The following rhyme was appointed for all who had nothing else to say: “I do not dislike cheese, And have no aversion to butter; But a little drop from the cask My throttle is in quest of.” NEW-YEAR NIGHT. It was a practice not to be neglected to keep the fire alive in the house all night. No one was to come near it but a friend, and, as an additional security against its going out, candles were kept burning. Hence, the other name given to the night, _Oidhche Choinnle_, _i.e._ candle night. There was a rhyme (which the writer has not been able to recover) to be said when feeding the fire. By this means evil was kept away from the house for the subsequent year. If the fire went out no kindling could be got next day from any of the neighbours. The first day of the year was a quarter-day, on which it was unlucky to give fire out of the house. It gave the means to witches and evilly-disposed people to do irreparable mischief to the cattle and their produce. The dying out of the fire was, therefore, a serious inconvenience in days when lucifer matches were unknown. The women made use of the occasion to bake bread for next day. Old men, provident of the future, watched with interest the wind the old year left (_ghaoth dh’fhàgas a Choluinn_). That would prove the prevailing wind during the ensuing year, and indicated its chief characteristics, as the rhyme says: “South wind—heat and produce, North wind—cold and tempest, West wind—fish and milk, East wind—fruit on trees.”[55] NEW-YEAR’S DAY (_Latha na Bliadhn’ ùr_); also called the Day of Little Christmas (_Latha nollaige bige_). On getting up in the morning the head of the family treated all the household to a dram. After that a spoonful of half-boiled sowens (_cabhruich leth-bhruich_), the poorest food imaginable, was given for luck. Sometimes the sowens were whole boiled, and in some places the well-to-do farmer’s wife left a little over night at the house of every poor man on the farm. The custom of having this dish of sowens was known in the central Highlands, and in Lorn, but does not seem to have extended to Mull, Morven, or the Western Islands. The salutations of the season were duly given by the household to one another, and to every person they met: “A good New Year to you” (_Bliadhna mhath ùr dhuit_), “The same to you, and many of them” (_Mar sin duit fhein is mòran diu_). The boys rushed away out, to play at their everlasting game of shinty, and a more sumptuous breakfast than ordinary was prepared.