\n
With the worst of the pandemic seemingly behind us, this year\u2019s New Year celebrations were likely to have had a welcome and more traditional feel about them. Many of us will have planned to enjoy parties and join in the traditional singing of \u2018Auld Lang Syne\u2019 at the stroke of midnight on New Year\u2019s Eve. A good time perhaps, to remind ourselves about its surprisingly interesting history and influence around the world.<\/p>\n
The story starts in Scotland with the poet Robert Burns (right) . He is credited with![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/r-burns.jpg?resize=250%2C345\")
adapting and partially rewriting an old Scots -language poem or folk song in 1788. That year Burns sent a copy of the original song to the Scots Musical Museum with the remark, \u2018The following song, an old song, of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man.\u2019 In 1799, it was set to a traditional tune, which is basically the one we are familiar with today.<\/p>\n
One interesting story about Auld Lang Syne involves Queen Elizabeth II. At Hogmanay in Scotland, it is common practice that everyone joins hands with the person next to them to form a great circle around the dance floor. At the beginning of the last verse (And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!\/and gie’s a hand o’ thine!), everyone crosses their arms across their breast, so that the right hand reaches out to the neighbour on the left and vice versa. Outside Scotland the hands are often crossed from the beginning of the song, at variance with Scottish custom. The Scottish practice was demonstrated by Queen Elizabeth II at the Millennium Dome celebrations for the year 2000. Some press outlets berated her for not \u2018properly\u2019 crossing her arms, unaware that she was correctly following the Scottish tradition.<\/p>\n
In Scotland, it is often sung at the end of a c\u00e8ilidh, a dance, and at weddings. At weddings, it is performed in the same way as at New Year, but the bride and groom are often lifted up in the centre of the circle. The tune is also played, and sung by the crowd, in the final stages of the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo. In Great Britain, it is sung at the end of the Last Night of the Proms and played at the close of the annual Congress (conference) of the Trades Union Congress. The song is also played at the Passing Out Parade of Young Officers in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as well as at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, for young officers joining the British Army. It also has a similar role in countries who are members or former members of the Commonwealth of Nations including Canada, India, Pakistan, Singapore and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
In fact it is also widely known and popularly sung in many countries, especially English speaking ones. The song is widely used by the international Scout Movement, at the closing of jamborees and other occasions. In the Netherlands, the melody is used as the Dutch football song “Wij houden van Oranje” (“We Love Orange”), performed by Andr\u00e9 Hazes. In Thailand the lyrics have been adapted as a patriotic song about the King and national unity, although many Thais are not aware of the song’s Western origin. Most surprisingly perhaps, before 1972, Auld Lang Syne was even the tune for the national anthem of the Maldives and using the current words!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\u2018AULD LANG SYNE\u2019 AND A WARM WELCOME TO 2023 With the worst of the pandemic seemingly behind us, this year\u2019s New Year celebrations were likely to have had a welcome and more traditional feel about them. Many of us will have planned to enjoy parties and join in the traditional singing of \u2018Auld Lang Syne\u2019 at the stroke of midnight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3j1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13924,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13924","url_meta":{"origin":12711,"position":0},"title":"New Year Traditions In Wales","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th February 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"NEW YEAR TRADITIONS IN WALES \u00a0 As we in Wenvoe celebrate the arrival of the New Year with a bottle of fizz, watching the fireworks from around the world on television, and by singing a few lines of Auld Lang Syne, there are many very old New Year's traditions in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Picture1-249x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4970,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4970","url_meta":{"origin":12711,"position":1},"title":"Meetings Schedule","author":"Alan Williams","date":"18th September 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Our branch doesn\u2019t meet in August but some members enjoyed a summer lunch at the Wenvoe Arms on the 7th of the month. They want to thank the staff for a their warm welcome and excellent service. A further lunch is planned for Monday September 10th and menus will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Miscellaneous"","block_context":{"text":"Miscellaneous","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=127"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12302,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12302","url_meta":{"origin":12711,"position":2},"title":"A Warm Sunny Autumn Morning","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th October 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP A Warm Sunny Autumn Morning\u00a0 A warm sunny Autumn morning saw the team tackle the rose beds on the village green, while Ieuan with his trusty trimmer cut the hedge at the memorial. We were pleased to welcome Juha from Finland (in the foreground) who was staying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment Group"","block_context":{"text":"Environment Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=47"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Picture2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12757,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12757","url_meta":{"origin":12711,"position":3},"title":"December Report","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th January 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"WOMEN\u2019S INSTITUTE December Report Wenvoe WI has been particularly active this month. We held our Christmas Party on the first Thursday evening in the Church Hall, where festive buffet prepared by the members was served. Also, we had a seasonal Quiz, followed by a rendition of an alternative version of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Womens Institute"","block_context":{"text":"Womens Institute","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=37"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12309,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12309","url_meta":{"origin":12711,"position":4},"title":"Back After the Summer","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th October 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"WOMEN\u2019S INSTITUTE Back After the Summer On September 1st Wenvoe WI met for the first time in this year\u2019s programme. Our president welcomed everyone back after the Summer and then we had a Fish and Chip supper \u2013 courtesy of The Fryer\u2019s Club fish and chip shop in Ely. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Womens Institute"","block_context":{"text":"Womens Institute","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=37"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3969,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3969","url_meta":{"origin":12711,"position":5},"title":"Christmas Celebrations","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th November 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Vale Village Church would like to invite everyone to join them to celebrate Christmas. We promise you a warm welcome and an insight into the true meaning of Christmas. There will be traditional carols, the Christmas story and one or two surprises! Sunday 17th December 11am \u2013 Vale\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Vale Village Church"","block_context":{"text":"Vale Village Church","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=240"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12711"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12711"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12719,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12711\/revisions\/12719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}