A Year Ends, a Blog Begins

The last day of an old year seems as good a time as any to start a new venture, especially since the December holidays have given me time to stick a toe into the brave new Weblog universe by reading a lot of blogs (you'll find my two current favorites in the "Links" box to the right) and becoming an enthusiastic, if wet-behind-ears, convert. So, here goes...

In keeping with my resolution to find out more about my family's Scots-Irish/Cherokee heritage in the coming year, I should point out that today is Hogmanay:

Hogmanay \hog-muh-NAY; HOG-muh-nay\, noun:
The name, in Scotland, for New Year's Eve, on which children go about singing and asking for gifts; also, a gift, cake, or treat given on New Year's Eve. [The origin of this word is unknown.]

And remember, you heard about it here first.

Some 20 years ago, I had the good fortune to travel through Scotland--and the bad fortune to only be able to spend half a day there, most of it walking the streets of downtown Glasgow. Lo-o-ong story. The short version is, encountering the place where I know now that my distant ancestors lived had an almost supernatural intensity for me, and I spent a good part of the brief afternoon in tears for reasons I only remotely understood. I've been meaning to write about the experience ever since, and seeing as I'm not getting any younger I hope this forum will give me the excuse to get off my rear and take that path in 2006.

Speaking of the new year, hold onto your hat as we zoom quickly from Scotland to Japan for some New Year's Eve haiku from poet Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828). The translation is by professor David G. Lanoue, and I'm grateful to Ruth Bavetta of California, a gifted poet in her own right (own write?) for the heads-up on Issa's work.

***
New Year's morning--
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.

oh New Year's god
this year too
send help!

a new year begins--
nonsense
piled on nonsense

sunset's bell
finishes it off...
year's last day

today even the
hordes of hell celebrate
the new year

New Year's Day
a lucky, lucky
light blue sky

--Kobayashi Issa