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Hogmanay and First
Footers- Celebrate the New
Year like a Scot (Bobbie Burns and a
wee dram will be involved)
CAR MAGAZINE
JULY 2021
Above: A city scape view of fireworks over Edinburgh Castle, highlighting the Balmoral clock tower on
New Year's eve. image by IStock
From bonfires to parades of burning tar barrels, carried above the heads of marchers wearing fancy
dress, or other night time marches in the north where people still dress up in the hides of cattle and
run through a village while being hit with sticks ignited to produce smoke that ward off evil spirits
roaming the land at the turning of the year-- arguably no country does New Year's Eve and Day with
more panache' then does Scotland. It could be imagined that the roistering is directly related to the
NEW FEATURES
Vikings that found the Shetlands to their liking. The tradition of first footing , still practiced in Scotland,
NEW MODELS
likely came from the early invaders. That smoking stick was called a hogmanay, which has given its
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