Hogmanay is once again upon us, but do you know what it's all about?
The Scottish holiday marks the turn of the year and is celebrated on the final day of December.
Here's everything you need to know...
What is Hogmanay?
Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and marks the celebration of the New Year in the Scotland.
It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day.
The origins of Hogmanay are unclear, but it may be derived from Norse and Gaelic observances of the winter solstice.
Customs vary throughout Scotland usually include gift-giving and visiting the homes of friends and neighbours.
What is first foot?
First foot is observed on New Year's Day, and involves being the first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbour and often involves the giving of symbolic gifts such as coal, shortbread, whisky, and black bun intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder.
The first-foot is supposed to set the luck for the rest of the year.
Is Hogmanay celebrated in England?
Hogmanay refers to the New Year's Eve celebrations in Scotland, while in England they simply call it New Year's Eve.
This year in Scotland, Hogmanay parties like the Edinburgh street party have been cancelled due to Covid.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here