Until a generation ago, the two principal tribes in
these islands had a wholly divergent approach to the year’s final week.
The English celebrated Christmas, a jollity that they had spent
centuries in embellishing. But there was no public holiday on New
Year’s Day.

In Scotland, that was the most sacred
holiday of them all, while Christmas was a normal working day. The
Scots were suspicious of Christmas. The “mas” bit sounded Popish, and
it was all bound up with the New Testament. The Scots preferred the Old
one.

Over the past few decades, the ceremonies
would appear to have converged, as the whole nation closes down for a
fortnight. Yet there are still profound differences, expressive of
national character: and the English do not know how to celebrate the
New Year.

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