As a new year approaches we are traditionally encouraged to put our best foot forward. That phrase once had an entirely different meaning in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, Scotland, and the surrounding areas. As part of a tradition known as “first-footing,” it was understood that the first suitor to enter a young maiden’s home on New Years morning was signaling the intention to enter a courtship that would consummate in marriage the following New Year’s Day.
As New Year’s Day approached, a young maiden might invite a sweetheart or potential suitor to be her first-foot on New Year’s morning (which was often as early as midnight). Superstition also held that the first-foot brought good luck to the maiden and the home. The closer to midnight a potential suitor arrived the more luck he was thought to bring. A dark-haired suitor was preferred over a fair-haired one. This part of the tradition may harken back to many centuries earlier when a blonde-haired Viking visitor did not bring the promise of good fortune but rather the certainty of pillaging.
Even if the first-foot did not bring much luck, he at least brought drink, having in hand whiskey or wassail. In some cases, friends of the first-foot would soon follow him for a New Year’s party that included drinking, eating, singing, and dancing. It was not unusual for fights to break out between the first-foot and jealous rivals.
So this New Year’s Day consider carefully the visitor who might first cross the home threshold. The first-foot carries good luck. If the Scottish superstition is true, he may also deliver marriage in a year’s time.
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Source: Folk-Lore/Volume 4/First-footing in Edinburgh @ https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Folk-Lore/Volume_4/First-footing_in_Edinburgh. Note: In broader Scotland and Northumbria, the tradition of the first-foot did not necessarily suggest a suitor was entering but merely someone who was considered to bring good luck for the coming year.