Dear list members, My grandfather, who was born in Stenness in 1885, told me that he and his brothers and sisters would go out on New Year's Eve to nearby houses, knock at their doors and say, >Hogmanay, Hogmanay, >Gie (sp?) us your white bread and none o' >your grey. Does such a custom still exist? I didn't succeed in finding it in the Orkneyjar site, but I know they also celebrate Hogmanay across the Pentland Firth, so perhaps it wasn't sufficiently Orkney-specific to make the cut. Regarding the recycled grass, my cousin Doddie Coghill was rightly very proud of the delicious grass-fed beef he raised and fed me when I visited his family at their farm in Birsay. I believe his son, Terry, still raises prize winners. Regards, George Coghill Olympia, Washington USA

On 08/12/03 at 22:57 gcog@webtv.net wrote: >My grandfather, who was born in Stenness in 1885, told me that he and >his brothers and sisters would go out on New Year's Eve to nearby >houses, knock at their doors and say, > >>Hogmanay, Hogmanay, >>Gie (sp?) us your white bread and none o' >>your grey. > >Does such a custom still exist? Unfortunately the "Ne'er Sangs" that were once found across Orkney are now just dim memories. Even first-footing at Hogmanay is considerably less prevalent than even 20 years ago. -- Sigurd Towrie Blackhall - Kirbister - Stromness - Orkney Heritage of Orkney: www.orkneyjar.com