Hogmanay (pronounced “hug-m’nay” with stress on the last syllable) is the Scots’ word for the last day of the year, December 31st (generally known outside of Scotland as “New Year’s Eve”). Hogmanay is of course a day of celebration, and in fact the start of a period of celebration that includes December 31st (officially known as “Auld Year’s Night”), January 1st (known in Scotland as “Ne’erday”, and elsewhere as “New Year’s Day”), and January 2nd which in Scotland is a public holiday (a “Scottish Bank Holiday”).
There are many customs and traditions associated with Hogmanay, some national, others local. A particularly popular and widespread tradition is “first footing”, which begins immediately after the midnight transition to the New Year. First footing involves being the first to cross the threshold of a neighbor and giving a symbolic gift intended to bring luck to the householder – such symbolic gifts may include salt (although this is becoming less common nowadays), whisky, shortbread, black bun (a type of rich fruit cake), or even coal.
Another Hogmanay tradition is the singing of “Auld Lang Syne”. This is a traditional Scottish poem that was reinterpreted by Scottish romantic poet, Robert Burns, and later set to music. In fact, this Scottish tradition (along with the eating of Haggis and playing New Year in with bagpipes) is now a popular New Year activity not just in Scotland, but around the world.
Many people enjoy bring in the New Year with drinking and dancing, but even for people who prefer something more laid back, there is still the opportunity to spend time with friends and family. Hogmanay is also a wonderful time for family gatherings and parties, and of course party would be complete without party games!
One party game that you ought to consider is bingo. Bingo is great for family, church and community gatherings because it is so easy to play (everybody either already knows how or can learn very quickly), and because it is suitable for people of all ages – as well as being a lot of fun!
Of course, if you’re playing bingo at New Year, you’ll want to play the game with a Hogmanay or New Year theme. One way that you can do this is that instead of playing bingo with traditional numbered bingo cards, you can print up (using your computer) some cards containing word or phrases relating to the New Year festivities. The nice thing is that it’s very easy to print custom bingo cards from your computer – you can simple use some cheap bingo card maker software to do the job – and the best thing is, you can use that software again and again, either at future New Year celebrations, or for other celebrations or holidays.
By: Sunil Tanna
Most people are familiar with the game of bingo. We tend to think of it as a leisurely game mostly played by seniors, and while this is often the case, it is also the case that variations of the standard game are also used in teaching – including in K-12 education and in English as a Foreign/Second Language (usually abbreviated to “EFL” or “ESL”) classes. Additionally, games of bingo can also be a fun activity for social and family events such as wedding showers, baby showers, and family gatherings at holidays such as July 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
As you probably know, standard games of bingo are played using bingo worksheets (also known as “bingo cards”) containing a selection of numbers – the bingo players’ goal is to find matching squares as numbers are called out by the bingo caller. In educational and holiday versions of bingo however, the game play is varied somewhat – the squares can contain letters, words or phrases appropriate to the particular game – for example, in a game of Christmas bingo, the squares might contain words such as “Santa Claus”, “Christmas Tree”, and “Magi”. Likewise, in an educational game, the contents of the bingo worksheets will be based on the particular subject or lesson being taught – in a game of math bingo, the squares may contain numbers which are answers to math problems called out by the teacher, in a game of reading bingo, the squares might contain words chosen from the Dolch sight word list, and so on.
If you want to play one of these variants of bingo, the main requirement is of course a suitable set of bingo worksheets containing the appropriate items for your chosen theme. Preparing a different bingo worksheet for each player might sound like a lot of work, but actually it is not so hard – a computer and some bingo worksheet maker software can make the job quick and easy.
By: Sunil Tanna
