![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/DSCN1810.jpg\" "\\"Explorica")
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Scots take great pride in their New Year\u2019s celebration, so much so that they have their own name for it, Hogmanay<\/em>. (Say that ten times fast!) While the origin of the word is somewhat obscure, it can be traced back to either a French, Norse or Gaelic roots. How\u2019s that for a toss up? What is known, however, is that the Scots aren\u2019t shy about making some noise during the festivities. That\u2019s probably because for about 400 years, from the end of the 17th century to the 1950’s, Christmas holiday was celebrated quietly, if at all. Scotland upheld St. Columba’s monastic tradition\u2014that every day is God\u2019s day and no one day is more important than another. Since Christmas was just another ordinary day, most people began to let loose during the turning of the New Year\u2014a seemingly more acceptable reason to celebrate. Ironically, the spreading of good will didn\u2019t always appear merry to outsiders. It used to begin with a lump of coal. The brownish-black carbonic stuff is still given as a gesture of warmth and good luck for the coming year, part of a custom called \u201cfirst footing.\u201d Why the name? The first person to step their foot across the threshold of a friend or neighbor’s home brings gifts to begin the New Year with good fortune.<\/p>\n If coal is good luck in Scotland, fire is an even \u201cbrighter\u201d prospect. That\u2019s the case when sparks fly in Stonehaven, located along the country\u2019s northeast coast. In this region, the streets fill with men swinging 20-pound fireballs from 5-foot polls. The fireballs signify the power of the sun and hurling its flames across the towns is meant to purify the neighborhoods of evil spirits. Think of it as a \u201csurefire\u201d way to start a clean slate every year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scots take great pride in their New Year\u2019s celebration, so much so that they have their own name for it, Hogmanay. (Say that ten times fast!) While the origin of the word is somewhat obscure, it can be traced back to either a French, Norse or Gaelic roots. How\u2019s that for a toss up? What Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,63,172],"tags":[58,201,200,202],"class_list":["post-905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-parents","category-students","category-teachers","tag-educational-travel","tag-educational-travel-scotland","tag-newyear","tag-scotland","post_format-post-format-aside"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=905"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1118,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905\/revisions\/1118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}