G, GORT, ivy in the Ogham alphabet. The bird ... - Rodney Mackay

air. When the dark barren days of winter come and you want
to bring back the sun and fruitful fields, you enact the birth
of the new year by killing and then restoring life to an actor
who represents life itself. And every "guisers play consists
of three parts that symbolize the death of the old year and
the birth of the new one - a fight, the death of the hero and
his restoration to life."
It has been guessed that the first guiser-plays were
instituted at the Samhain, but the lowland Scots tend to
follow the notice that "What is played at Yule is also useful
at Pasch (Easter)." In Galloway the guisers are known as
the Yule boys and their appearance is at Christmas
Elsewhere the Hogmanay has been shifted to New Year's Eve
or New Year's Day. Wherever they went people tended to be
impressed by their ghost-like appearance: "The Gysarts
always dress themselves in white. They appear like so
many dead persons robed in their shrouds, who have risen
from their narrow homes, and the simile is improved
because their faces are all painted black or dark blue. Their
mutches (moustaches) are sometimes adorned with ribbons
of diverse colours, but these seldom enter into their dress."
In addition these "first-footers" wore Klu Klux Klan-like
"casques of brown paper, shaped like a mitre" on their
heads, and wore masks to hide their identity. They were
led by King Golashan whose costume was suitable to the
role. His immediate followers were appropriately attired
as "the admiral of Saint George of England," the Black
Knight, the Farmer's Son, the Doctor, and a devil-beast,
dressed as a baobh. This pack made its rounds of the homes
singing doggerel verse in an expressionless monologue (to
further disguise their identities). At the door, the
traditional entrance was begged:
Rise up guidewife, and shak your feathers,
Dinna think that we are beggars;
We're only bairns got up to play.
Rise up and gie's oor Hogmanay.
After an introduction of the characters, the Gaelic king and