Jan 1 2024 - New Year's Traditions - Scotland Wins!

 

Sydney wins out every year for the best New Year's fireworks display.  Without any doubt the picture is so stunning that it likely makes the front page of most newspapers and news outlets. How will we welcome in the new year? And for those younger, how did we welcome in the new year?  There's a tradition of doing something at 12:00 to 12:01 and then another one of eating the day away.   There are very curious traditions around the world that bring in the new year:  taking a suitcase around the block, hanging onions on the door, filling pockets with coins, wearing polka dots, and leaping off chairs at midnight.   One tradition in Scotland, where New Year’s Eve is known as Hogmanay, is “first footing”—literally the first foot to enter someone’s home after midnight. To ensure good luck, the first visitor should traditionally be a tall, dark-haired male bringing pieces of coal, shortbread, salt, a black bun and whiskey.   Could we come up with something like this?  I just have to think it isn't likely that we would call anything black buns - the only thing like that for us is burnt toast.  The Scotch bun he described is a dense, rich fruit cake. It is wrapped in shortcrust pastry, so think extra-rich.   Over the 19th century as sugar became cheaper it became richer and darker - Robert Louis Stevenson described it as ‘a dense, black substance, inimical to life’. You can check out the recipe HERE. Below it are articles on Clapshot and Clootie Dumpling. Both got my attention for their names. What could they be?  Clootie dumpling is a Scottish colloquialism and gets its name from the cloth it is boiled in, cloot being Scots for cloth.  It is a Christmas pudding variation and similar to "Smiddy Dumpling".  Ha ha!   And Clapshot?  Not another communicable disease but one of Scotland's vegetable dishes. It is a mixture of turnips (which they call Swedes or peeps) and potatoes (which they call tatties), usually cooked separately, then mashed together with butter. The Scottish tradition is for it to accompany haggis, lamb chops or lamb stew.  The article says there are few Scottish vegetable dishes, so appreciate this one.

I was testing out watercolour programs yesterday and this was one of the images I worked with.  I found one program that worked with just two overlaid images was 1 GB in size and my computer didn't want to save it.  I thank my computer for this rejection.  Who could guess!  Our 2024 New Year's Greeting is a picture of the tropical climbing vine Petrea volubility, Queen's Wreath.  It was blooming in Brian's bench in the Toronto community greenhouse in the spring.  It was quite the surprise - let's hope we have more like this in 2024! Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca