Christmas and New Year in Shetland past
Shetland Crofthouse Museum in January
In a few days time, just as we are taking down the Christmas decorations, and boxing them up for another year, Foula, our most westerly island will celebrate Christmas.
In the past, Christmas in Shetland meant something very different; we even held it on a different day. Known as Yule, it was a time of celebration and tradition, much of it stemming from pagan rituals and beliefs.
In the 16th century, Pope Gregory introduced the Gregorian Calendar to bring the calendar year back in line with solar equinoxes; as a result, the dates all shifted, bringing Christmas (Yule) and New Year (Newerday) forward 10 days (from the 5th and 12th). But, the festive celebrations in Shetland were still held as they had been traditionally, following the Julian Calendar. There were further discrepancies when adopting this new calendar system, and Foula lagged behind the rest of the islands holding their celebrations on the 6th and 13th – probably introducing the calendar changes in 1900 during a leap year, creating this extra day.
Today, Foula is one of the last places to celebrate the old calendar dates for Christmas and New Year celebrations, on the 6th and 13th of January.
Foula on the horizon from St Ninian’s Isle
The celebrations of Yule began in midwinter and lasted for 24 days. Every evening a dance was held in a barn within the community, bringing people together in an otherwise dark and unforgiving season.
The origins of Yule are thought to come from Viking/Norse times when the festival of Jul celebrated midwinter. Many ‘special days’ were attributed to Yule, including Tul-yas-e’en, Helya’s Night, Tammasmas E’en, Byana’s Sunday and Yule E’en, each bringing its distinct rituals and observances.
Winter, in general, was a time of coming together for Shetlanders. The hard work of the previous seasons was on hold as darkness returned and the land lay fallow. Families and friends spent evenings spinning, knitting, making fishing lines and sharing stories during this time. At this time, most weddings would take place as the men were home from sea and the work on the croft was on hold till voar (spring).
Yule was characterised by music, dancing, food, friendship and a good helping of superstition. The fiddle was the instrument of choice and Shetlanders were very good at playing it (an estimated one in 10 people could play in the early 19th century). Without television or radio, this was the main form of entertainment. The Shetland reel was one of the most popular dances, carried out in barns and the small living spaces of the traditional but-and-ben houses, each district had its own version of the fast-paced dance.
Meat has always been a big part of Yule (and Christmas) celebrations, where today we tend to celebrate with the masses and enjoy turkey, in the past the best hog (castrated male sheep) was slaughtered for the occasion.
Superstition played a prominent role in the celebrations of Yule. On Tul-yas-e’en (one week before Yule), trows were thought to be at their most active. Trows are hill-people who live in underground houses and can only venture out among people in the dark, and in the depths of winter, their power is greatest.
A mischievous bunch, they loved fiddle music, deplored disorder in the home and they were often blamed for unexplained infant death. To keep trows at bay, people would leave two pieces of straw, in the shape of a cross, by the door and walk through the house brandishing a burning peat.
On Yule morning the head of the house would light a candle in the eye socket of a cow’s skull (that had been prepared and eaten on Byana’s Sunday) and walk to the byre carrying it as he went to feed the animals. After this, he would offer everyone in the house a dram and offer up the following verse:
“Yule Gude and Yule Gear
Follow de trow da year.”
Rituals like these were part and parcel of Yuletide celebrations across Shetland.
After the Yule dinner, families, friends and neighbours would gather outside and play ba’ – a form of football but seemingly without rules – using a ball made from a pig’s bladder. Playing ba’ was a feature of Yule celebrations until the early 20th century in Shetland. Today in Orkney, the Ba game is still an integral part of their festive celebrations.
A winter sunrise, Lerwick
With the spread of Christianity, changes to Yule celebrations meant that many of the traditions and rituals were lost – although good company, good friends and good food have remained at the heart of what Christmas means to people in Shetland.
Just as with Christmas, Shetland celebrates New Year in much the same way as anywhere else in the UK and beyond. We bring in the bells at midnight, sing Auld Lang Syne and share food and drink with loved ones.
Shetland does however have a few traditions of its own – serving reestit mutton tattie soup and bannocks being one of them. But New Year runs much deeper here than merely ‘flesh and bannocks’
One aspect of past New Year celebrations in Shetland involved a group of men, disguised in hats, collars and clothing made of straw, who would go around the neighbourhood gathering food on New Year’s Eve for a feast. This tradition was more or less forgotten by the turn of the 20th century, although some districts (Skeld for example) carried it on into the inter-war years.
With the pressures of crofting and fishing removed during the dark period around the winter solstice, people had more opportunity to be merry and light-hearted, jovial fun was just the tonic to fill the long winter nights. ‘Skekling’ was a popular pastime, and New Year was a favourite time to do this. Skeklers wore a costume made of straw with a pointed straw hat and would often come into the house and perform a dance or sketch – skeklers were also commonplace at wedding receptions.
Skeklers also had a wider purpose; they acted as a reminder that the trows were at their most active at this time and that people needed to remain vigilant against their mischief, deception and trickery.
Today people still go ‘first footing’ friends and neighbours with a bottle in hand. In some parts, Burra for example, they may even disguise their true identities – I remember my dad’s neighbour dropping by on New Year’s Day a few years ago sporting an empty box of cider over his head to act as a disguise. We knew who he was immediately, of course!
New Year was part of this greater festival of Yule; twenty-four days of merriment that began at midwinter and carried on through to Up Helly Aa at the end of January.
One custom associated with both Christmas and New Year in Lerwick was ‘tar barrelling’ ‒ quite simply, the act of passing through the narrow streets of Lerwick rolling burning barrels of tar. This dangerous, and often raucous tradition was outlawed in Shetland in 1874 (although is still done in other parts of the UK) and led to the rise of Up Helly Aa as we know it today – an organised fire festival where guizers parade through the streets of Lerwick carrying flaming torches.
Scalloway Fire Festival burning of galley, 2017
From midwinter till Up Helly Aa, work and play went hand in hand. The hard work of the year was over, and nights were filled with friends, neighbours and the occupations of winter; knitting, spinning, making fishing lines, and spinning a good yarn.
Wishing the residents of Foula a Göd Yule and Newerday when he comes!
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