Old Wives Tales

[foxy]

Was anyone else made to wear something new on New Year's Day for luck? or was it just my mum and gran being overly Scottish-ly superstitious

Also the house had to be scrubbed from top to bottom to bring in the new year with a clean house....not a dirty dish could be left on the draining board for the bells

I've definitely shunned all of this, but then I'm not that lucky and my house is never spotless

[ecm]

Also the house had to be scrubbed from top to bottom to bring in the new year with a clean house....not a dirty dish could be left on the draining board for the bells

Foxy, I remember my Mum doing a big clean up and preparation for the bells. Lots of cleaning, lots of baking etc.

I remember chumming my Dad down Easter Road to Dryborough's offy for the New year drinks. We'd take Mum's tartan shopping trolley and get in beers and various half bottles.

This would be very early 1970s and I don't think there were the kinds of off-licences like we have now. Dryboroughs was an odd place with floor to ceiling booze and assistants climbing up and down ladders to fetch in the orders. I seem to remember they didn't have tills and wrote all the items purchased down on a little chitty along with prices and totals.
And there would be a very long queue from the shop, which was near the end of Albert Street back along towards Leith Walk.

[Sandra]

yes my mum always has a massive clean up in the house before the new year.

[Epykat]

I think the tale was that if your house was clean for the bells it would stay clean all year I realised in about 1992 that this never happened so I stopped doing it!