Oidhche Chaluinn

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Oidhche Chaluinn
John W Mitchell Whetherly Book 1
Strathspey n x 32 bars 2 Threesome Repeat 2 Threesome Set Progressive Round the Room Set
1M with 1L_R on his right and 1L_L on his left face 2M with 2L_R on his right and 2L_L on his left, 1s going clockwise, 2s anticlockwise, around the room.

1-4 1s2s advance and retire;

5-8 1M2M turn by the left 1½ times, finishing facing out in the other's place;

9-10 2M1L_L 1M2L_L turn ¾ by the right, Ls finishing in places, Mn facing in on the sides;

11-12 1M2M turn by the left 1½ times, finishing facing out on the sides;

13-14 2M1L_R 1M2L_R turn ¾ by the right, Ls finishing in places, Mn in the other's place facing in;

15-16 1M2M turn by the left, finishing side-by-side on the centreline of the set;

17-24 1Ls2M 1M2Ls right hands across and back, Ls finishing in original places, each M in the other's place, facing out;

25-28 Ls, facing on the sides to start, half rights and lefts WHILE Mn dance clockwise around the opposite L_L's place;

29-32 2s 1s half reels of 3 across (2M2L_R 1L1M_R giving left shoulder to start), finishing back to back having progressed one place, ready to meet the next threesome.

(MAXICRIB. Scottish country dancing instructions compiled by Reuben Freemantle)

Dance Notes

Although devised as a strathspey, this would work well as a reel or jig in a ceilidh situation where it would be especially appropriate given the meaning of the Gaelic title.

9- From the opposite M's place, it may be convenient for each M to treat the facing Ls as corners; then 2L_L is 1M's first corner, 2L_R his second corner and similarly for 2M.

9-10 Mn turn first corners.

13-14 Mn turn second corners.

25-28 Mn dance around the first corner's place.

Oidhche Chaluinn (New Year's Eve) A thirty-two bar Strathspey for two trios, each comprising a man with two ladies, in a circle round the room, devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 1.

1- 4 All join hands and advance and retire.
5- 8 The two men turn one and a half times with the left hand to face their first corners (the lady originally on the opposite man's left).
9-16 The men turn their first corners with the right hand, the men turn with their left hand, turn their second corners (the lady originally on the opposite man's right) with the right hand and then the men turn left hand.
17-24 The men dance right hands across with their corners (the other man's partners) and back with the left hand. Ladies finish in their original places and the men finish back to back facing out between the opposite ladies.
25-28 The four ladies dance half rights and lefts, whilst the men dance behind their first corner's position and round to face their original right hand partner.
29-32 Half reels of three with own partners, passing by the left to commence.

On bars 25-32, the men effectively dance a complete figure of eight trace, whilst the ladies dance half rights and lefts and half a reel of three, to finish with original partners, facing in the same direction. The trios, having progressed, will all be facing a new trio for the repeat.

(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)

Keith Rose's Crib Diagram

Oidhche Chaluinn - Full Size And Key To Symbols

Dance Information

There are alternative spellings but "Oidhche Challuinn" means "New Year's Eve" or "Hogmanay" in Gaelic; it should be pronounced as "Oych~ Chahlin" in English with stress on the first syllable of both words and the following conventions:
  "oy" is as in "boy";
  "ch" is as in "loch";
  "~" represents the very short, indeterminate, vowel sound; and
  "ah" is as in "shah".
See Gaelic Dance Names for more information on Gaelic spelling and pronunciation.

Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) and, in some cases, 2 January - a Scottish bank holiday.

The origins of Hogmanay are unclear, but it may be derived from Norse and Gaelic observances of the winter solstice.

In Scotland, people have different traditions for New Year. They often give gifts and visit their friends and neighbors. There's a special focus on the "first-foot", which is the first person to visit someone's home in the new year.

the 'first-foot', the first person to visit someone's home in the new year

First Footing, Scotland, W. Duke, Sons And Co., Commercial Color Lithograph, c. 1890

Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 1, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell; instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).
This page uses content under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, along with original copyrighted content and excerpts from Wikipedia and other sources. See our Copyright and Reuse Policy for details.
Text from this original Hogmanay article on Wikipedia.
Image from W. Duke, Sons & Co., CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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