Hogmanay fumigate the buildings until it causes sneezing and coughing among the inhabitants. Then all the doors and windows are flung open to let in the cold, fresh air of the new year. The woman of the house then administers 'a restorative' from the whisky bottle, and the household sits down to its New Year breakfast. The Hogmanay custom of singing "Auld Lang Syne" has become common in many countries. "Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem by Robert Burns, based on traditional and other earlier sources. It is now common to sing this in a circle of linked arms that
Ellisland Farm Friars' Carse, Burns agreed to write a poem in exchange for the author including Kirk Alloway in his new book on Scottish Antiquities. Burns's poem was his self-avowed masterpiece "Tam o'Shanter", sent to Francis Grose on 1 December 1790; appearing in "The Edinburgh Magazine" in March 1791 and in Grose's second volume of his Antiquities a month later. Burns's Auld Lang Syne was written at Ellisland, the first version being sent to Mrs Dunlop on 17 December 1788. Burns said in a letter to Mrs Dunlop: " ... is not the Scotch phrase Auld lang syne exceedingly expressive? There is