Scotland's changing Christmas spirit

Christmas is now a major consumer event in Scotland

Scotland's Millennium Christmas spending boom bears little resemblance to how the festive period was marked in the past.

As little as 50 years ago, many Scots still worked on Christmas Day, reserving their revelry for the more widely celebrated time of Hogmanay.

This owed much to the country's Presbyterian past, during which celebrating Christmas was banned.

But in the space of a few generations, Scots have embraced the Christmas festival, while managing to export their brand of New Year celebration around the world.

John Knox opposed "semi-pagan" jolity at Christmas

Speaking on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, historian Louise Yeoman said Christmas was effectively banned after the Reformation.

"It was decided that all this semi-pagan jollity really wasn't in the bible, so out went Christmas.

"You could be prosecuted if you took the day off on Christmas, you could be hauled in front of the church courts," she said.

Busy time

The national reticence to join in Christmas celebrations continued for centuries and was still potent as little as 50 years ago.

Pensioner Jean Gray recalled her childhood memories of 25 December.

She said: "Usually your dad was at work. It was not a holiday up here.

"It was a busy time because we were more or less preparing for Hogmanay."

But in little more than a generation, Yuletide in Scotland has changed beyond recognition.

Many Scots now enjoy a 12 day period of celebration from Christmas Eve through to early New Year.

Major celebrations

And the traditional Hogmanay is no longer exclusive to Scotland.

The arrival of New Year is marked in most countries around the world.

Edinburgh hosts the world's largest Hogmanay party

However, Scotland still retains the tradition of laying on major celebrations for Hogmanay.

The annual street party in Edinburgh is considered to be the biggest in the world and attracts hundreds of thousands of revellers from different countries.

Glasgow also pulls in sizeable crowds and across the country New Year remains an important date on the calendar.

Much of the traditional Calvinist caution towards Christmas may have diminished with time but it seems Scots are more determined than ever to keep alive the tradition of Hogmanay.