Hogmanay traditionally the most important holiday of the year in Scotland, celebrates New Year’s Eve. As a marker between the years, the celebration dates back to antiquity, but the name Hogmanay was not in use until the early 17th century. It seems to be derived from the Norman form (hoguinané) of the Old French aguillanneuf, meaning the last day of the year and also being a cry for a gift on that day. The gift which prudent householders kept available for the occasion used to be oatcakes. Gillian Edwards (1970) has a fascinating discussion of the etymology and of the connections with earlier New Year rites. She explains among many other points that the name ‘noor cake’, sometimes used for the kind of oatcake or biscuit baked for this day, is simply a contraction of ‘New Year’s cake’, and that some of the girls and boys who would go round soliciting these from bakers would wear aprons with numerous large pockets to accommodate them.
