As South Orange celebrates the new year, it's fitting to look back at the traditions of an early group of settlers, Scottish immigrants.  In South Orange, where thoroughfares Scotland Road, Montrose Avenue and Valley Street show a Scots influence, and our side streets answer to Meeker, Clark and Highland, it's high time to celebrate Scot-style, or at least to better understand our early settlers' traditions.

The Scots arrived in "East Jersey," one of three major Scottish settlements in North America, in 1683, when Charles II granted a charter for the colony of New Jersey to 24 proprietors, 12 of whom were Scots. Many early settlers, including Robert Barclay, the first Governor of East Jersey, were Quakers, whose lives were difficult in a homeland dominated by the Church of Scotland. 

The same church took a position that Christmas was, in the post-Reformation era, a Roman Catholic holiday. Thus, Christmas took a back seat to the more secular New Year's celebrations. 

Hogmanay is another word for New Year's Eve, and it brings with it particular customs. First, it's tradition—and probably a good idea—to clean the house in advance of the holiday. There's also a related effort to clear all debts before the bells strike midnight. This may be a little more difficult, but seems like a worthy goal.

In keeping with a fresh start at home and on the balance sheet, our early Scots settlers greeted guests and strangers with a kiss and a greeting. The first foot in the door, or person to cross the threshold, after midnight is a harbinger of the year ahead. To ensure good luck, the first person to enter the door should be male and dark-haired. This is believed to be a throwback to old times in Scotland, when the arrival of a blond Viking at the door meant trouble. Ideally, this dark-haired man comes bearing gifts of coal, shortbread, salt, black buns and whisky. In the early 1700s, these were shortage commodities in the New World; I imagine that whisky alone would have made for a warm welcome. 

The First Night fireworks also allude to an old Scots practice, when festivities included bonfires, rolling blazing tar barrels down the hill and tossing torches. Smoke was believed to ward off evil spirits. 

During the 1680s, some 700 Scots traveled to our area, most from the Aberdeen or Montrose regions. About half came as indentured servants, who were freed when they arrived in New Jersey. Immigration slowed after 1730, when the climate in Scotland shifted politically and in terms of religious tolerance. 

Still today, it's possible to trace South Orange's Scots past in our street names, particularly in the West Montrose area, where West Orange and Orange border our town. I can't help but think that the very old Freeman Street, just off Scotland Road and Highland Avenue, is named for the servants who found themselves free men in New Jersey. Likewise, Berwick, McLaughlin and Argyle avenues look back to our distant past. 

While coal may be hard to come by for Hogmanay, an authentic shortbread is easy: one part sugar, two parts butter, three parts flour; mix and bake. And if it's whiskey you're bringing to the party, a toast is always appropriate: "A guid New Year to ane an' a' and mony may ye see." 

This reads, "A good New Year to one and all, and many may you see." Happy New Year, South Orange.