Not all winter holidays revolve around gift giving. New Year’s traditions focus on reflection before looking forward, and doing something to make the coming year a little bit better than the one just ending. My mother always said that what you did on New Year’s Day was what you would be doing for the year, which is why no matter how late I am up celebrating with my friends the night before, I always make sure that I write on New Year’s Day, even if it’s only a paragraph or two. Some cultures call for a lot of noise at the turning of the year to scare away malicious spirits, and others hold that all chores and debts must be taken care of before the stroke of midnight so that you don’t drag any dirty laundry, literal or metaphorical, into the New Year.
The Scottish culture in particular holds New Year’s traditions in high esteem. For about four or five hundred years, the Protestant movement prevented the celebration of Christmas in Scotland (it was seen as too “Popish” or Catholic), so the Scottish people focused on the turning of the year, called Hogmanay in thier culture. Even though Christmas is now regularly celebrated throughout Scotland now, Hogmanay remains one of the biggest celebrations on thier calendar. Despite frequently frigid temperatures, the Scots people gather in town squares or go from home to home celebrating at multiple parties throughout the night. Gifts are given and good cheer is shared. And nearly all the Scots people participate in the tradition of the first footer.
The first footer is the first person to cross a home’s threshold after the stroke of midnight, and this person influences the household luck for the coming year. A tall, dark-haired man is said to bring the most luck, while red-heads and women are said to be bad luck. The first crossing of the threshold should be in instead of out, to make sure that your luck and prosperity do not flow away from the household throughout the coming year. And if the first footer comes bearing gifts, that brings the most luck of all. Some bread or cake keeps the household from hunger, while a few coins ensure prosperity, and a bit of whisky brings good cheer with it.
But what’s a woman to do when she lives alone in the middle of a lonely Scottish heath? This is precisely the problem that my character, Agnes Milton, faces in my short story, “Over the Hogmanay Threshold.” Agnes is quite possibly the most superstituous woman in all of Scotland, and she uses all of her whiles to make sure her New Year will be blessed. But things don’t go quite as planned, leaving Agnes in danger.
To find out what happens to Agnes, read my story, “Over the Hogmanay Threshold.”
