Scottish Holidays
- Hogmanay, a New Year celebration, is unique to the Scots. First Footing, a big part of Hogmanay, is still celebrated in Scotland today. During Hogmanay or First Footing, the Scottish people visit friends and relatives in the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 1. The first foot in the house after the New Year should be that of a dark, handsome man carrying coal, shortbread, salt, a black bun and whiskey. If this occurs, the household becomes with prosperity throughout the new year. Households take turns every year hosting a dinner for the families within their group. Many households exchange gifts, called hogmanays, after midnight.
- Scots celebrate Beltane's Day on May 1. This Druid fire festival goes back to pre-Christian days and may have originated with Baal. The rituals and festivities aim to encourage the crops to grow. People light bonfires in many places, and young girls rise early on May 1 to wash their faces in the morning dew. Today, many observances that had fallen out of custom have been revived in Edinburgh on Calton Hill.
- Scots once celebrated Lammas on Aug. 1 with a Celtic feast called Lugnasaid. The church later absorbed it, and it became known as Loaf Mass Day. Annual fairs and other Lammas-related events once took place in most parts of Scotland; today, the holiday passes without fanfare, with the exception of Lammas Fairs at St. Andrews and Kirkcaldy. On this day in ancient times, the Scots traditionally gave the first fruits of the harvest to the cleric and made a loaf of bread with the first grains.
- Scots celebrate Martinmas, a day when rents and contracts became due, on Nov. 11. This feast of St. Martin of Tours was a time of killing cattle and making haggis, almond horseshoe cakes and black pudding for feasting. The feasting led to 40 days of reflection and penance, known as Advent. After Advent preparations for Christmas, feasting and celebration began.
