Folklore of Scotland

17 December

24 December

25 December

Folklore from the old calendars

A Christmas feed for the beasts No longer kept StirlingshireIn former times the charity of Christmas and New Year was extended to the animals.
Christmas as Saturnalia in Moray No longer kept MorayChristmas was the only yearly festival kept by the people of Moray, and they kept it more like the old Roman Saturnalia than the birth of Christ.
Christmas broth and beef at Mains No longer kept AngusIn 1760 the people of Mains, outside Dundee, visited one another only once a year, at Christmas.
Christmas Day in the Highlands No longer kept HighlandsGrant's Popular Superstitions of the Highlands described a Highland Christmas.
Christmas weather lore Lore and belief Devon, England, ScotlandAn old song in the Harleian manuscripts foretold the year by the weekday of Christmas: a Sunday Christmas meant a good winter, a fair summer and peace, while a Saturday one brought storms that killed man and beast, failing crops and dying children.
Christmas, not Hogmanay, in Forfarshire No longer kept Angus, HighlandsIn Forfarshire and much of the Highlands the great merry-making of the year was held at Christmas, when most of Lowland Scotland kept it at New Year instead.
No spinning on Yule Day No longer kept ScotlandIn Scotland there was an old superstition against spinning on Christmas, or Yule Day.
The Montrose burghers’ round of feasts No longer kept AngusAt Christmas and the New Year the well-off burghers of Montrose began feasting their friends and going round each other's houses, a round of visits that took up many weeks.
The young men’s Christmas begging for the poor at Grange No longer kept BanffshireIn the Christmas holidays the young men of Grange went round the parish in parties, begging on behalf of its neediest people.
Wad-shooting at Kirkden No longer kept AngusThe minister of Kirkden in Angus reported in 1792 that Christmas was kept as a great festival in his parish.
Yule and Pasch in the isles No longer kept Inner Hebrides, Inverness-shireProtestants on many of the Hebridean islands still kept Yule and Pasch, Christmas and Easter, as feasts.

27 December, not tied to the day

27 December

28 December, not tied to the day

Folklore from the old calendars

Charming away the milk Lore and belief Highlands, Inner Hebrides, Outer HebridesMartin found it a received opinion in the Western Isles and the neighbouring mainland that a woman could, by a charm, draw the increase of her neighbour's cow's milk to herself.
Keeping the fairies from the brew Lore and belief FifeProfessor Playfair wrote to Brand from St Andrews in 1804 about the superstitions of the neighbourhood.
The charm crystal Lore and belief Highlands, IrelandVallancey recorded that in the Highlands of Scotland a large oval crystal had been kept by the priests to work charms with.
The goodman’s croft No longer kept ScotlandIn 1594 the elders of the Scottish church tried hard to stamp out a custom among farmers of leaving a piece of their land untilled and uncropped year after year.
The green stone of Arran Lore and belief ButeMartin told of a green stone on Arran, round like a globe and about the size of a goose egg, handed down carefully for generations.
Wind stones of the Western Isles No longer kept Inner Hebrides, Outer HebridesMartin described a chapel of St Columba on the isle of Fladda-Chuan with a round blue stone on its altar that was always moist.

Folklore of Scotland

17 December

24 December

25 December

27 December, not tied to the day

27 December

28 December, not tied to the day

31 December

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