In my
grandfather's house, between sixty and seventy years ago, on the 31st
December (_Hogmanay_), all household work was stopped, rock emptied,
yarn reeled and _hanked_, and wheel and reel put into an outhouse. The
house itself was white-washed and cleaned. A block of wood or large
piece of coal was put on the fire about ten p.m., so that it would be
burning briskly before the household retired to bed. The last thing done
by those who possessed a cow or horse was to visit the byre or stable,
and I have been told that it was the practice with some, twenty years
before my recollection, to say the Lord's Prayer during this visit.
After rising on New Year's Day, the first care of those who possessed
cattle was to visit the byre or stable, and with their own hands give
the animals a feed. Burns followed this habit, and refers to it in one
of his poems:--
"A gude New Year I wish thee, Maggy,
Hae, there's a rip to thy auld baggie."
The following was the practice in my father's house in Partick, between
fifty and sixty years ago, on New Year's day:--On _Hogmanay_ evening,
children were all washed before going to bed.
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