What are the first footing rules?
 

Is it lucky or unlucky for a red headed man to enter your house first on new years?

These days I'd be glad for any man to enter my house on New Year's Eve, red headed or not!!!!! ;-)

Subject to anything Sheila has to say, I believe they should be tall, dark and handsome (rules me out, but they say that after a drink or two anyone's tall, dark and handsome, and after a few more you'll see two of them, too). A lump of coal is involved somewhere (I think it's supposed to bring good luck - my dear late father tried this on with my Christmas stocking one year, but I was not impressed when I tried to eat it in the early hours of Christmas morning).

http://www.new-year.co.uk/firstfoot.html
http://www.scotlandsmusic.com/Hogmanay.htm

The tall dark handsome guy was Lucky for me ((L)) lol...
Poor Patrick, what our parents try to con us with :)

<b>LOL </b>
&quot;They have to be male, tall, dark and handsome. They cannot be doctors, ministers or grave-diggers (!) - oh, and your first footer cannot have eyebrows that meet in the middle! ....&quot;

Scarlett, I wish you hadn't done that research! Now I discover that I only meet seven of those eight criteria!!!

Anselm

My thoughts exactly, Tallulah! :)

....if I drink enough a lump of coal will probably look tall dark and handsome.....

yes, coal does come into it somewhere...

I loved Hogmanay and first footing as a child because it meant I got to stay up late and greet the first footers after midnight. We had one man in our village who qualified as tall, dark and handsome (well somewhat handsome as I recall) and he must have first footed at almost every house.

Another first for me, pamettoprincess! Never heard about red-headed man. Also, just heard that one should say &quot;rabbit rabbit rabbit&quot; as first words spoken each month!
Also, eat black-eyed peas Jan 1.

It is LUCKY for a dark haired man to be the first one entering the household (handsome and tall are nice extras) bringing with him a lump of coal (for the fire), usually shortbread to eat and possibly a bottle (of the good stuff). It would be lucky and bring priosperity into the home (ensuring enough food, drink and warmth for the whole New Year).
My Mum would make my Dad go out the back door and in the front door before me or the 'wrong' sibling made the mistake of letting ourselves in and ruining the luck - no matter what we were carrying (usually a friend).
Gawd I could murder a curry just thinking of Hogmanay!
HAPPY HOGMANAY EVERYONE!

Blimey, I have always hated Hogmanay--the cold, the damp, the Scots blokes taking a slash in the streets and soaking my Ferragamo loafers, wanting to go to bed with a bottle of gin but having to stay up for that first foot. No! Give me beach in Brazil and a mohito for New Year's Eve, darling.

LOL, Balenciaga, chin chin darlin! ((D))

My mother's family always said &quot;rabbits&quot; on the first day of the month, and I was just about to try and look it up (to see if they were merely mad), when I saw Donco's comment. Whaddayaknow!

I also can remember hearing rabbits, rabbits, rabbits but began to think I must be mad and heard it wrong. So kept that little bit of information to myself all these years. Now I see Donco's post.

Patrick please do look it up and tell us the story behind this and why we are not completely potty.

Thanks.
Sandy

unlucky Anselm..I got them all !!

be right over Tallulah !

;-)

Muck

Muck, I just got sacked from my grave-digging job, so now I'm in on all counts.

Happy New Year to all.

Anselm

Rabbits and so on: A quick Google turns up a number of discussions. There doesn't seem to be anything in Brewer's. A couple of references mention inverting the language to drive out bad luck and bring in good - saying &quot;black rabbits&quot; as the last thing in the old year

Rabbits and so on: A quick Google turns up a number of discussions. There doesn't seem to be anything in Brewer's. A couple of references mention inverting the language to drive out bad luck and bring in good - saying &quot;black rabbits&quot; as the last thing in the old year and &quot;white rabbits&quot; as the first thing in the new year, or vice versa, or before going to bed and on rising at the start of a new month, and so on. I've seen one rather speculative attempt to claim that the 'rabbits' derives from a Hebrew word, but it's hardly likely that would creep into old English folk superstition and not (apparently) into any other language. I suppose it's a faint echo of some old magical incantation.

Mucky - am ready and waiting!!! ;-) ;-)

Patrick, how did 'rabbit' get from London to Maryland???

And, how doooo these things get started to begin with!

Happy 2006 to all no matter what you say each month!

I would guess a lot of folk customs went from Britain to America with the people...

In parts of Scotland and in Yorkshire in England, it is the custom to say as the final words of the old year &quot;black rabbits, black rabbits, black rabbits&quot; and as the first of the new year:&quot;white rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits&quot;. My family did this, and I have asked but the reason why (beyond &quot;well, dear, tis for luck&quot;) seems to be lost in the mists of time...

My country has the following rules for New Year first encounter:
1- If the first person that a male see is a Woman, then is good luck..

2- if the first person that a woman see is a Male, then is good luck..

At the other hand if a person of one sex see another person of the same sex, than you have bad luck during the year.

Also in New Year Eve, we trow away something old at midnight.
This custom does not apply to our spouse , companion or girl/boy friend.

First Footing is, of course, a great Scottish tradition. Not as great as it used to be, but still not bad.

Your First Foot should be male, dark-haired, tall and handsome. He should be carrying a lump of coal, shortbread/
Black Bun/or something else edible,and most essentially a bottle of whisky. Upon his entering your home, you will offer him dram of your whisky and he will offer you a dram of his. When he leaves your house, he takes his bottle with him (if there's anything left in it!), but leaves the coal and edibles behind for you.

The only person I heard the rabbit thing from was an English friend. Nobody in my family ever said anything about rabbits at New Year.

Would it help if I were to place a trail of bread crumbs leading to my door? I'd really like Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome to come pay me a visit!

Fascinating stuff. When a small child on a Scottish island many, many years ago I had to say on the first day of the month 'white rabbits' as soon as I woke up. If I forgot and spoke to someone before saying the words I was told by my parents that it was going to be an unlucky month.

Thank you folks for bringing back a memory I had completely forgotten about.

joe

Is it to late to say White rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits? Thanks for your answers everyone. It is too late for this year, but I will try to keep my red-headed husband from being the first to enter homes next year.

As already said, the idea was that your first foot had to be tall dark and handsome, and he had to carry a piece of coal. I think the deal was that they had to bring food, drink and fuel. Nowadays it's traditionally Shortbread, whisky and coal. The thing about the bottle is quite modern, and I, personally, think it's a bit naff to carry a bottle with you as you go round. The first footer had to be dark, because after years of Viking invasion, the people did not want a fair haired stranger at their door.

When we were kids it was a great night. We were sent to bed, and then allowed to get up again after midnight. The house would fill with people and there'd be songs and someone playing the piano, and lots of drink- but, in our house, at least, no drunkenness.

Just after the bells, my dad would open the front door &quot;to let the old year out and the new year in&quot;. And we would never have someone from the house as our first foot- although that's not a universal approach, since the group we were away with at the New Year, most of whom have Scots ancestry, are split down the middle on the subject.

100 years ago, there was a tradition of guising (trick or treating) on Hogmanany. I think some odd versions of it continue in some remote places, but it's rare now. That's asscoaited with the giving of gifts, which was done at New Year and not at Christmas. Kids were given tokens, which were called a &quot;Hogmanay&quot;

We have been going away as a group for nearly 20 years; to a remote house where we make our own entertainment. Hogmanay has turned into a huge commercial thing, probably mainly because of the fact that communities are no longer homogenous, and it's no longer acceptable (rightly) to drink and drive, so the walking round the neighbours is pretty much all over.

Debts are supposed to be paid; and the house was cleaned top to bottom before midnight. It was traditional to clear out the fire and light a new one after the bells. Mind you, in checking this out, I find that in some places, it was important to keep the fire in all night, instead. Here in Aberdeen, all the ships in the harbour sound their whistle, and sirens at midnight. That's real eerie.

My friend Iain's mum, who got fed up with him nicking a bit off her Black Bun every New year, for our trip away, has taken to baking one just for us. Now, if we can just get her to halve the quantities.......

We don't, incidentally, celebrate Hogmanay. We celebrate the New Year., and even in my father's time, it was a far bigger holiday than Christmas. indeed, it WAS a holiday, unlike Christmas.