In the parish of Deerness in Orkney, early in the nineteenth century, old and young gathered in a great band on the last evening of the year and went round every house in the district. At each door they were let in and sang a New Year song to its own tune, in which Queen Mary, meaning the Virgin, was named. Chambers printed a version pieced together from memory, admitting that some lines had been restored by imagination.
New Year’s Eve at Deerness
31 December · Deerness, Orkney
No longer kept
for old and young of the common class of people to assemble in a great band upon the evening of the last day of the year, and commence a round of visits throughout the district.
From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 2, p. 788. Read the original
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