Does anyone know about the old custom of "first stepping". My mother told me about how they used to do this.?

Question

Apparently this was a party custom, but I don't know what it's all about.

Answer 1

I think you mean First Footing. This is to be the first visitor to a house on January 1st. This was a custom I learnt as a child from my grandparents in North Yorkshire. If I remember rightly, the visitor was supposed to take a piece of coal, a sprig of holly, some Xmas cake and a glass of ginger wine. There was a rhyme that I had to learn with it too.

However it is more a Scots tradition on Hogmanay. The following webpages give more details on the tradition north of the border. You may notice some similarities with what I was taught.
http://www.new-year.co.uk/firstfoot.html
http://www.visitscotland.com/library/hogmanaytraditions?view=Standard
http://www.hogmanay.net/history/faq

Answer 2

what the..............?