And a Happy New Year

In Scotland,the land of my ancestors, they have a special New Years tradition called Hogmanay. It starts with New Years Eve and people go 'first-footing'-visiting people's homes and being the first one to set foot over the threshold after midnight. Gifts of food and the frequent 'wee dram' are involved. The first person to set foot over your threshold was supposed to set the luck of the house for that year. It was specially lucky if your first-footer was tall dark and handsome. That started in ancient times when you wanted it to be a Scottish man instead of a Norse(Light haired) man. Friend or foe. There is a website,of course, Hogmanay.com There is another tradition called 'swinging the fireball, which I am not making up, where one would make a fireball with chickenwire and flammables and swing it around the top of your head while running through the streets. I hope you would be wearing a kilt and yelling at the same time. I think I would like Hogmanay. It sounds like a good time.