Irish and Scottish roots in Galicia/ North Western Spain

[Galician]

Funny that you mention the fact that red hair is linked to the Nordic folk.

I heard at a Ceildbh(?) that in Scotland there is a custom of sending one's darkhaired sons at New Year's Eve to greet the neighbors. It has to be a boy with dark hair, because if it's a blonde boy, he could be a Viking marauder.

[BoldHighlander]

Funny that you mention the fact that red hair is linked to the Nordic folk.

I heard at a Ceildbh(?) that in Scotland there is a custom of sending one's darkhaired sons at New Year's Eve to greet the neighbors. It has to be a boy with dark hair, because if it's a blonde boy, he could be a Viking marauder.

Extracted from The Highlander, November / December 2005

Firstfooters: In Scotland, it was, and still is, the custom for a stranger to enter the house after midnight on New Year's Eve. There were taboos about the luck such a stranger would bring, especially in the days of hospitality to traveling strangers. A fair-haired visitor was considered bad luck in most areas, partly due to fighting between the dark Scots and the fair Norse invaders. However, in Christian times a fair-haired man was considered very lucky providing his name was Andrew (because St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland). The firstfooter must make an offering, or handsel. The offering can be food, drink or fuel for the fire. Rituals which have evolved from this custom are many. An offering of food or drink must be accepted by sharing it with everyone present, including the visitor. Fuel must be placed onto the fire by the visitor with the words "A good New Year to one and all and many may you see." In today's fireless society, the fuel is usually presented as a polished piece of coal, or wood, which can be preserved for the year as an ornament.

[skauwt]

the modern custom in this part of scotland anyway for anyone to go to the door of friends or family with a wee drink or perhaps some food for the night party's it doesn't matter what they wear or what colour the hair is in days gone by they would bring a lump of coal to keep the fire going during the later night as most folk would be in bed for the early shift the next day

the days of coal and wood are long gone thanks to gas fires and central heating
most folk just bring there "carry out " though

[wildrover]

I vote to adopt in America this practice of showing up late at night at friends' houses with food and booze, starting more or less immediately .

[auld argonian]

the days of coal and wood are long gone thanks to gas fires and central heating
most folk just bring there "carry out " though

Interesting thought: I probably couldn't find a lump of coal if I wanted to these days. I distinctly remember there being a coal yard kiddy-corner from my parents' house when I was growing up but finding a lump of coal anywhere in Chicago these days? Fergit it.

Fortunately, however, there is no shortage of whisky that I am aware of...

Best

AA

[skauwt]

Interesting thought: I probably couldn't find a lump of coal if I wanted to these days. I distinctly remember there being a coal yard kiddy-corner from my parents' house when I was growing up but finding a lump of coal anywhere in Chicago these days? Fergit it.

Fortunately, however, there is no shortage of whisky that I am aware of...

Best

AA

in all honesty the only place youll find coal in central scotland these days a fake one in someones coal effect fireplace

[Galician]

Interesting thought: I probably couldn't find a lump of coal if I wanted to these days. I distinctly remember there being a coal yard kiddy-corner from my parents' house when I was growing up but finding a lump of coal anywhere in Chicago these days? Fergit it.

Fortunately, however, there is no shortage of whisky that I am aware of...

Best

AA

in all honesty the only place youll find coal in central scotland these days a fake one in someones coal effect fireplace

Wow, hadn't even thought of that. Now I really feel old! Well into my teens, most of the large apartment buildings in my area of NYC had coal-fired boilers. I remember coal trucks doing deliveries, emptying their loads through long funnels running across the sidewalk into the buildings' coal bins.

And who knew then that snow was white?

[macwilkin]

I vote to adopt in America this practice of showing up late at night at friends' houses with food and booze, starting more or less immediately .

It already has been; there is a similar custom to "first footing" in the Ozarks that the noted folklorist Vance Randolph wrote about in his book Ozark Magic and Folklore. Whilst elements of the ceremony changed, it followed the same format of the Scottish custom, which stands to reason, given the large amount of Scots blood among the hillmen of the Upper South.

T.

[BEEDEE]

Interesting thought: I probably couldn't find a lump of coal if I wanted to these days.

A charcoal briquette would probably do as a substitute.

Brian

[Pleater]

In Yorkshire there is a little chant -

'Old Year's out, New Year's in, please will you let the lucky bird in?'

Youngsters used to come knocking on neighbours' doors to be the first one over the threshold after midnight - 'bird' being the old term for a youth or maiden, I think.

The first footer had to be dark haired if the year was to be a good one - my grandmother recalled the year that a blond boy let in the New Year as one which brought dreadful misfortune to the family.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: