In British and Manx folklore, the first-foot is the first person to enter a household on New Year’s Day. They are seen as a bringer of good fortune for the coming year. Similar practices are also found in Greek and Georgian new year traditions. Many customs of first- footing parallel those of Samhain, the Celtic new year.
About First-foot in brief
In British and Manx folklore, the first-foot is the first person to enter the home of a household on New Year’s Day and is seen as a bringer of good fortune for the coming year. Similar practices are also found in Greek and Georgian new year traditions. Many customs of first- footing parallel those of Samhain, the Celtic new year, for which fuel was gathered, food collected by reciting verses door-to-door, and a ritual fire lit to welcome crossing the threshold to the next world. Generally, a tall, dark-haired male is preferred over a man with light hair or even a woman. There are regional variations about the hair colour, although generally they must be a male.
In East Yorkshire, theFirst-footer should be dark-hair, but the North York Moors first-Footers should be fair-haired. Often it is expected that they will bring symbolic gifts, and be given food and drink in return by the inhabitants of the house they visit. In many areas, thefirst-foot should bring with him symbolic gifts such as coal, coins, whisky, or black buns. Food and drink will be given to the first foot and any other guests. Often women and light or red haired men are considered very unlucky. First-footing has traditionally been more elaborate than in England.
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This page is based on the article First-foot published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 03, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
