New Year's Eve to you, as a gift of good luck. You got any weird customs ????
2006-12-28 00:33:45 · 13 answers · asked by the7thseal 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Other - Holidays
Try Ireland, when my family came to England they brought loads of customs and superstition with them. Many related to coal and food and animals. I recall my mother being most disturbed by birds getting into the house for sopme reason,.
Well anyway, Happy new year to you and consider yourself 'coaled'...!
2006-12-28 00:43:34 · answer #1 · answered by Ice Queen 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My grandpa was from Aberdeen and his Scottish Hogmonay customs rubbed off on me, I will not let anyone with blond hair let my new year in, it has to be a dark haired person that goes over my threshold first and they have to carry a lump of coal, a slice of bread and a penny, so all year long you will be warm, fed and have money, have a fantastic new year up in Bonny Scotland and may your hopes, dreams and wishes come true in 2007.
2006-12-28 16:41:58 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
" My brother in law's mum when she was alive used to clean her whole house from top to bottom on new year's eve - that's wierd ! I could never work out why"
It was considered very unlucky to have a house when the bells rang at midnight that still had 'last years' dust / dirt in it - and of course because on Hogmanay, people were expecting visitors and wanted their houses clean! But mainly because they didn't want bad luck.
I remember when I was younger being made to polish all the brass ornaments etc on Hogmonay and all the internal doors were washed down as well as the normal polishing/ hoovering - and that wasn't so very long ago!! Everything was scrubbed clean - and if we didn't move quick enough, so were we!!
2006-12-29 10:47:07 · answer #3 · answered by Ali07 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In Wales, around the christmas time (not so offten now)people dress up as Mari Lwyd (the grey Mare)
this was the bbc says
Imagine hearing a knock on your door around Christmas and being challenged to a battle of rhyming insults by a man with a scary horse with a skull-head. That's the Mari Lwyd - Grey Mare - a pre-Christian custom that's still acted out in parts of Wales.
also is Wassail - before mulled wine and punch, there was this
This is a tradition that went hand-in-hand with Mari Lwyd and other Christmas get-togethers. Just as we drink mulled wine and punch at Christmas and New Year parties nowadays, a Welsh Christmas at the turn of the century involved drinking from the wassail bowl.
These bowls were often elaborate, ornate and many-handled. The bowl was filled with fruit, sugar, spices and topped up with warm beer. As it was passed around, the drinkers would make a wish for a successful year's farming and a bumper crop at harvest time.
you also have this one which before looking up the Grey Mare i had never hear of but i thought i would share it
Calennig - trick or treat, Welsh style
Was trick or treat invented in Wales? Well, for centuries here in Wales, something very similar has been going on. Not at Hallowe'en, but on New Year's Day. Ever heard of calennig?
From dawn until noon on New Year's Day, all around Wales, groups of young boys would go from door to door, carrying three-legged totems, chanting rhymes, splashing people with water and asking for calennig - gifts of small change.
first footting is also praticised in many places not only Scotland.
2006-12-28 12:52:13 · answer #4 · answered by linz 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In manchester when i was young on new years eve you went out of the back door with a lump of coal a piece of bread and a coin, then you went back in through the front door. The coal meant you would always have heat, the bread meant you would always have food, and the coin meant you would always have money.
2006-12-28 09:16:23 · answer #5 · answered by budzi26 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My brother in law's mum when she was alive used to clean her whole house from top to bottom on new year's eve - that's wierd ! I could never work out why.
When I was a child my grand-dad used to first foot - be the first one to come over the threshold, carrying apiece of coal - and we lived in Surrey, so it's not just a Scottish custom.
2006-12-28 08:38:20 · answer #6 · answered by Star 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Scotchland? O o o that's where those funny eggs come from isnt' it? Scotch eggs?
And it's NOT a weird custom. It's a perfectly sensible idea. You are first footing and taking total advantage of someone else's warm fireside, so the very least you should do is take some of your own fuel along. Hey, be generous and take two lumps!
2006-12-28 08:43:54 · answer #7 · answered by Red Dragon 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Scotchland? Hogmonay? What are you talking about?
Are you from Alabama?
2006-12-28 08:39:59 · answer #8 · answered by mcfifi 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
hey! respect! i'm scottish. it's supposed to be for good luck, but it's just a great way to get a free drink/s! what we gonna do when coal runs out? arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!
2006-12-28 12:41:24 · answer #9 · answered by joxster 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Where's Scotchland? North of Englishland?
Regardless, I want to retire in the Orkney's...where my ancestors are from...then I'll spend my days throwing telephone poles around for fun.
2006-12-28 08:36:40 · answer #10 · answered by 4999_Basque 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋