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By definition, the New Year marks the first day of the calendar new year and is the day on which the year number for any given calendar is incremented. In most cultures this is a special day and is marked in some manner. Globally, this is now the first of January in the Gregorian calendar and marks the continuation of a practice dating back to the Romans. However, many regional and religious calendars remain in use that mark the New Year distinctly.

The origins of New Year's day falling on January 1st goes back to Roman times. According to Roman writers, the modern year (January to December) goes back to the time of King Numa Pompilius, circa 700 BCE with January being the start of the year having an even more ancient history. Indeed, January is named after the Roman deity Janus, the two-headed god of beginnings and endings, entrances and exits. However, it was customary for Roman writers to identify succeeding years by the names of that year's consuls and it wasn't until 153 BCE that consuls entered office on the 1st of January. Since then, January 1st has been the customary beginning of the year. A practice that has continued until this day (despite a period during the Middle Ages where several other days were variously used to mark the New Year [1 March, 25 March, Easter, 1 September, 25 December]).

With the globalization of the late 20th century, the date of January 1st has become the global date for New Year, even in those countries and cultures with their own New Year celebrations on other days (e.g., China and India). Indeed, the celebration of New Year has become a global event world-wide with many cities providing large-scale events, in particular the lighting of fireworks at midnight on December 31st.

Typical New Year celebrations include a party on December 31st that goes through well past the chimes of midnight and where the New Year is toasted and the old year is bade farewell. In France, the New Year celebrations last 6 days, starting on January 1st. New Year's Eve is known as la Saint-Sylvestre and on this day the feast of le Réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre in celebrated, typically with a good dinner where dishes such as pancakes and flavoured duck or goose are served. Champagne is commonly served, though vin chaud (hot wine) is not uncommon. Traditionally the festival cake, galette des rois (King Cake) is served and this sometimes a little king figure baked inside. In France, like several other countries, it is believed that a pleasant dinner on New Year's day ushers in a nice year to the family.

As for other New Year traditions, many foods and serving styles are thought to bring good luck, closure to the Old Year and a fresh beginning to the New Year.

Of these, perhaps the most well known is the pomegranate, which has the meaning of 'abundance' and is frequently used in New Year's day dishes in the Mediterranean region. This makes pomegranates an excellent garnish for other dishes and a good base for cocktails and other drinks.

Other foods thought to bring good luck include:

• Cabbage — believed to represent money.
• Lentils — believed to symbolize coins.
• Pork — the pig represents progress and a rich life.
• Long Noodles — noodles or pasta represent the thread of a life and, by extension, long noodles or pasta signify a long life.
• Collard Greens — in the Southern States of the USA these represent the green colour of US dollars.
• Spring Rolls — Their golden colour and shape represent gold bars..
• Chocolate — The Aztecs used chocolatl (processed chocolate) as money.

Ring-shaped dishes and desserts are also popular at New Year (Bundt cakes, prawn rings, rice rings with curry fillings etc. The ring represents both eternity and also represents the closure of the past year.

Of course, the largest and most well known New Year celebrations is Scottish Hogmanay and this is detailed below.

In actuality, Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year, but in modern usage it is also synonymous with the Scottish celebrations of the New Year. However, nominally, it represents only the start of a celebration which lasts through the night until the morning of New Year's Day (January 1st) or, in some cases, January 2nd which is a Scottish Bank (public) Holiday.

The roots of Hogmanay extend back to the celebration of the winter solstice among the Norse, as well as incorporating customs from the Gaelic New Year's celebration of Samhain. The Vikings celebrated Yule (indeed, in Shetland, where the Viking influence was strongest, New Year is still called Yules, from the Scandinavian word.), which later contributed to the Twelve Days of Christmas, or the 'Daft Days; as they were sometimes called in Scotland. The winter festival went underground with the Protestant Reformation and ensuing years, but re-emerged near the end of the 17th century.

The origins of the word hogmanay is hotly debated and rather shrouded in uncertainty. Most authorities believe it to have come into Scots through the Auld Alliance with France. Indeed, the most satisfactory explanation is a derivation from the Northern French dialect word hoguinané, or variants such as hoginane, hoginono and hoguinettes. Those being derived from 16th century Old French aguillanneuf which is either a gift given at New Year, a children's cry for such a gift or New Year's Eve itself. The second element in hogmanay seems to be the French term l'an neuf ie the New Year itself. However, there are a number of other suggested derivations and these include:

Scottish Gaelic Òg-Mhadainn/h-òg-mhaidne ('new morning')
Gaelic ochd meadhan oidhche ('eighth midnight' [eighth night from Christmas])
Dutch hoog min dag ('day of great love')
Old English haleg monaþ ('Holy Month')
Irish Gaelic theacht meán oíche ('the arrival of midnight')

The popularity of Hogmanay in Scotland is partly explained by its Norse and Celtic antecedents, however the practice of celebrating Hogmanay was re-enforced by the Presbyterian church, The Kirk who, after the reformation, essentially banned the celebration of Christmas in Scotland from the end of the 17th century to the 1950s. The reason for this has its roots in the Protestant Reformation when the Kirk portrayed Christmas as a Popish or Catholic feast and therefore had to be banned. Indeed, many Scots worked over Christmas and, as a result, their Winter Solsitce holiday was therefore at New Year when family and friends gathered for a party and exchange presents, especially for the children, which came to be called hogmanay.

Hogmanay traditions extend from the 31st of December (known as Ne'erday), which many Scots still celebrate with a special dinner, usually consisting of Steak Pie. It was also traditional to clean the house on this day and there was a superstition that all debts should be cleared before 'the bells; at midnight on this day.

Another widespread custom of Hogmanay was that of 'First Footing', which started immediately after midnight. This involved the first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbour being presented with symbolic gifts such as salt, coal, shortbread, whisky, and black bun — with each gift intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder. Food and drink (as the gifts) are then given to the guests. As with other New Years' Day celebrations this 'first footing' is supposed to fix the luck of the household for the remaining year.

It has long been a tradition at Hogmanay to sing the Burns poem Auld Lang Syne. This tradition has been exported and in many English-speaking countries it is traditional to sing a verse (and the chorus) of Burns' poem Auld Lang Syne (For [the sake of] old times) immediately after the stroke of Midnight. The poem is written in Lowland Scots dialect and the portion typically sung is given below:

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

It should be noted, however, that the last line of the first verse is more commonly sang: For the sake of auld lang syne? rather than using the words of Burns' original, as this helps with the phrasing of the verse.

You can find many more traditional Scottish recipes on the Scottish recipes home page.

New Year/Hogmanay Recipes

This site's alphabetical list of New Year/Hogmanay recipes follows (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 73 recipes in total:

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