Christmas in Scotland

Short description: none

"Daft Days" redirects here. For the author of the poem by that title, see Robert Fergusson.

Christmas funfair at George Square, Glasgow

Prior to the Reformation of 1560, Christmas in Scotland, then called "Yule" (alternative spellings include Yhoill, Yuil, Ȝule and Ȝoull; see Yogh) or in Gaelic-speaking areas "Nollaig", was celebrated in a similar fashion to the rest of Catholic Europe. Calderwood recorded that in 1545, a few months before his murder, Cardinal Beaton had "passed over the Christmasse dayes with games and feasting". However, the Reformation transformed attitudes to traditional Christian feasting days, including Christmas, and led in practice to the abolition of festival days and other church holidays,[1][2] the Kirk and the state being closely linked in Scotland during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. A 1640 act of the Parliament of Scotland abolished the "Yule vacation and all observation thereof in time coming".

## Contents

* 1 Post-Reformation suppression of Yule Tide celebrations
* 2 Daft Days
* 3 Post-war period
* 4 See also
* 5 Notes
* 6 References

## Post-Reformation suppression of Yule Tide celebrations

Short description: United Kingdom legislation

Yule Vacance Act 1640

Act of Parliament

Parliament of Scotland

Long title| Act dischairging the Yule vacance, appointing the session to sit doun the first of November and ryse the last of Februar, and to sit doune the first of June and ryise the last of Julii.
Citation| June 1640 c. 7
Territorial extent| Scotland
Dates
Royal assent| 5 June 1640
Other legislation
Repealed by| Rescissory Act 1661
Relates to| Yule Vacance Act 1711

Status: Unknown

Short description: United Kingdom legislation

Yule Vacance Act 1690

Act of Parliament

Parliament of Scotland

Long title| Act discharging the Yule Vacance.
Citation| April 1690 c. 52
Territorial extent| Scotland
Dates
Royal assent| 19 July 1690
Repealed| 7 December 1711
Other legislation
Repealed by| Yule Vacance Act 1711

Status: Repealed

Two acts of the Estates of Parliament — the Yule Vacance Act 1640 (Act discharging the Yule vacance) (5 June 1640)[3] and the Yule Vacance Act 1690 (April c. 52) Act dischargeing the Yule vacance (15 April 1690)[4]— abolished the Yule Vacance (Christmas recess).

Short description: United Kingdom legislation

Yule Vacance Act 1686

Act of Parliament

Parliament of Scotland

Long title| Act for the Christmas Vacance.
Citation| 1686 c. 7
Territorial extent| Scotland
Dates
Royal assent| 24 May 1686
Other legislation
Repealed by| Statute Law Repeal (No. 3) Act 1690
Relates to| Yule Vacance Act 1711

Status: Repealed

The first act was partly repealed by the Yule Vacance Act 1686 (c. 7),[5] when Episcopalianism was briefly in ascendancy within the Kirk.

Short description: United Kingdom legislation

Yule Vacance Act 1711

Act of Parliament

Parliament of Great Britain

Long title| An Act for repealing Part of an Act passed in the Parliament of Scotland, intituled, "Act for discharging the Yule Vacance."
Citation|

* 10 Ann. c. 22[lower-alpha 1]
* 10 Ann. c. 12[lower-alpha 2]

Territorial extent| Scotland
Dates
Royal assent| 22 May 1712
Commencement| 7 December 1711[lower-alpha 3]
Repealed| 17 March 1715
Other legislation
Repeals| Yule Vacance Act 1690
Repealed by| Yule Vacance Act 1714
Relates to|

* Yule Vacance Act 1640
* Yule Vacance Act 1686

Status: Repealed

Text of statute as originally enacted

Short description: United Kingdom legislation

Yule Vacance Act 1714

Act of Parliament

Parliament of Great Britain

Long title| An act for repealing an act, intituled, "An act for repealing part of an act passed in the parliament of Scotland, intituled, 'Act for discharging the Yule vacance.'"
Citation| 1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 28
Territorial extent| Scotland
Dates
Royal assent| 21 September 1715
Commencement| 17 March 1715[lower-alpha 3]
Repealed| 15 July 1867
Other legislation
Repeals| Yule Vacance Act 1711
Repealed by| Statute Law Revision Act 1867

Status: Repealed

Text of statute as originally enacted

The second act was partly repealed in 1712 by the Yule Vacance Act 1711 (10 Ann. c. 22)[lower-alpha 1] of the Parliament of Great Britain.[6]

The third act was repealed by the Yule Vacance Act 1714 (1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 28).

Christmas became a Bank Holiday in Scotland in 1871.

The 1640 act stated (in Middle Scots):[3]

Template:Boxquote

Robert Jamieson recorded the opinion of an English clergyman regarding the post-reformation suppression of Christmas:[7]

> "The ministers of Scotland, in contempt of the holy-day observed by England, cause their wives and servants to spin in open sight of the people upon Yule day, and their affectionate auditors constrain their servants to yoke their plough on Yule day, in contempt of Christ's nativity. Which our Lord has not left unpunished, for their oxen ran wud, and brak their necks and lamed some ploughmen, which is notoriously known in some parts of Scotland."

## Daft Days

The period of festivities running from Christmas to Handsel Monday, including Hogmanay and Ne'erday, is known as the Daft Days.[8][9][10]

## Post-war period

Clootie dumpling

Christmas in Scotland was traditionally observed very quietly because the Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian church, for various reasons[clarification needed] suppressed Christmas celebrations in Scotland after the Reformation.

Christmas Day was made a public holiday in 1958[11] in Scotland, Boxing Day only in 1974.[12] The New Year's Eve festivity, Hogmanay, was by far the largest celebration in Scotland. The giftgiving, public holidays and feasting associated with mid-winter were traditionally held between 11 December and 6 January. However, since the 1980s, the fading of the Church's influence and the increased influences from the rest of the United Kingdom and elsewhere, Christmas and its related festivities are now nearly on par with, or surpass, Hogmanay and Ne'erday. Edinburgh, Glasgow and other cities now have traditional German Christmas market from late November until Christmas Eve.[13][14]

## See also

* Auld Lang Syne
* Five Articles of Perth
* Little Christmas
* Taladh Chriosda
* Up Helly Aa

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 This is the citation in The Statutes of the Realm.
2. ↑ This is the citation in The Statutes at Large.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Start of session.

## References

1. ↑ Ross, Anthony (Autumn 1959). "Reformation and Repression". The Innes Review (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press) 10 (2): 338–381. doi:10.3366/inr.1959.10.2.338. ISSN 0020-157X. http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/inr.1959.10.2.338. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
2. ↑ Christmas in Scotland: Christmas Around the World. World Book. 2001. pp. 23. ISBN 978-0-7166-0860-8. https://archive.org/details/christmasinscotl00worl/page/23.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Act discharging the Yule vacance". The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707. University of St Andrews and National Archives of Scotland. http://www.rps.ac.uk/search.php?action=fc&fn=charlesi_ms&id=id8564&query=&type=ms&variants=&google=.
4. ↑ "Act discharging the Yule vacance". The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707. University of St Andrews and National Archives of Scotland. http://www.rps.ac.uk/search.php?action=print&id=id21149&filename=william_and_mary_ms&type=ms.
5. ↑ "Act for the Christmas vacation". The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707. St Andrews: University of St Andrews and National Archives of Scotland. http://www.rps.ac.uk/search.php?a=fcf&fn=jamesvii_trans&id=id20103&t=trans.
6. ↑ Cobbett, William (1810). Cobbett's parliamentary history of England: from the Norman conquest, in 1066 to the year 1803. Bagshaw. https://archive.org/details/pp809777_0006.
7. ↑ Napier, James (1879). Folklore, or, Superstitious beliefs in the west of Scotland within this century: with an appendix, shewing the probable relation of the modern festivals of Christmas, May Day, St. John's Day, and Halloween, to ancient sun and fire worship. Paisley: Alex. Gardner. pp. 190. http://www.manybooks.net/support/n/napierj/napierj15791579215792-8.exp.html. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
8. ↑ "Scotslanguage.com - Fergusson's Daft Days". https://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/node/id/316.
9. ↑ "Dictionary of the Scots Language:: SND :: feast". https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/feast.
10. ↑ "Dictionary of the Scots Language:: SND :: daft". https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/daft.
11. ↑ "Scottish Christmas traditions". https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/scottish-christmas-traditions.
12. ↑ "Archived copy". http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/bank-public-holidays/bank-public-holidays/page18882.html.
13. ↑ "Traditional German Christmas Market"[Usurped!] Edinburgh's Christmas. Retrieved during the pre-festive season 2011.
14. ↑ "Christmas Markets in Scotland". Travelness. https://travelness.com/scotland-christmas-markets.

* v
* t
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Christmas

* Blue Christmas
* Christmas Eve
* Children's Day
* Boxing Day
* Nochebuena
* Saint Nicholas Day
* St. Stephen's Day
* Sol Invictus
* Yule

Christianity|

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In folklore

* Badalisc
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* Elves
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* Grýla
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* Sinterklaas
* Tió de Nadal
* Vertep
* Yule Cat
* Yule Lads
* Zwarte Piet

Gift-bringers

* Saint Nicholas
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* List of Christmas gift-bringers by country

Traditions|

* Advent calendar
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* Cavalcade of Magi
* Crackers
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* Letters
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* Markets
* Meals and feasts
* Moravian star
* Nine Lessons and Carols
* NORAD Tracks Santa
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* list
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* Pyramids
* Räuchermann
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* "A Visit from St. Nicholas"
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modern
society|

* Advent Conspiracy
* Black Friday (partying)
* Black Friday (shopping)
* Bronner's Christmas Wonderland
* Christmas club
* Christmas creep
* Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004
* Christmas Lectures
* Christmas Mountains
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* Controversies
* Cyber Monday
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* Grinch
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* Leon Day
* NBA games
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* Puritan New England
* American Civil War
* Post-War United States
* Running of the Santas
* SantaCon
* Santa's Candy Castle
* Small Business Saturday
* Super Saturday
* Ugly sweaters
* Virginia O'Hanlon
* White Christmas
* Winter festivals
* WWE Tribute to the Troops
* Xmas

Food and
drink|

* Dinner
* Joulupöytä
* Julebord
* Kūčios
* Réveillon
* Twelve-dish supper
* Smörgåsbord
* Wigilia
* Sweets
* bûche de Noël
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* Mince pie
* Pavlova
* Pecan pie
* Pumpkin pie
* Pudding
* Szaloncukor
* Turrón
* Soup
* Menudo
* Sauce
* Cranberry sauce
* Beverages
* Apple cider
* Champurrado
* Eggnog
* Mulled wine
* Smoking Bishop
* Ponche crema
* Dumpling
* Hallaca
* Tamale
* Meat
* Ham
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Scotland articles

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