Happy Hogmanay!

The Scottish have finally opened their presents. Yesterday and today in Scotland, revelers are celebrating a substitute for Christmas, Hogmanay (hog-muh-NAY). Referenced from a book that I adore reading every year starting late November, "The World Encyclopedia of Christmas," by Gerry Bowler:

Hogmanay is New Year's Eve in Scotland, the focus of most holiday revelry.

"Get up, good wife, and shake your feathers,
And dinna think that we are beggars;
For we are bairns come out to play,
Get up and gie'us our Hogmanay."

When Calvinist governments in the 16th and 17th centuries succeeded in suppressing the celebration of Christmas, seasonal merriment shifted to New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. It is the time for gift-giving, First-Footing, drinking the Het Pint, and numerous customs to bring in good luck for the coming year, such as the Flower of the Well.

From Wikipedia:

Its official date is 31 December (Auld Year's Night). However this is normally only the start of a celebration which lasts through the night until the morning of Ne'erday (1 January) or, in some cases, 2 January which is a Scottish Bank Holiday.

In keeping with the spirit, I did in fact drink too much last night during our New Year's karaoke party.