First-Foot
Sign in to saveIn Scottish, Northern English, and Manx folklore, the first-foot (, ) is the first person to enter the home of a household on New Year's Day and is seen as a bringer of good fortune for the coming year. Similar practices are also found in Greek, Vietnamese, and Georgian new year traditions.
Wikidata facts
Show 1 more fact
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- Origin
- Britain
- North of England
- Scotland
- Isle of Man
- Outside of the British Isles
- See also
- References
- External links
In Scottish, Northern English, and Manx folklore, the first-foot (, ) is the first person to enter the home of a household on New Year's Day and is seen as a bringer of good fortune for the coming year. Similar practices are also found in Greek, Vietnamese, and Georgian new year traditions.
== Origin == The origins of first-footing are uncertain, although there may be a connection to the Viking Invasion of the British Isles: "This may go back to the time of Vikings when the arrival of a blond stranger at your door would be the cause of fear and alarm."
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “First-Foot” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.