Sherry Chandler » First Footers
First Footers
I spent a good part of my New Year’s Eve at ArtCroft (more about that later). The food was good, the company congenial, and the talk interesting, especially when our lovely hostess, Maureen Barker, began to talk about New Year’s celebrations in Scotland and the tradition of the First Footer.
For Scots, the celebration of the New Year has been much more important than that of Christmas. Celtic roots, said Maureen. On New Year’s Eve, they had a great house cleaning, culminating in baths for all the children, to wash away the dirt of the old year. Then the partying began, with visits to and from neighbors to bring a bit of coal and a wee dram. And when midnight struck, you wanted the first person over your threshold, the First Footer, to be the darkest person you knew. A dark first footer brought luck for the new year.
You must hear Maureen say “ferst fuiter.”
Well, I had heard of hogmanay and I had heard of ceilidhs. But not first footers, so I went looking for information.
On the stroke of midnight it is still common for houses to be “first footed” by a tall, handsome stranger bearing gifts. Although the first-footer is seldom a stranger, it is preferable that he is dark. This harks back to days of Viking invaders when a fair-haired man knocking at your door was more likely to inspire terror than pleasure.
And everybody, it seems, sings “Auld Lang Syne.” Here’s a verse for you on this New Year’s Day (be=buy, you can probably figure out “pint-stowp”):
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I’ll be mine;
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne!
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