The Daily Waffle

In Victorian times, Scotland was still celebrating the turn of the year far more than Christmas. This was probably a result of the Reformation when the Scottish Protestants attacked the heathenish festivities of Christmas even more than the English did. But the Scots simply delayed the party for a week and turned the New Year into Hogmanay.

Hogmanay
There is much speculation about the origins of the word ‘Hogmanay’, possibilities include it deriving from the:

- Greek words for ‘holy month’ or ‘holy moon’
- Corruption of the French ‘Homme est né, trois rois là’ (‘Man is born, three kings are there’) – the popular song which begins ‘Hogmanay, Trollolay’
- Ancient Scandinavian name Hoggu-nott or Hogenat for the night before the feast of Yule, the ancient Scandinavian feast of the winter solstice
- Words ‘to the mistletoe go’ or ‘to the mistletoe this New Year’ from the French Touraine patois au gui menez or au gui l’an neuf respectively – Both an allusion to the ancient Druidical practice of gathering mistletoe for the midwinter ceremonies.

Hogmanay also refers to the practice, still very much current in Victorian times, that involved, rather like gooding and wassailing, people asking for treats – in this case they were children and they were hoping for cheese and oatcakes. Chambers wrote:

In country places in Scotland, and also in the more retired and primitive towns, it is still customary on the morning of the last day of the year, or Hogmanay, for the children of the poorer class of people to get themselves swaddled in a great sheet, doubled up in front, so as to form a vast pocket, and then to go along the streets in little bands, calling at the doors of the wealthier classes for an expected dole of oaten-bread. Each child gets one quadrant section of oat-cake (sometimes, in the case of particular favourites, improved by an addition of cheese), and this is called their hogmanay. In expectation of the large demands thus made upon them, the housewives busy themselves for several days before hand preparing a suitable quantity of cakes. The children on coming to the door cry ‘Hogmanay!’ which is in itself a sufficient announcement of their demands.

Songs were also sung, ranging from the traditional song beginning ‘Hogmanay, Trollolay’ to the raucous:

My feet’s cauld, my shoon’s thin;
Gie’s my cakes, and let me rin!

Guisers and Guizards
All over Scotland, local celebrations to celebrate the end of the old year and the start of the new had their own particular charm. In Deerness, in Orkney, the town formed a huge band that went around the district, knocking at each door and singing. After singing, food and ale was shared with the band who would then go on to the next house. Hogmanay was the favourite time for the mummers to do their rounds in Scotland, though they also sometimes did them at Christmas, too. North of the border, however, they were known as ‘guisers’ or ‘guizards’ and they performed very similar plays to the mummers. Chambers, as with most forms of drama, was not overly impressed, referring to them as a ‘rude and grotesque drama’.

~Anna Selby, The Victorian Christmas