Traditions abound around the New Year. I just learned a new one. We will have to ask a lady in Scotland, who we know quite well, to find out if it is still an active holiday tradition. According to my new calendar, which has a oodles and oodles of information, it is a tradition to open your front door on New Year's Eve in Scotland before midnight to let the old year out and the new year in. Eileen!! we need a confirmation. I hope she is not asleep....... Hmmm... with the temperature approaching zero on the fahrenheit scale...add 40 divide by 1.8 and subtract 40= -17.7C, the door would not stay open long. What would I do with an old year in my closet....(door squeaking open). Eek!! look at all those old years just hanging around in my closet!! EILEEN!!! Jerry
My Grannie, from Saltcoats, had to have the house scrubbed spotless and insisted on the first person to step over the door after the passing of midnight to be a dark haired man carrying coal! (I'm talking a tradition what is about 120 yrs in the past)
Jerry you're right. We open our doors just before midnight to let the 'auld year oot' and the New Year in. We also, like Islandlife's Grannie expect our first foot to be a dark haired man (supposed to bring luck) bearing gifts of coal (to make sure we're warm) a black bun (to make sure we have food to eat) and whisky (to make sure we always have something to drink.) Sadly there's not many Scots nowadays who first foot this way. It's quite sad to see the old traditions dying out.
I looked up the dark haired man and found out that it stems back to the days of the Viking invasions. Households would not like to see a light haired visitor swinging an ax at their doorstep. The black bun is a fruit cake with raisins, currants, almonds, citrus peel, allspice, ginger, cinnamon and black pepper, completely wrapped with pastry. We can wash it down with a single malt Glenmorangie or Laphroaig or a blended whisky like The Famous Grouse or The Black Douglas. Sounds like a new year celebration. A little about Islandlife's grandmother's home town of Saltcoat: The Scottish town on the shore of the Firth of Clyde, would harvest and sell sea-salt. Jerry
We don't have any traditions per se...except the foods that we eat at this time--oliebollen. However, when we lived in Spain, people would wait until the clock bells would begin to chime--twelve chimes in all, at midnight. After each chime one pops a grape into their mouth . You can never chew and swallow fast enough, so at the end of the chiming, I had a mouth full of half-chewed grapes, seeds and pulp. Saying the words, Feliz año nuevo is in that instance ...saying a mouthful.
Wow a dozen grapes that is quite a mouthful! I looked up oliebollen. Dough with raisins or currants covered with powdered sugar. A New Year's delight. I'm getting hungry! Oh! No wonder, it's lunch time. Jerry
We are about to set our most important tradition out, Dh is doing his now, I will get mine ready soon, this goes way back and many generations in my family, that is we put money (only silver) coins out on a window sill in the old year and bring it back in, in the new year we bring it in New Years day. If you do this you will never be broke, and you will prosper. Also we will have our traditional pork & sauerkraut on New Years day, we never have anything that scratches for it's food, that would be bad luck. And we believe the first thing you do in the new year, you will do all year long, so no laundry, dishes etc.
My ancestors came over here from Scotland, Ireland, the U.K. and The Netherlands and none of their traditions were handed down for very long after they got here. Some might have passed down for a few generations but none have made it down to me, and most of my greats----- came here in the 1600's
