#hogmanay — Public Fediverse posts

My Winter Solstice card in 1986 included portraits of my three pets--Naomi, Iris, and Winslow. We're looking out over the fields of a then-undeveloped Pennwood. #greetings #greeting #wintergreeting #solsticegreetings #holiday #winterholiday #winterholidays #Yule #ShabeYalda #DongZhi #Soyal #Saturnalia #Christmas #Hanukkah #Kwanzaa #StLucysDay #hogmanay #winter #celebration #wintercelebration #wintercelebrations #flamingo #flamingos #santahat #santahats #lawnornaments #lawnornament

Still Game star Gavin Mitchell describes moment he ‘stopped breathing’ after choking on dinner

The Still Game actor revealed how he choked on his dinner and was spent night in hospital (Image:…
#NewsBeep #News #Entertainment #BBC #GB #GlasgowRoyalInfirmary #Hogmanay #HughGrant #StillGame #STV #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/377406/

Today is the second day of #Hogmanay in #Scotland, time for first-footing https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/orkney-neolithic/ring-of-brodgar.html?s=mb #travel #NewYearsDay

Today is the second day of #Hogmanay in #Scotland, time for first-footing https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/orkney-neolithic/stones-of-stenness.html?s=mb #travel #NewYearsDay

Today is the second day of #Hogmanay in #Scotland, time for first-footing https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/orkney-neolithic/?s=mb #travel #NewYearsDay

Today is the second day of #Hogmanay in #Scotland, time for first-footing https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/the-road-to-the-isles/?s=mb #travel #NewYearsDay

Today is the second day of #Hogmanay in #Scotland, time for first-footing https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/skara-brae/?s=mb #travel #NewYearsDay

Today is the second day of #Hogmanay in #Scotland, time for first-footing https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/scotland-isle-of-iona/iona.html?s=mb #travel #NewYearsDay

Today is the second day of #Hogmanay in #Scotland, time for first-footing https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/scotland-isle-of-iona/ferry.html?s=mb #travel #NewYearsDay

Whatever yer up to tonight, if ye can't behave, stay safe! Have a great new year!

#Hogmanay #Chill #JoinIn #Mastodon #SoberLife #Caffeinated

It Never Did: the thread about “why did Edinburgh become the home of Hogmanay?”

HOGMANAY, n.
[hɔgmə′ne:]

The 31st December, the last day of the year, New Year’s Eve.
Generic Scots, origin much disputed, the only satisfactory etymology is the derivation from northern French dialect hoginane etc. from 16th c. French aguillanneuf, a gift given at the New Year, a children’s cry for such a gift, the second element of which appears to be l’an neuf, the New Year. In Scotland the word is probably due to the French Alliance and had been borrowed before 1560

Dictionaries of the Scots Language

In a news article the other day, the BBC’s Edinburgh and East Reporter sought to answer the age old question of “Why did Edinburgh become the home of Hogmanay?” It’s not a bad little piece by any account, but doesn’t really get under the bonnet of how the city came to consider itself the “official” home of these festivities and it reminded me that this is something I have previously peered into without writing it up. So with just under nine hours to go until The Bells, let’s finish off the Threadinburgh year by

The “official” Edinburgh’s Hogmanay™ festivities are an ancient tradition dating back to the last century, to the year 1993 to be precise. This three-day event was dreamed up by Unique Events Ltd. and the quasi-autonomous agency Edinburgh Marketing to “[package] Edinburgh more effectively” and thus “improve the visitor experience” at this time of year. All the bones of the now established programme were there; a torchlight procession, a concert in Princes Street Gardens and a street party with “fireworks spectacular” on Princes Street.

Prior to this, the officially unofficial locus of Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh was on the High Street, outside the Tron Kirk. By the early 1990s, crowds of up to 20,000 were in regular attendance here but a particularly violent 1992, with 1,900 drink-related injuries treated at the Royal Infirmary and three separate sex attacks reported to the police, saw an official rethink.

In stepped the marketing and events types, buoyed by the success of the closing celebration of the city’s European Council Summit in 1992 which marked the end of the UK’s presidency and start of the Single Market. At the same time as trouble was kicking off outside the Tron, the Beacon Europe event was being started from Edinburgh Castle, the beginning of a chain of 700 beacons that stretched from John O’ Groats to Lands End with 300 more lit on the continent, the Greek Prime Minister lighting one at the chain’s far end in Athens to coincide with its start in Edinburgh.

The beacon was lit at the stroke of midnight after musician Fish led a free (but ticketed) sing-along in Princes Street Gardens, followed by a “children’s eco-anthem for Europe.” A laser fired from the Ross Bandstand then ignited a 30ft gas flame on the Castle’s Half Moon Battery.

Official support quickly materialised behind the Hogmanay™ idea, the District Council were particularly keen, being somewhat embarrassed by the traditional public displays of lasciviousness, drunkenness and urination outside the Tron – and therefore also their own doorstep at City Chambers. Their support extended to helping financed the scheme to the tune of £200,000, along with Lothian Regional Council, Edinburgh and Lothians Enterprise and the Scottish Tourist Board. This meant that most of the outdoor events could be made free to the public. Not everyone was happy though – the scheme was branded “three days of hell” by Conservative councillor Ian Hoy and in the Evening News, then Labour councillor George Kerevan labelled it as “Come to Edinburgh and get smashed“.

The council and events types were also keen to do something about the traditional Hogmanay being a local event for local people, a mass blow-out which resulted in a 2-day public holiday and hangover with most businesses and much hospitality closed down. Pete Irvine of Unique Events told the ‘News “it’s a myth that New Year is a ‘great time’… there is nothing for the many people who are on holiday“. The stated founding aim was not just the “biggest and best Hogmanay party” in Scotland – a title Glasgow traditional claimed – but in the World. There was of course an irony that in order to do this, the traditional Scottish long New Year public holiday had to be eroded.

With official support and substantial public and corporate funding, Hogmanay™ proved a huge success. But an infamous 1996 street party where an estimated 400,000 people crammed the city centre in appalling weather, resulting in crush injuries and hypothermia, saw restrictions brought in. Initially this was by means of free wrist-bands (four per person) but it soon pivoted to becoming an ever-pricier ticket only event. The organisers had an eye on the long game from the beginning and had told the ‘News they had booked the pipe bands for the Millennium street party before the first one had even taken place.

Another cornerstone of Hogmanay™ is Ye Olde Tochlicht Processione, also an invention of 1993. This was co-opted from a mix of long established Scottish rural traditions like the Comrie Flambeaux, Biggar Ne’erday Bonfire, Stonehaven Fireballs and the Masonic processions of the Borders which mark the Feast of St. John the Evangelist.

The event has continued to grow in its scale – and the volume of debate and criticism it generates – ever since and is a substantial industry in itself. The rest, as they say, is history, and the answer to the question “Why did Edinburgh become the home of Hogmanay” is of course because it deliberately set out do so and has spent a huge amount of public and private money in pursuit of that goal over the last three decades. The other answer to the same question is that the city is not the “home of Hogmanay” at all, and has no authority to claim itself as so. Hogmanay is an ungovernable, spontaneous celebration that is owned by nobody and belongs to all of Scotland. Edinburgh just happens to have commercialised the idea, declared itself as brand owner, and in the process totally lost the whole point of it.

And on that slightly snarky note I shall thank you for reading this far, for sticking with Threadinburgh and that you have a very Happy New Year when it comes and a 2026 full of local history. If you’re still in need of a further fix of appropriate reading material for the time of year, I can suggest this culinary thread about the history of the New Year Day steak pie.

Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.

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Space-clear your house for Hogmanay - an old blog post of mine...
#Hogmanay #SpaceClearing #Geomancy #NewYearRituals
https://westerngeomancy.org/space-clear-your-house-for-hogmanay/

"Long Live the Old Year"
⌛️
As we approach the end of one year & the beginning of the next, a reflection on the old/new years, and on history, culture & meaning
medium.com/counterarts/...
⏳
#Clocks #Calendars #HappyNewYear2026 #NewYear #Time #Transition #Cultures #Timekeepers #Hogmanay @mastoindians #PopeGregory #JuliusCaesar #Egypt #NewYearResolutions #Newyear2026

The dawn of BBC radio in Edinburgh: the thread about the centenary of the first Scottish Hogmanay programming

A fact that passed me by until this morning (January 1st, 2025); yesterday marked the 100th anniversary (in Edinburgh at least) of the tradition of special Hogmanay programming from BBC Scotland. I think the fact possibly also passed the Beeb by too, even though they were very aware of celebrating the centenary of the general launch in 2023… So follow me now on a brief thread that explores the early history of BBC Radio in the capital and the city’s claim to being the home of the now ubiquitous annual Hogmanay broadcasting extravaganza.

The BBC’s first and principal Scottish transmitter was named 5SC, was based in Glasgow and started transmission in March 1923. It had a power of 1.5kw and a notional range of 75 miles; but only if you had the right sort of valve wireless set at home; in Edinburgh, 75% of homes with sets didn’t, they used cheaper, crystal sets. This fact allied with the wavelengths used and Edinburgh’s particular topography meant that the BBC was largely unreceivable across the capital.

To make up for 5SC‘s lack of coverage the BBC planned small repeater stations for the main cities in Scotland. Aberdeen got 2BD in October 1923 and the following year Edinburgh would get 2EH in May and Dundee 2DE in November. However, broadcasting from a transmitter within Edinburgh posed the early radio engineers a pair of unique geographical problems. Firstly, at the wavelengths the station operated at (328m), the city’s hills were a challenge to get the signal to go either around or over, leaving a shadow of no or poor reception behind them. Secondly it proved very difficult to properly earth the transmitter owing to the geology beneath the city centre. As a result, even at just 2 miles distance from 2EH, it required home users to fit a 100ft long outdoor aerial to pick up the signal on the prevalant crystal receiver sets and the City Corporation were reluctant to permit antennae to be strung across the streets between tenements.

After searching for the best possible broadcast spot the men from the BBC installed the technological marvel of 2EH‘s transmitter equipment in a wooden shed behind the University’s medical school at Teviot Place, the 150 foot (46m) aerial strung from the chimney stack. The studio and control room was at 79 George Street initially.

2EH was commissioned on May Day 1924 with a special live broadcast and concert from the Usher Hall. It commenced at 730PM with the callsign “2EH Calling. 2EH Calling” being the first words heard by any listeners. Music was provided by the band of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and an organ recital was played by Dr W. B. Ross. Speeches began at 9PM when the Lord Provost, Sir William Lowrie Sleigh, officially announced the opening, followed by a speech by J. C. W. (later Lord) Reith. After 10 more minutes of military piping at 930 the relay from London was plugged in and “2LO Calling” (London’s callsign) was announced to the listening public in Edinburgh – which probably amounted to no more than 800 at this time. 2EH then took over again and Mr G. K. Marshall, station director, read the local news from George St., bringing the small audience of lucky listeners an update on a fire in South Bridge and “other interesting intelligence” such as the escape of the Zoo’s sealions. The evening then settled down to the London broadcast of the opera Faust.

2EH‘s main job was as a broadcast relay for 2LO in London and Scottish content from 5SC in Glasgow, but it did put out a small volume of local programming and outside broadcasts from its tiny 20sq ft studio on George Street. These premises were rented from Townsend & Thomson’s music shop and proved totally inadequate (the “offices” were merely a through corridor, the studio the proprietor’s living room) so they were soon moved to more commodious and efficient space along the road at 87 George Street. The transmitter also proved rather hopeless and complaints were numerous in the Evening News and so it too was soon replaced. In October 1924, the BBC sent up the now surplus transmitter it had installed to broadcast live from that summer’s British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium.

A heavy rivalry existed between 2EH and its nominal parent at 5SC in Glasgow and as a result listeners in Edinburgh were treated to more than their fair share of relayed content from 2LO in London instead.

This brings us to Hogmanay broadcasting. Listeners in the reception range of 5SC in Glasgow were treated to some of Scotland’s first BBC Hogmanay programming in 1923, but it was a basic schedule from 5PM onwards, with a mixed content (although interestingly it included some Gaelic language singing) and handed over to London at 10PM for the rest of the night.

Most listeners in Edinburgh would have to wait a whole other year for the privilege of allowing Auntie into their living rooms and 2EH pulled out the stops to put on its own, special Hogmanay show for them. There were something like ten to twenty thousand wireless licenses issued by the Post Office in Edinburgh at this time, giving you an idea of the potential audience. Highlighting the rivalry with 5SC in the west, the Evening News reported that station’s schedule as a passive aggressive footnote under 2EH subtitled “Glasgow Fare“.

So if you’d strung your 100ft wireless antennae, got the crystals warmed up, pulled up your armchair and tuned in on Hogmanay 1924, what would you have heard?

The show began at 3PM with an hour of piano music live from George Street, followed by an hour’s intermission and then an hour of children’s programmes. The stories, half of which were specifically Scottish, told by “Uncle Leslie” and “Auntie Mollie” (an early example of the anthropomorphising of the BBC into a benevolent relative in the wooden box in the corner of the room?) After another intermission, at 7PM the bells of Big Ben were broadcast from London (I believe SB in the schedules stands for syndicated broadcast), followed by a weather forecast and news bulletin. Mr C. H. B. Quennell then gave a lecture from London to fill up the rest of the half hour slot on “Every Day Life in Stuart and Georgian Times“. With everyone warmed up by that, at 730PM the Hogmanay “Scottish Night” special started proper, with the pipers of the 4/5th Battalion, The Royal Scots, introduced by announcer Miss Rosaline Masson, a well known local novelist. The pipers, a vocal octet and varous other musicians then took turns playing and singing a programme of largely traditional Scots music until the 930PM news and weather from London. The heavy part that a variety of Trad music has to play in the BBC’s Hogmanay scheduling is something that continues to this day.

Auntie in London then got folk really in the mood for the biggest night of the year with a 30 minute lecture on Horticulture by Mr J. S. Chisolm before everyone must have breathed a collective sigh of relief and woken up from their snoozes as the switch was once again thrown back to Edinburgh. More popular music now followed when a live outside broadcast was switched on from the Palais de Dance at Fountainbridge and The Romany Revellers band, “Scotland’s Finest Dance Band” and a regular at the establishment which could lay claim to being Scotland’s premier night spot at this time. This must have been quite a revolutionary event at the time. Music, live from a dance hall! Again, the incorporation of popular contemporary music and artists remains in the BBC’s Hogmanay template to this day, as does the “lounge” studio atmosphere with guests drawn from members of the public arrayed at table and chairs. One key difference was however that the Palais was a dry venue at this time and the strongest drink served by its cocktail bar was fruit juice!

With just 15 minutes until the bells, the party in full swing and fever pitch building to a crescendo, the broadcast switch was thrown once again. This time it took the home listeners to St. Columba’s Church of Scotland in London for a blessing from the Rev. Archibald Fleming followed by the hymn “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow“. Just before midnight, that great tradition of Auld Lang Syne being sung was broadcast from St. Columba’s followed by the bells of Big Ben one final time and the message “A Happy New Year to All” crackled over the airwaves from London. Finally the plugboard was rewired one last time in George Street and the “Romany Revellers” returned to the wireless sets of Edinburgh live from the Palais for a final hour of the latest hits.

That is except, to paraphrase the old Scottish joke about BBC programming, except for listeners in Glasgow. Listeners of 5SC got no such local treat that year, from 930PM they only got the London broadcast, with music from the Savoy Hotel Orpheans and Havana bands, and come midnight the plug was pulled and it closed down just after midnight after the Rev. Fleming’s and Big Ben’s chimes. I’m sure readers from the west will be quick to point out that Glaswegians did not need the BBC on the wireless to keep the music and the party going after midnight! But on this basis, Edinburgh has a pretty strong claim for producing the first full BBC Scotland Hogmanay show 100 years ago, and in a format we would largely recognise today. And the rest, as they say, is, history and various artists have been butchering Auld Lang Syne just before the bells, every year hither!

For a fuller history of the 2EH Edinburgh station of the BBC, please head on over to the excellent page on the subject at Scotland on Air.

Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.

If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.

Explore Threadinburgh by map:

These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.

NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

2024 air a siabadh air falbh.

The auld year being blown away.

#Hogmanay #OidhcheChallainn #Gaelic #Gàidhlig #MastoDaoine #Queensferry #Scotland

A mock-stainedglass window I designed and installed. Shares/ReSkeets/ReToots appreciated. Happy Hogmanay! #window #SetDesign #InteriorDesign #StainedGlass #art #artist #ArtDept #ProductionDesign #insta #IG #PixelFed #hogmanay #NewYear #scotland https://pixelfed.scot/p/fluffgar/745221644786833449

MJ Walsh: "Meant to evoke the ...

I learn from my mistakes. Last year forgot to get a steak pie for New Year 💁‍♀️.Was kicking myself for ages. This year, unfortunately our local butcher has closed permanently. Have continued the quest and have the most humungous pie 🥧 from #Aldi.
#Hogmanay #NewYearsEve #NewYearsDay #NewYearsDay2025 #Scotland #Food #SteakPie

Happy #NewYear! Here are some #photos from my husband's #Hogmanay afternoon #walk near our home in eastern #Dundee, #Scotland. #Photography #BroughtyFerry #Monifieth #Angus #Dighty #DightyBurn #Tayside #Countryside #Wildlife #Nature #Berries #Viaduct #RailwayHistory #Viaducts #Dippers #DipperBirds #Squirrels #GreySquirrels #Birding #Birds #BirdingPhotography #BirdPhotography #CityWildlife #UrbanNature

One of the locals. #WhitePelican #PierLife #IslandLife #YachtLife #Hogmanay

Forgot to buy a steak pie🤯 🥧
#Hogmanay #NewYearsEve #SteakPie

Nice wee end to the year from @WilsonC75HT in today’s @heraldscotland, an interview with @TracyLivecchi & I about our book ‘Healing Hearts & Minds’ (link in bio) @OxUniPress @BookPublicistUK ❤️‍🩹

#HappyNewYear #hogmanay #NewYear2023 #NewYearsEve #CHD

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23211944.healing-hearts-minds-aims-plug-support-heart-patients/