Black Immigrant Daily News
New Year’s Day (NYD) is a public holiday in all countries that observe the Gregorian calendar; except for Israel.
As a result, NYD is the most widely observed public holiday.
Now, Israel uses the Jewish calendar, derived from the ancient Hebrew calendar that has remained unchanged since about AD 900.
However, the Scots have taken the international public holiday a step further by observing an additional public holiday.
The day after New Year’s Day is the second day of the year, in the Gregorian calendar. Some countries, like Scotland, also recognise January 2 as an additional New Year holiday.
Aptly dubbed the “Second Day of the New Year”, today, January 3, is observed as a public holiday in Scotland, United Kingdom.
Get this: NYD was a more celebrated winter festival than Christmas Day. And, it wasn’t until 1958, that Christmas Day (Dec 25) became a public holiday in Scotland.
Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner.
The festivities often spill over onto January 1 and sometimes into January 2. Scotland’s New Year is such a big deal that one day is not enough!
On those days, some towns in Scotland observe New Year on a different date: the night of January 11.
The origins of Hogmanay are unclear, but it may be derived from Norse and Gaelic observances of the winter solstice.
Customs vary throughout Scotland, and usually include gift-giving and visiting the homes of friends and neighbours, with special attention given to the “first foot”, the first guest of the New Year.
Also, the Hogmanay custom of singing Auld Lang Syne has become common in many countries. “Auld Lang Syne” is a Scots poem by Robert Burns, based on traditional and other earlier sources.
It is now common to sing this in a circle of linked arms that are crossed over one another as the clock strikes midnight for New Year’s Day, though it is only intended that participants link arms at the beginning of the final verse, before rushing into the centre as a group.
Today, New Year’s Eve in Scotland is marked with bonfires, torchlight processions, firework displays, and more.
NewsAmericasNow.com
