[Carolers circle the house deosil, the leader wearing a horned mask]
I am now come to your country,
To renew to you the Hogmanay,
I need not tell you of it,
It was in the time of our Mothers.
I ascend by the door lintel,
I descend by the doorstep,
I will sing my song becomingly,
Mannerly, slowly, mindfully.
The Hogmanay skin is in my pocket,
Great will be the smoke from it presently.
No one who shall inhale its odour,
But shall be for ever from it healthy.
The Priest will get it in his hand,
He will place its nose in the fire;
He will go deosil round the Coven,
And for seven verities round the Maiden.
The Priestess will get it, she who deserves it,
The hand to distribute the Hogmanay,
The hand to bestow the cheese and butter,
Much I wish it with the bread.
Give it to us if it be possible,
If you may not, do not detain us;
I am the servant of Love at the door,
Arise thyself and open to me.
[If the carolers be inhospitably treated, they leave the house and circle it widdershins, and raise a cairn at or near the door, intoning the following]
Malevolence of the Mother be upon you,
Malevolence of the Hogmanay be upon you,
The scaith of the hawk, the raven, the bear,
And the scaith of the sneaking fox.
The scaith of the dog and the cat be upon you,
Of the boar, of the badger, of the wolf,
Of the bull, of the lion, of the eagle,
And the scaith of the spirit be upon you.
