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HOGMANAY & NEW YEAR'S EVE

The magical firework display and torchlight procession in Edinburgh on Hogmanay (the Scottish New Year celebration) - and throughout many cities in Scotland - is reminiscent of the ancient customs of long ago practiced to ensure a prosperous new year.

 

Traditional ceremonies of yesteryear would involve people dressing up in the hides of cattle and raucously running around the village being hitting each other with sticks!  Other festivities would also include the lighting of bonfires, rolling blazing tar barrels down hills and tossing torches. Animal hide wrapped around sticks and ignited produced a smoke that was believed to be very effective to ward off evil spirits. The smoking stick was also known as a Hogmanay.

 

"First footing" (that is, the "first foot" in the house after midnight) was a new year's tradition which would ensure good luck for a household.  The "first foot" should be male, dark-haired (believed to be a throwback to the Viking days when blond strangers arriving on your doorstep meant trouble) and should bring symbolic coal, shortbread, salt, black bun and whisky.

 

Other good luck traditions to be performed before midnight include cleaning the house on 31st December (taking out any old ashes from the fire), and clearing all your debts before "the bells" at midnight.

Happy Hogmanay and Guid Luck for the New Year!

Scroll down for the seasonal collection, and for more details about the tartans and their inspiration, click any picture to visit these individual entries on the Curious and Unusual Tartans website, where the tartans are arranged within the calendar year.

Enjoy this special selection of tartans!   

Click any picture below for more details about the tartans

 on the curious and Unusual Tartans website!  

these tartans and more all reside within the calendar year of tartans.

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