At the opening of the scrutiny the senior Bursar makes this short speech:
In hoc scrutinio hæc tria sunt proponenda,
Mores servientium—numerus Portionistarum,
Electio Hortulanorum.
Isle of Wight.
At Yarmouth the following doggerel is sung at the season of the new year:
“Wassal, wassal to our town!
The cup is white and the ale is brown;
The cup is made of the ashen tree,
And so is the ale of the good barley;
Little maid, little maid, turn the pin,
Open the door and let us come in;
God be here, God be there,
I wish you all a Happy New Year.”
Halliwell’s Popular Rhymes, 1849, p. 236.
Yorkshire.
At Bradford it is the practice of men and women, dressed in strange costumes, with blackened faces, and besoms in hand, to enter houses on New Year’s Eve so as to “sweep out the old year.”—N. & Q. 5th S. vol. i. p. 383.
SCOTLAND.
Hogmanay is the universal popular name in Scotland for the last day of the year. It is a day of high festival among young and old—but particularly the young, who do not regard any of the rest of the Daft Days with half so much interest. It is still customary, in retired and primitive towns, for the children of the poorer class of people to get themselves on that morning swaddled in a great sheet, doubled up in front, so as to form a vast pocket, and then to go along the streets in little bands, calling at the doors of the wealthier classes for an expected dole of oaten bread. Each child gets one quadrant section of oat-cake (sometimes, in the case of particular cases, improved by an addition of cheese), and this is called their hogmanay. In expectation of the large demands thus made upon them, the housewives busy themselves for several days beforehand in preparing a suitable quantity of cakes. The children, on coming to the door, cry “Hogmanay!” which is in itself a sufficient announcement of their demands; but there are other exclamations, which either are or might be used for the same purpose. One of these is: