Today I'll be having the traditional tidy up and setting things in order, and tonight I'll be having a quiet celebration at home, with some offerings and a little ritual. I've decided I won't be trying the traditional Het Pint as the bells ring the new year in; eggs in my beer/whisky are kind of off-putting, I think!
Tomorrow we'll be off to the in-laws for the traditional steak pie dinner, as usual, but right now I thought I'd post an adaptation of a new year blessing that Carmichael recorded in Volume One of the Carmina Gadelica (said first thing on the first day of the new year):
- Gods, bless to me the new day,
- Never given to me before;
- It is to bless your own presence
- That you have given me this time, O Gods.
- Bless to me my eye,
- May my eye bless all it sees;
- I will bless my neighbour,
- May my neighbour bless me.
- Gods, give me a clean heart,
- Let me not from the sight of your eye;
- Bless to me my family,
- And bless to me my way.