About Scotland presents:

Hogmanay at the Cross Keys Hotel, Kelso, Scotland

Hogmanay -New Year- at the Cross Keys Hotel

See also: Italian Night and Accommodation Special Offers

and also: Christmas Party Nights

For booking and enquiries: Please see the Enquiries page (This link opens a new window in your browser) Marcello Becattelli The Cross Keys Hotel The Square, Kelso, TD5 7HL Scotland, UK Tel:(44) 1573 223303 Fax:(44) 1573 225792

PARTY NIGHTS CONDITIONS OF BOOKING: The Cross Keys Hotel reserves the right to alter prices or to substitute dishes of equal value to the published menus if necessary. We also reserve the right to cancel or postpone any Event should numbers booked fall below the minimum required for the running of the event. All quoted prices are inclusive of Vat at 17.5% and service. A Deposit of £10.00 per person should be sent 10 weeks prior date of event. Full balance should be settled four weeks prior the date of your event (The Cross Keys will send reminder letters). If an individual cancellation occurs after payment has been received, we will be unable to make refunds partially or entirely unless we are able to refill the cancelled place.

The History of Hogmanay

Whereas the English have traditionally celebrated Christmas, up until relatively recently the Scots preferred to wait and celebrate the departure of the Old Year and the arrival of the New Year on the night called Hogmanay. For the first half of the twentieth century, most Scots worked over Christmas, and did not get a break until the 1st of January. It is thought that the reason for the Scot's dismissal of Christmas has is roots in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century, which portrayed Christmas as a Popish celebration and therefore had to be banned. The only time left for the Scots to have a good party was the New Year, which was a pre-Christian celebration.

There is a lot of confusion how the name Hogmanay came around. The Scots did not always speak English. There were two main languages. Gaelic, which belongs to the Highlands and Islands, and old Scots, which was the language of the Lowland Scots. This was in some way similar to old English, but very definitely different. The two languages could be described perhaps, as cousins. (It was only with the Union of the two countries that Old Scots began to make way for English.) There are several possibilities as to the origin of the word "HOGMANAY" and they are:
It could be from the Anglo-Saxon "Haleg Monath" which means Holy Month.
It could be from the gaelic "oge maidne", which means New Morning.
Some people also think that it could be from an Old French word meaning "gift" as it was customary to give gifts at this time. Bryan, at the Ensign Ewart believes it comes from the ancient Scottish accounting term "Hog Money" and uses it as justification for renewing his resolution "to be less generous than the previous year.

Judging by her performance last year, one of the girls known to us believes the term stems from the phrase "Hug Many" as she managed to kiss most of the 500,000 crowd after "The Bells". Whatever the origin there are lots of different customs that have grown up around HOGMANAY, some of which differ from region to region, street to street, bar to bar and glass to glass. In other words there is plenty to chose from.

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The Cross Keys Hotel, Kelso, Roxburghshire, TD5 7H, Scotland. Tel +44(0)1573 223303

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