Happy New Year! 

It feels strange for me to greet you in this way, since I am writing in December. I must admit that I have very strong traditional views when it comes to the passage of one year into the next. It is customary here in Ohio for people to say “Happy New Year” at any point in time leading up to the first day of the new year. Instinctively, I refrain from returning the greeting. I should explain.

In Scotland, the celebration of Hogmanay is one of the ways in which we Scots distinguish ourselves from our fellow UK citizens—and not always, I should add, in a commendable fashion! It is unlikely that many of you will have given any thought to the significance of who will be the first to cross your threshold at the stroke of midnight. By contrast, Scots pay very close attention to the identity of that person. The tradition of First Footing dates as far back as the eighth and ninth centuries, when the first visitor could have been an invading Viking. It is believed (and this is not a biblical concept) that the first person to enter a house after midnight may bring luck or misfortune in the year ahead. In the fifties in Glasgow, it was not uncommon for the first visitor to appear carrying a lump of coal to add to the fire with the greeting “Lang may yer lum reek,” which is a way of saying “All the best for your future.” With a little research, you will find that what was at one time a local and family tradition has morphed into thousands on the streets of Edinburgh carrying torches and singing “Auld Lang Syne.”