This ancient agrarian custom is an augural manifestation occasioned by the passage from the old to the new year. on New Year’s Eve, groups of children go from house to house, expressing the compliments of the season, while ringing bells, cracking a long whip, and reciting verse:




The year tomorrow will be renewed,
On its way our little plough will start,
Good Wishes to you to impart,
Which will come true, if by you received.
The winter is heavy, the snow id high,
Which is of good omen for the coming year,
Announcing that a rich harvest is near
By driving deep the plough if you try.





back home next