HOGMANAY 09
P H O T O :
C H A R L E S T A T W W W B A G A M E C O M
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EDINBURGH HIGHLIGHTS
There are a number of events under the banner of Edinburgh’s official Hogmanay celebrations this year. The main one is obviously the Street Party, with music from Frightened Rabbit, MYLO and The Enemy, but there’s also much fun to be had away from the throng. The official programme kicks off
with the Edinburgh Carnival, including the fairground attractions on Market Street. It’s a big year for fire and light shows, too: the Torchlight Procession on Tuesday 29 December culminates in the Son et Lumiere and firework finale on Calton Hill. The Night Afore – Light Night, on Wednesday 30 December will feature numerous light-related events in venues around the centre of town, including Winter Light, a performance in St Giles Cathedral by European electronic avant-garders Michael Begg and Colin Potter. There’s also a fire installation by street theatre artists Carabosse on the Royal Mile, which promises to be spectacular. The Off Kilter Dance Show runs at the Festival Theatre from Tuesday 29 December to Saturday 2 January, featuring a variety of dance styles choreographed by Mark Morris, Ashley Page, and additional special guests, with music by artists as diverse as Beethoven and Calvin Harris.
The Queen’s Hall hosts Afore
The Bells, a traditional affair with whisky, haggis, a ceilidh and a piper to bring in the New Year. The Assembly Rooms host their own ceilidhs with The Family Hoog on Thursday 30 and The Hoog itself on Hogmanay. Edinburgh Castle is offering the
chance to see a 16th Century New Year on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 January, which includes watching a chef preparing a Renaissance-style New Year’s feast. Just the thing to chase away those Hogmanay hangovers.
16 THE LIST 17 Dec 2009–7 Jan 2010
Alternative Hogmanay Fed up of the usual party-with-a-thousand-strangers nonsense the big cities are offering over New Year? Niki Boyle rounds up the most unusual celebrations happening throughout the rest of Scotland, to help you see the new decade in properly
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I f you’re a healthy combination of sporty and ah, carefree, there are numerous NY options available. The infamous Loony Dook takes place in various locations around the country, South Queensferry and Dundee. For the uninitiated, it involves stripping down to your skimpies on 1 January, then plunging into the nearest freezing cold river. Yes, you could do this alone, but it’s so much better when there’s a load of other ‘sports enthusiasts’ around you turning their nipples blue as well. For something a bit less teeth- chattering, but still largely incomprehensible to spectators, head up to Kirkwall in Orkney on Christmas or New Year’s Day for the Ba’ Game – a hundred-a-side football game played out in the
like-minded
streets, with rival sides the Uppies and the Doonies chosen from their respective places of birth in the town. Scrums, handballs and the occasional sighting of the ba’ itself have all been recorded, with many games lasting several hours. Chaotic, frenzied, and a great source of war-stories in the pub. Being a country with its fair share of pagan and Viking ancestry, it’s unsurprising that there are a lot of fire festivals burning up and down the country at this time of year as well. The Stonehaven Fire Festival, which takes place on 31 December, sees the Aberdeenshire town’s inhabitants whirling 16-pound flaming balls around their bodies as they parade through the streets to the local harbour, where the fireballs are thrown to fizzle out. Historically, this ceremony
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encouraged (accompanied by pipers and drummers) was meant to ward off evil spirits and give good luck to the the approaching year. We just think it’s a good excuse to disobey our mums and play with matches (which obviously, we have to say, you must never, never do), as non- locals to participate. Also of interest is the Comrie Flambeaux (or ‘beautiful flame’), in which villagers (also accompanied by pipers and drummers) lift ten-foot torches to be carried through town and then – you guessed it – extinguished in the local river. This one has a bit of a Hallowe’eny vibe about it, as fancy-dressed guisers and dancers follow the procession through town. A third fiery option is on show at the massive Biggar Bonfire, which is everything the name promises.
Finally, if you don’t fancy heading out into the country for Hogmanay, the least you could do is nick some of their weirder traditions. Dundonians find it polite if you show up at their door with a dressed herring on New Year’s Day; inhabitants of Comrie would rather have a lump of coal, a bit of cake and some whisky. If, on the other hand, you’re receiving first-footers instead of being one, twigs of rowan, yew, and/or holly hung above the door are said to bring good luck, and keep out mischievous faeries. Or drunken revelers, whichever you think is more likely.