Oliver Miller Homestead rings in Scottish New Year
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Jim Chatham toasts the new year following his recitation of “Address to the Haggis.”
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Janet Walker, center, leads a round of Scottish country dancing in the Oliver Miller Homestead barn.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Performing during Hogmanay are Bethel Park High School students, from left, Cam Sillman, Claudia Huber and Gabbie Dunn.
Paula Bowman tells guests all about Hogmanay.
Julia Jennings gets ready to try tossing the caber.
Bagpiper Jim Harland provides a taste of traditional Scottish music.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Scottish tradition bestows good luck on a homeowner whose first guest over the threshold in the new year is a tall, dark-haired man. Beth Chatham greets one such individual at the front door of the Oliver Miller Homestead’s stone house.
String players from Bethel Park High School are, from left, Cam Sillman, Claudia Huber, Gabbie Dunn, Sarah D'Angelo, Stephanie Glover and Haley Bell. Glover is the school's orchestra director.
Jim Chatham plays the Irish flute during Hogmanay.
Joe Hanczak gives a demonstration.
Celebrating the start of each year is a big deal in Scotland, and it has been for quite some time.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Bethel Park High School student Claudia Huber gives the caber toss a try, with Dale Main providing instruction.
“Hogmanay is a very old tradition. The first writing we find of it goes back to 1604, and the word definitely means ‘a gift given at New Year’s,'” Paula Bowman explained. “Some people think that it actually goes back to the Norse time, and so the idea of the Norse being part of Scotland and their celebration of the Winter Solstice.”
She and her husband, Fred, Jefferson Hills residents, joined Jim and Beth Chatham of Bethel Park in organizing the annual Hogmanay celebration at the Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park.
Dressed as befitting the 18th-century residents of the homestead, Paula Bowman further enlightened Hogmanay guests about the fête.
“The reason for its importance in Scotland really speaks a lot of the religious conflicts that the British Isles had. When the very puritanical Presbyterians took over, they decided that Christmas should not be celebrated as a holiday, because that’s what the Catholics did,” she said. “It was not until the 1950s, in fact, that Scotland proposed Christmas as a national holiday with a day off work.
“Even today in Scotland, Hogmanay is celebrated with bonfires, revelry, singing, a little drinking, gift giving and all kinds of good parties.”
Re-enactors with the Oliver Miller Homestead Associates, the volunteer group that operates the historic site, gave demonstrations of the types of traditional activities associated with Hogmanay.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
David Trunzo participates in the presentation by storyteller Ruthanne Ankney.
“Since this is the end of the year, the first thing that we have to do is clear out all of the old, anything negative, anything dirty. Anything that is owed to people, we have to get rid of,” Bowman explained. “Another thing that we have to do is clear any debts or obligations that we have. You don’t want to carry them on to the new year.”
She then led guests in a chant to help make for a clean slate.
“Shoo, shoo, away with you. Out with the old, and in with the new.”
Demonstrations included the parade of the haggis, complete with a bagpiper, with the familiar Scottish main course in tow: a combination of organ meats, oatmeal and spices, cooked in a sheep’s stomach.
Guests were invited to partake, and many not only tried haggis, but enjoyed it.
Before anyone ate, though, Jim Chatham recited “Address to the Haggis,” composed by famed Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-96). Of course, Burns also wrote the perennial New Year’s stroke-of-midnight ditty “Auld Lang Syne,” which guests, of course, sang to conclude the Oliver Miller Hogmanay.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Tom Noonan gives a blacksmithing demonstration.
The day also featured performances by the Pittsburgh Scottish Country Dancers, who invited those in attendance to give Scottish country dancing a try; demonstrations by re-enactors of pursuits such as horn smithing, woodworking and blacksmithing; and the Scottish games of tossing a bag of hay and a pole called a caber.
For the youngsters, professional storyteller Ruthanne Ankney provided a Hogmanay tale, complete with audience participation.
Hogmanay, presented in early December, wrapped up the Oliver Miller Homestead’s 2018 season. Keep an eye out for 2019 events by visiting olivermillerhomestead.org.