First foot

Get up, goodwife, and shake your feathers, 
And dinna think that we are beggars; 
For we are bairns come out to play, 
Get up and gie’s our hogmanay


Hogmanay, a Scottish New Year tradition, is actually derived from an old french word meaning "the last day of the year". 


Immortalised in the Burns rhyme it allows people to knock on your door on the 31st and, after giving you a gift of coal, evergreen or gold, they expect gifts of food drink and warmth.


Somewhere along the way it was expanded to require a tall dark handsome stranger? And salt was added to the gifts. It's all about 'The Old Magic', but fosters a belief in kinship with all peoples at the start of the new year. A clean slate.


Happy New Year Blipsters! May your year be productive, healthy and happy. May you fire your shutter once a day and have no need of Photoshop.