Mise a-nochd a’ tighinn gur n-ionnsaigh – I come to you tonight

A dh’ùrachadh dhuibh na Callainn, – To renew the Kalends,

Cha ruig mi leas bhith ga innse – I need not tell you

Bha i ann o linn mo sheanar. – That this was the way of it since the time of my grandfather.

Above is an excerpt from one of the many New Year verses which were commonplace among Gaelic-speaking communities in Scotland in the past. Oidhche Challainn is what the Gaels call New Year’s Eve, with the term Callainn related to the word ‘Calends’ which was the first day of the month in the Roman calendar. New Year’s Eve for the Gaels, as was the case for many other cultures, was a time of renewal and a time to protect oneself from misfortune and disease in the coming year. These customs associated with this time of year have now all but disappeared, customs which involved the ‘balaich Challainn’ or Hogmanay lads visiting each house in the village where they would recite a New Year Verse, or Duan Callainn. They would also be equipped with the ‘caisean-uchd’ or dewlap which was the breast-skin of a sheep, goat or deer wrapped around the end of stick. After the various rituals had been carried out to banish evil for the coming year, the Hogmanay lads would receive food and a dram from the household and then move on to the next house.

The Gaels were not alone in giving particular significance to the New Year, and there are many other instances of cultures throughout the world banishing evil and seeking good fortune or renewal for the New Year. In Bohemia, they would burn or throw a straw figure into the water at New Year, the figure was a symbol of Death. In North America the Iroquois had a series of New Year customs, which included the men donning skins of wild animals and wearing terrifying masks, before moving from hut to hut making frightening noises. And there are many, many other New Year customs which we hear about. For thousands of years, people across the world have sought hope and renewal through mid-winter festivals which occur at the tipping point of the year, when in the midst of cold and darkness the day begins to lengthen once more and reminds us of distant but inevitable spring.

Today in the Highlands and Islands, people for the most part celebrate New Year in much the same way that the rest of Scotland does, with a village cèilidh or some intrepid ‘first-footing’. There is little mention of the New Year verses. However, in Stoneybridge in South Uist in the Western Isles, and perhaps in one or two other Hebridean communities, they still keep some of the old Callainn customs, as the following account from a villager reveals:

“Today the young boys from Stoneybridge still gather at a particular house on Hogmanay and then set off round the village with a sack or pillowcase. They then recite the Duan Callainn or New Year Verse, after which they receive some food for their bag, nowadays they are given sweets, crisps or cakes. However, they used to also carry a ‘caisean’, which was a stick wrapped in sheepskin and rags which would be lit. When they would approach each house they would recite their Verse, and it would end with the words, ‘open the door and let me in’, upon which the woman of the house would admit them. The boy with the torch would pass it round the head of the woman of the house three times, and if the flame went out, it was seen as a portent of death! As you can imagine they don’t keep this custom anymore! The boys would then be given food, bread or meal in those days, and they would bless the house as they left calling, ‘God’s blessing and those of Callaig’. At the end of the night everyone would gather in a designated house and the food would be divided between the boys, making sure that each household in the village got their own share.”

Although the pillowcase, the sweets and the Verse are all that remains of Callainn traditions in Stoneybridge now, with no sign of the caisean-uchd, what they do is linked to customs which go back hundreds of years, and to beliefs which go back thousands of years. At one time you would hear the Duan Callainn or New Year’s Verse in many Highland villages, with the New Year’s Boys and their caisean-uchd doing the rounds.

No matter what you do this New Year, the team at mygaelic.com wishes you every happiness and success in 2010, and as some might say to you in Uist, ‘Aois Cailleach Èirisgeigh!’, which means the ‘Age of the Old Woman of Eriskay!’. It is a toast which wishes you a long life, as long as that of the eponymous Eriskay woman!

And why not tell us about how you celebrate New Year in your country or area, or even better why not tell us about any past New Year’s traditions from where you live!

Written by Alasdair Campbell