Blue eyes?

[David Dalglish]

I have blue eyes & red hair, my Father used to say "I dont know where you came from"???

[Phil]

I'm one of those recessive ones - red hair & brown eyes. I read that we are becoming an endangered species though. I was never very popular first-footing at Hogmanay. People prefer black hair, must be something to do with those invading Vikings from Denmark. I suppose you can understand with all that raping & pillaging they wouldn't exactly be welcomed with open arms.

[BoldHighlander]

I'm one of those recessive ones - red hair & brown eyes. I read that we are becoming an endangered species though. I was never very popular first-footing at Hogmanay. People prefer black hair, must be something to do with those invading Vikings from Denmark. I suppose you can understand with all that raping & pillaging they wouldn't exactly be welcomed with open arms.

Excerpted from The Highlander November / December 2005

Firstfooters.

In Scotland, it was, and still is, the custom for a stranger to enter the house after midnight on New Year's Eve. There were taboos about the luck such a stranger would bring, especially in the days of hospitality to traveling strangers. A fair-haired visitor was considered bad luck in most areas, partly due to fighting between the dark Scots and the fair Norse invaders.

However, in Christian times a fair-haired man was considered very lucky providing his name was Andrew (because St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland).

[Pleater]

The superstition is still around throughout Britain.

I used to have long, abundant very dark brown hair and was considered to be a lucky 'first footer' around where we lived in Yorkshire.

My mother and her mother always remarked on the year when the first footer was a boy with very fair hair (wearing a hood), and the year was a terrible one for them.

To do it properly the first footer should bring a piece of coal to throw on the fire and be offered food and drink - traditionally bread and hot toddy or mulled wine, though mince pies or Christmas cake were equally acceptable.