'I was sent out to rattle the letterbox after the bells....' Glasgow's Hogmanay traditions remembered

Dan Harris, a regular Times Past contributor recalls his family sending him out each year at 11.55pm “with instructions to rattle the letterbox after the bells had stopped.”

He smiles: “Your first foot had to be male and dark-haired – I lived with my parents, younger blonde brother and our white-haired grandfather on the top floor of a tenement. I had dark hair, so I had to do it.

“It was also considered good manners to bring in a lump of coal - something to do with ‘lang may your lum reek’, I suppose. Our coal bunker was on the landing so I had plenty to choose from.

“My mother must have been a good hostess. Our extended family came to our house to bring in the New Year for years. Well, she was manager of a grocer’s and food was rationed until 1954….”

At Hogmanay, recalls Dan, everyone was expected to sing at least one song.

“My dad was a very quiet person,” he says. “Neither of my parents touched alcohol except for Hogmanay, when my mother had a wee glass of sherry and my dad had a beer and a wee ‘hauf’ of whisky. I felt like a grown up. I had ginger wine - coloured lemonade.

“The singing would start, and anyone who tried to join in with the soloist would be subjected to cries of ‘wan singer, wan song.’

“Every year, the time would come when the alcohol would affect my Dad, and he would suddenly burst out singing. The cry would go out from the audience – ‘gaun yersel’ Geordie’ until minutes later, he would slump forward in a deep sleep. He was then lifted and put on top of the inset bed, and the party resumed….”