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An Old Rhyme for the New Year and the Custom of the Quaaltagh

Friday, December 28th, 2007

New Years is almost here. I found a rhyme that used to be sung on the Isle of Man. Isle of Man is an island that’s located between Great Britain and Ireland in the Irish Sea. It’s a British crown dependency, but it’s not a part of the UK or the European Union.

The rhyme is associated with a custom called the quaaltagh. The quaaltagh or qualtagh is actually the first person who steps foot into your house on the morning of the New Year. Young men would go from house to house singing the rhyme on New Year’s morning. After singing the rhyme, they’d be invited inside for food and drink. For superstitious reasons, it was important that the boy or man with the darkest complexion enter first – that he be the quaaltagh. It’s considered bad luck for a person with light hair to be the first to enter a house in the New Year.

Here’s the rhyme:

Again we assemble, a merry New Year
To wish to each one of the family here,
Whether man, woman, or girl, or boy,
That long life and happiness all may enjoy;
May they of potatoes and herrings have plenty,
With butter and cheese, and each other dainty;
And may their sleep never, by night or day,
Disturbed be by even the tooth of a flea:
Until at the Quaaltagh again we appear,
To wish you, as now, all a happy New Year.

Happy New Year to all of you! Remember on New Year’s morning to have the person with darker hair and complexion enter the house first and be the quaaltagh. It’s considered good luck that way!

-Mama Lisa

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