First Foot
The first visitor to enter a house on New Year’s morning is commonly known in Great Britain as the First Foot. In Yorkshire he is sometimes called the Lucky Bird, in the Isle of Man, the Quaaltagh. Wherever he appears, he is a personage of great importance. He may be a chance caller, or a man on some errand unconnected with the anniversary or he may be the ceremonial First Foot who comes on purpose to let the New Year into the house and bring good luck to the family. Whichever he is, he is traditionally supposed to influence the fortunes of the householders in the following twelve months, both by the gifts he brings and by his own character and appearance. Hence it is essential everywhere that he should be an individual with certain definite qualities, though what these are varies a little from one region to another.
In Scotland and northern England, the custom of First-Footing in the early hours of January 1st is still kept up with great vigour. The First Foot comes as
Usually, the First Foot greets all within as he crosses the threshold, and is at once loudly welcomed in return. In some parts of Scotland, however, he does not speak until he has laid a peat or a coal upon the fire. This silent entry and first concern with the hearth, the life-centre of the house, has been recorded in other regions also, and may perhaps represent an older form of the rite. In his English Festivals, Lawrence Whistler describes an impressive version of the ceremony, in which the First Foot carried an evergreen branch in one hand and a sprig of mistletoe in the other. He entered in silence, crossed the room to the hearth, and there laid the green branch upon the flames and the mistletoe on the mantelpiece above. No one spoke while he did this, and only when he turned to wish the assembled company a happy New Year was the general silence broken.
The ceremonial First Foot may be one of a band of young men going round from house to house, or a friend of the family who has arranged to let the New Year in for them. Sometimes a man of the right type will undertake to visit every house in a given street or district. Strictly speaking, the First Foot should always be someone from outside the home, but occasionally, when no such early morning visitor is expected, a male member of the household will go out just before midnight and be ceremonially let in again as soon as the hour has struck, with the appropriate gifts in his hand. These, in England, are usually a piece of bread and a piece of coal, as symbols of food and warmth and a coin or a little salt to ensure wealth in the coming year. In Scotland, a bottle of whisky is often included, or a compound of spirits, beer, sugar, and eggs known as a Het Pint. Round Dundee, and in the fishing villages of the East Coast, a red herring is a lucky gift, as a promise of good fishing to come; and in some Scottish rural areas a sheaf of wheat, symbolizing a good corn-harvest, is often carried. For the First Foot to come empty-handed is a very bad omen, for this means losses and poverty before the year’s end.
To be a true luck-bringer, the First Foot should be vigorous and healthy and, if possible, young and good-looking. If he is flat-footed, or cross-eyed, or lame, if his eyebrows meet across his nose, if he is dressed in black, or appears to be ailing, the omens for the coming twelve months are bad. In most areas, a dark-haired or dark-complexioned man is lucky, though there are local exceptions to this rule. In nine east Yorkshire districts, for instance, and in parts of Lincolnshire and Northumberland, the First Foot must be fair. Red hair is very widely disliked. In some counties, a bachelor is best, in others, a married man. Children and adolescent boys are usually popular first visitors, and so some regions is a man known to be a footling, that me who was born feet foremost, and who is consequently supposed to have magical powers of healing.
In the Isle of Man, the Quaaltagh may be of either sex, though a man is usually preferred. Similarly, in Scotland a woman can be a lucky First Foot in some areas, though not in all. But in England a female First Foot is a disaster almost everywhere. In the northern counties, where the ceremonial letting-in of the New Year is most widely observed, no woman would ever dream of presenting herself for this purpose. Along the Welsh Border formerly if a woman had occasion to call at a house on January 1st, she was expected to enquire first whether a man had been there before her; if she failed to do this, and came nevertheless, she was suspected of deliberate malice towards the family concerned.
Until about sixty or seventy years ago, it was customary in some parts of England for Christmas, as well as New Year, to be ceremonially let in by a First Foot, or Lucky Bird. The expected First Foot of Christmas was a man, or a boy, of the right type, who came very early on Christmas morning. He entered by the front door and, in many places, walked right through the house, going into every room, and leaving finally by the back door. Unlike the New Year counterpart, he brought no symbolic gifts, though he usually carried a sprig of evergreen. It was, however, essential that something should be given to him. In East Yorkshire, he was sometimes given bread, salt, and a small coin as soon as he crossed the threshold. Elsewhere, the customary gifts were sixpence or a shilling, and a generous portion of Christmas cake, or cheese, with cider, ale, or home-made wine. Unless these, or other gifts were made to the Christmas luck-bringer, very bad luck would follow during the coming year.
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