STARN: Scots Teaching and Resource Network
Seasonal Affective Disorder Syndrome - SADS
© - Stuart McHardy, Perthshire Advertiser, 14th January 1997
That's an affy fancy name made up bi psychologists or ither siclike smert fowk tae tell us whit we aw ken oniewey - in the middle o Winter ye kin get gey depresst. Awbody in Scotland kens aboot that - whan the nichts are lang an cauld, the days are grey an dreich an whiles it kin feel like ye'll neer see the sun agin -yet ma grannie niver needit onie fancy fantoosh pseudo-scientific terminology tae tell her whit wis goin on. Like the generations afore her she jist got on wi things - an ane o the things they aa got on wi wis, naturally eneuch, the Midwinter Celebration. We celebrate Hogmanay ( Embro publicans mair nor most), while oor Southron neebors hae traditionally been mair concernt wi Yule. Ower the past few decades tho the trend his been tae lump them thegither as a holiday, an as the Scots hae taen mair tae Yule the English hae begun tae really enjoy the New Year. As them wi jobs increasinly hae a week, or een twa, tae theirsels at this time, the midwinter his been a cause o a great monie sair heids an ither afflictions brocht on bi thon ae drink ye had that didnae gree wi ye.
Yet it's been like this a lang time - the Midwinter celebration een in pagan times wis significant an fowk wad hae a feast tae celebrate the passin o the langest day an the eventual return o the sun. Weel that's the theory - whit they were daein in the auld days wisnae that much different fae whit we dae these days - haein a grand awthegither tae cheer oorsels up in the midst o the deep dreich derk o the year. Midwinter, like maist o the auld tribal festivities wis aye a Fire festival (remnants o which kin still be seen in airts like Steenhive an Brochheid) an it's nae onie wunner - gaitherin ootside at this time o the year ye need aa the heat ye kin get, so bonfire's were gey handy een gin they also signifiet the pouers o fertility an renewal. An seein as the weather is sae coorse - we ken we need oor insides warm as weel- an we're jist gey lucky that oor ancient religious celebrations were aidit bi thon grand Scottish invention, the cratur. So cheers an a Guid New Year tae ane an aa.