending sparks into the nearby crowd. In this small fishing village about 15 miles from Aberdeen, men and women fill wire baskets with their own secret mixture of flammable materials that burn as long as possible. Celebrants in Comrie, the UK’s earthquake capital, light birch tree trunks at the stroke of midnight and carry the huge torches through the village before tossing them into the River Earn.īut by far the scariest of these events is Stonehaven’s fireball swinging parade. In Biggar, the bonfire is lit in the town’s central square, surrounded by shops and homes. ![]() To ward off evil spirits, “burn the old year out,” celebrate the sun in the days following the winter solstice, or bring luck for fishermen, Scots in Stonehaven, Comrie, Biggar, and, more recently, Edinburgh carry torches through their towns to contribute to a huge central bonfire. The redding also includes clearing all accumulated debts, which was probably easier in the days before Christmas shopping! 2. Any lingering spirits and diseases are cleared with a smoking juniper branch carried from room to room. Fireplaces are swept, a new fire is laid, and the old ashes are “read” (like tea leaves) to predict the coming year. Redding - or “readying” - the house for the New Year involves a deep clean. Whatever its origin, several centuries-old traditions are still celebrated today - in this order: 1. Or homme est ne, meaning “man is born.” Or og maidne, Gaelic for “new morning,” hoog min dag, Flemish for “great love day,” or haleg monath, Anglo Saxon for “holy month.” ![]() ![]() It could be from hoguinan, an old French word for a New Year’s gift. As a result, New Year’s festivities dominated the winter festivities for centuries.Īnd the Scots really do it up! New Year’s celebrations are called Hogmanay (hog-muh-NAY), although no one knows why. Even singing Christmas carols was a serious crime! It wasn’t until 1958 - nearly 400 years later - that Christmas became a public holiday. Christmas was banned in Scotland in 1560 when the country split from the Catholic Church.
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