📰 Just a short post highlighting another interesting article from The Quern-Dust Calendar – originally published 24th December 1993 – explaining the link between Scottish Gaelic customs such as the Gillean Callaig/Hogmanay lads & the New Year custom of ‘first-footing’, mostly done in the Lowlands (at least when this article was written):
“…But how, I have been asked, does it
all relate to the New Year custom that has survived best in Lowland Scotland, first-footing?
Well, first-footing is the converse of
expelling evil. In the brief gap between
one year and another when the normal rules of time are suspended and the
future can be influenced, a little bit of
suggestive magic is performed. Bad is
thrown out, good is ushered in. But
why is a dark man carrying a bottle in
one hand and a lump of coal in the other considered to be good?…”
🥃 Read why below:
🪟 Related post for a tradition that people do in the house: https://theaddersden.wordpress.com/2022/01/04/old-year-out-new-year-in/ 🚪
📸 Featured Photo credit: Pexel
Scottish history, archaeology, folklore & more~ 
[…] First Footing […]
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