While Christmas and New Year is over for most, some Shetlanders will be opening their presents tomorrow in celebration of Yule.
While the festive period is over for most people, residents of Foula are set to mark Old Christmas, known locally as Yule.
In the 16th Century, Pope Gregory introduced the Gregorian calendar which placed the calendar year back in line with the solar equinoxes and removed the Julian calendar.
This meant Christmas and New Year was brought forward by 10 days, but this wasn’t the case in Shetland where Yule was on January 5.
For Foula residents however, the celebrations are on January 6.
‘Candle in cow’s skull, ball made out of pig’s bladder’
While Yule isn’t celebrated in most of the isles, Foula will mark the occasion tomorrow with children opening Christmas presents.
Shetland tour guide and travel writer Laurie Goodlad explained the reason Yule in Foula moved to a day later was due to calendar changes on a leap year in 1800.
She said: “For a while in Shetland, folk just carried on following the Julian calendar, so Christmas and New Year would be January 5 and January 12.
“Foula later introduced the calendar changes in 1800, which was a leap year, so they celebrate on January 6 and January 13, that’s why they’re a day late.”
The celebration of Yule used to start in mid-winter throughout Shetland and last a total of 24 days with unique traditions.
Ms Goodlad said: “You would never have eaten turkey, it would’ve been your best hug (adult male sheep).
“On Christmas morning, the head of the house would light a candle in the eye socket of a cow’s skull and walk around the byre carrying it while feeding the animals, then go in the house and offer everyone a drink.
“They would also play ‘ba’ after dinner and they did that into the 20th Century and there’s records of them doing it up until the First World War.
“It was said that ba was like a form of football but seemingly without rules and it was used from a ball made from a pig’s bladder.”
‘Menfolk would go shooting’
Kenny Gear, who grew up and lives in Foula says his children will have presents to open from Santie on Yule morning.
He said: “We still hold Yule on the sixth. Santie will only be coming to some houses tonight, although he kindly comes twice to our bairns.
“That means they get things at the start of the holidays, but they still have something on Yule morning as well.”
Mr Gear says while some of the isle’s Yule traditions such as shooting and eating shags, locally known as “scarfs” are gone, many of them still exist.
“Yule is more of a social occasion than a family one, traditionally everybody would gravitate in the late evening or early hours to whoever it’s been decided is holding Yule.
“Music, drams and sometimes dancing would be held, in years where nobody was holding Yule, folk still generally all end up at someone’s house.
“When I was growing up, there was a tradition that is now long gone where the menfolk would gather with their guns and go shooting around the banks (cliffs).
“Usually a few scarfs were shot, cleaned and given to whoever was holding Yule, when scarfs are cooked the right way, they were very tasty.
“Minus the scarf shooting, we still do most of those traditions on Yule,” he added.
Put the values into practice
While Ms Goodlad feels it may be impractical to change Christmas in Shetland back to its original date, she feels some of Yule’s values should be put into practice.
“It’s a difficult one because you’d end up celebrating twice, we’re so led by popular culture and adverts selling us the Christmas dream,” she said.
“We live in a society where we have to conform to the modern calendar, you’re expected to be back at work and bairns have to go back to the school, so it would impractical.
“But I think it would definitely be worth introducing some of the aspects of old Yule that we’ve lost.
“With the cost-of-living crisis and this Christmas there was going to be turkey shortages.
“We should think about how we’re doing Christmas, look to the past and think about how it can be done more locally and sustainably, that’s things we’re losing.”
Conversation