A ban on Christmas in Scotland led to the development of Hogmanay. This is the story ...

Yule

Christianity spread in Scotland from the 6th century, brought by Celtic missionaries from Ireland. From the end of the 8th century paganism was re-introduced by the Norse Vikings. Among their customs was a tradition called Jól (Yule), which was celebrated over the winter solstice, when the days are shortest - around the 21 to 22 December, which is near Christmas. This period was called Yuletide. Yuletide traditions included kissing under the mistletoe and burning a Yule log. Words similar to Yule are found across the Scandinavian languages, such as "jul" in Norwegian.

The Scottish Church

In 1192, a Papal bull by Pope Celestine III created the "Ecclesia Scoticana", making the Scottish Church separate from the English one. The Archbishop of St Andrews was seen as the pre-eminent bishop, and St Andrew was their patron saint. By then Christmas and Yule traditions had become intertwined.

Reformation

There had been some Lollards in Scotland, and there had been growing disenchantment with the Papacy. When Reformation ideas came to Scotland they found fertile ground to flourish. John Knox (c1514-1572) was a Scottish minister who had lived in England, and then went to Geneva where he met Jean (John) Calvin, who strongly influenced him. In 1555, after his return to Scotland, Knox led the Scottish Protestant Reformation. Knox reformed the Kirk of Scotland to a Presbyterian structure, which is effectively a flat-managament structure ruled by elders (presbyters), rather than a hierarchical structure with bishops. Doctrine, belief and practice in Scotland therefore went in a more Calvinist direction.

Ban in Scotland

On August 1, 1560, the Scottish Parliament rejected Papal supremacy and established the Reformation. Religion was overhauled, and the Mass was banned including Christ's Mass known as Christmas. Celebrating Christ's Mass was now too Catholic and too religious, and the celebration of Yule too pagan, and their traditions were deemed too excessive and sinful. Of course, the celebrations did not stop overnight, but many people caught celebrating Yule were made to repent, and others were excommunicated. By 1575, there were also punishments for anyone found dancing, playing or singing carols.

Hogmanay

In 1599, the Scottish Parliament decided to drop the Julian calendar and adopted the reformed Gregorian Calendar, which had been introduced in Catholic Europe in 1582. In 1600, Scotland declared New Year's Day the first of January. Up to then the old New Year began on Lady Day, March 25. This brought Scotland into line with a lot of Europe, but not with England.

So from the year 1600, New Year's Day in Scotland was just after Christmas on 1 January. That meant that the canny Scots moved many of the illegal Yule and Christmas traditions to the non-religious New Year instead. The ban on Christmas effectively paved the way for the Scottish emphasis on Hogmanay instead. Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the old year. The origin of the word is disputed, but it is first documented from the early 1600s. Hogmanay was non-religious, had no Catholic associations, and so did not come under the Yule restrictions.

In 1602, the more tolerant King James VI revoked the ban on Christmas, but by then many of the practices were dying out. From 1603, he became King James I of England, but even though England and Scotland had the same monarch, they retained separate parliaments until 1707.

In 1640, the Scottish Parliament re-introduced the ban and made celebrating Yule and the Yule Vacation illegal, with the words: "the kirke within this kingdome is now purged of all superstitious observatione of dayes... thairfor the saidis estatis have dischairged and simply dischairges the foirsaid Yule vacance... and findis and declaires the samene to be extinct, voyd and of no force nor effect in tymecomeing."

Ban in England

Meanwhile in England, after the English Civil War, the new English Parliament, dominated by Puritan Christians, also banned Christmas (as well as Easter and Whitsun) festivities in 1647. So, for a short time Christmas was effectively banned across the whole of Great Britain. In England, this only lasted until 1660 when the Restoration saw the coronation of King Charles II, and the ban on Christmas in England and Wales was removed. However, the ban remained in Scotland, which still had its own Parliament. In Scotland, Yule was briefly reprieved in 1686 only to be abolished again in 1690.

Hogmanay

In Scotland, Christmas Day became low-key. While south of the border, the English celebrated Christmas, north of the border Christmas passed largely unnoticed and the Scots celebrated Hogmanay instead.

For 150 years, the calendars of England and Scotland were 11 days out of sync, and New Year's Day was in different months. As Christmas festivities were winding down in England, in Scotland Christmas had come and gone without much notice, but the Hogmanay parties were getting into full swing. Meanwhile 1 January ws an ordinary day in England, because New Year's Day was on 25 March. England did not adopt the new Gregorian calendar until 1752, when 1 January became New Year's Day in England too.

Christmas Returns

During Queen Victoria's reign, the modern Christmas tradition such as the Christmas tree, Christmas cards and turkey dinner, started to be popularised. However, in Scotland the focus of celebrations and parties was Hogmanay, and when Christmas Day fell on a weekday it was just another day for the Scots. In Scotland, Christmas Day was a normal working day until 1958, when it was first made a public holiday, and Boxing Day only became a public holiday in Scotland in 1974.

Since then, Christmas has made a bit of a comeback in Scotland, and some Hogmanay traditions have spread to England, such as singing "Auld lang syne". However, it is perhaps sobering to reflect that for 400 years the ban on Christmas effectively resulted in the creation of Hogmanay instead.