Scotland's New Year's celebrations, called Hogmanay, are world famous. Every year thousands of tourists flock to Scotland's major cities, especially Edinburgh, to celebrate alongside the locals. The Scots consider the celebrations so important that they get a two or four day public holiday for it.
There are concerts with classical music and popular acts (this year The Pet Shop Boys are playing in Edinburgh). There are Ceilidh dances, traditional Scottish group dances that everyone can join. The Seven hills fireworks display has fireworks set off in coordination from Edinburgh Castle and six other surrounding hills. Of course, all this is accompanied with a lot of cheerful drinking!
There are also many customs celebrated all around Scotland. One, which starts right after midnight on New Year's Eve, is called first footing. Groups of friends go round to relatives, friend's and neighbors houses. The first person to cross the threshold carries a gift, usually whisky or a calender to symbolize luck. Traditionally, a tall dark handsome man (a typical Scot) was considered very lucky. A blonde or red headed man was thought to resemble an enemy Norseman and so was discouraged!
One Hogmanay tradition that is observed the world over is singing Auld Lang Syne to welcome in the New Year. People cross arms and link hands in big circles while singing together. Often older people in Scotland will spend the whole evening singing traditional folk songs.
Whichever way people choose to welcome the New Year in Scotland, you can be sure that they all have a very good time, and probably enjoy it all with a wee drop of whiskey! (Catherine Thomas,staff writer)
1. flock v.i. /v.t.
湧入 (yong3 ru4)
例: People flocked to see the new Harry Potter movie.
(人潮湧去觀看新一集的哈利波特電影。)
2. threshold n.
門檻 (men2 kan3)
例: The groom carried the bride over the threshold.
(新郎牽著新娘踏過門檻。)
3. symbolize v.t. /v.i
象徵 (xiang4 zheng1)
例:The red in the flag symbolizes courage.
(國旗的紅色象徵勇氣。)
4. wee adj
微小的 (wei2 xiao3 de5)
例: You shouldn、t get outraged with toddlers. They、re only wee children.
(你不該生幼兒的氣。他們只不過是小嬰孩。)
蘇格蘭的新年慶典「Hogmanay」舉世聞名。每年都有成千上萬的旅客湧入蘇格蘭的主要城市，尤其是愛丁堡，與當地人民一起慶祝。蘇格蘭人相當重視這個慶典，所以可享有二或四天的假期。
古典音樂會與流行音樂演唱會（今年寵物店男孩將至愛丁堡表演）應有盡有。人人皆可參加傳統的蘇格蘭群舞「Ceilidh」舞。七丘煙火表演將由愛丁堡古堡與其他六座山丘同步發射。當然，所有活動都可讓人開懷暢飲！
蘇格蘭各處都有眾多的慶典習俗。其中除夕午夜過後展開的就是「first footing」。大家呼朋引伴輪流拜訪親朋好友與鄰居的家。第一位進門的人要攜帶禮物，通常為威士忌或月曆，象徵好運臨門。傳統上，人們認為高大、棕髮又帥氣的男子（典型蘇格蘭男子）會帶來好運。金髮或紅髮男子則貌似宿敵中世紀的斯堪地那維亞人，會觸楣頭！
Hogmanay其中一項世人矚目的傳統就是吟唱《懷念的往昔》來迎接新年。人們排成大圓圈，雙手交叉牽著手一起唱歌。蘇格蘭年長者往往一整晚都吟唱著傳統民謠。
無論蘇格蘭人選擇哪一種方式慶祝新年，可以確定的是，他們都玩得不亦樂乎，而且大概都一邊淺酌威士忌一邊慶祝！ （翻譯：賴美君）
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