We have here another survival of that oft-noted custom of skin-wearing, which, as has been seen, originated apparently in a desire for contact with the sanctity of the sacrificed victim. Further, the "breast-stripe" given to the goodman of each house is evidently meant to convey the hallowed influences to each family. It is an oval strip, and no knife may be used in removing it from the flesh. The head of the house sets fire to it, and it is given to each person in turn to smell. The inhaling of its fumes is a talisman against fairies, witches, and demons. In the island of South Uist, according to a quite recent account, each person seizes hold of it as it burns, making the sign of the cross, if he be a Catholic, in the name of the Trinity, and it is put thrice sun-wise about the heads of those present. If it should be extinguished it is a bad omen for the New Year.{32} The writer of the last account speaks of the "breast-strip" as the "Hogmanay," and it is just possible that the well-known Hogmanay processions of children on New Year's Eve (in Scotland and elsewhere) may have some connection with the ritual above described. It is customary for the poorer children to |329| swaddle themselves in a great sheet, doubled up in front so as to form a vast pocket, and then go along the streets in little bands, calling out "Hogmanay" at the doors of the wealthier classes, and expecting a dole of oaten bread. Each child gets a quadrant of oat-cake (sometimes with cheese), and this is called the "Hogmanay." Here is one of the rhymes they sing:-- "Get up, goodwife, and shake your feathers, And dinna think that we are beggars; For we are bairns come out to play, Get up and gie's our hogmanay!"{33} The word _Hogmanay_--it is found in various forms in the northern English counties as well as in Scotland--has been a puzzle to etymologists. It is used both for the last day of the year and for the gift of the oaten cake or the like; and, as we have seen, it is shouted by the children in their quest. Exactly corresponding to it in sense and use is the French word _aguillanneuf_, from which it appears to be derived. Although the phonetic difference between this and the Scottish word is great, the Norman form _hoguinane_ is much closer. There is, moreover, a Spanish word _aguinaldo_ (formerly _aguilando_) = Christmas-box. The popular explanation of the French term as _au-guy-l'an-neuf_ (to the mistletoe the New Year) is now rejected by scholars, and it seems likely that the word is a corruption of the Latin _Kalendae_.{34} A few instances of _aguillanneuf_ customs may be given. Here are specimens of rhymes sung by the New Year _queteurs_:-- "Si vous veniez a la depense, A la depense de chez nous, Vous mangeriez de bons choux, On vous servirait du rost. Hoguinano.