New Year’s Eve. Traditionally, this was more enthusiastically celebrated in Scotland than Christmas, but Christmas is now a much more elaborate festival here than it once was. Still, Hogmanay is a high point of the year. No tasks should be left undone. The door may be opened to let the old year out and the New Year in. First-footing is still an important ritual. One hopes that the first person to step over one’s threshold after the clock strikes midnight will be tall and dark. Traditionally they might have brought salt or coal, representing prosperity for the coming year – and they should certainly not come empty-handed. While Burns’ Auld Lang Syne may be sung to see the old year out, a fitting song for bringing the New Year in is
A Guid New Year tae ane an aw
And mony may ye see
And durin aw the years tae come
Happy may ye be.
An may ye nee'er hae cause tae murn,
Tae sigh or shed a tear.
Tae ane an aw, baith great an sma,
A hertie, Guid New Year!
We can’t see what is in our personal future as we look forward into a new year and make good resolutions. As Robert Burns says in To a Mouse, The best laid schemes o mice and men, Gang aft agley. But we can look into the future and predict the weather. Here’s how!