In Scottish New Year folklore, the first guest to enter a home is called the first-foot.
The first-foot is the person who crosses a household's threshold after midnight and is traditionally believed to influence the home's luck for the coming year. The custom is part of Hogmanay, Scotland's New Year celebration, and is also known as first-footing.
Traditional first-footers were often expected to be tall, dark-haired men who had not been inside the house when midnight arrived. They might bring symbolic gifts such as coal for warmth, coins for prosperity, whisky for celebration, shortbread, or black bun, a rich fruit cake. The household normally welcomed the visitor with food and drink.
The custom varies by region and is less rigid today. Its exact origins are uncertain, although historians have connected elements of it with Norse Yule customs and the older Celtic festival of Samhain. Hogmanay names the wider celebration; the first-foot is the visiting person, not the festival itself.