A Belated New Year

The introduction of summer-time (writes a correspondent) is quietly ignored in many Irish country districts

The introduction of summer-time (writes a correspondent) is quietly ignored in many Irish country districts. The Shetland Islanders have no use for it either, but they are even more conservative; for they still use the calendar which came to an end in England on the 2nd September, 1752. The 11th of January is New Year's Day in the Shetland Islands, and it is celebrated with enthusiasm by the inhabitants, who drink long life to themselves and death to the "gray fish," a reference to the whaling industry, in which many of the islanders are engaged.

Perhaps this ultra-conservatism may be due to the fact that the Shetland Islands, together with the Orkneys, were under Scandinavian Government until 1468. The Norse language was spoken on the Island of Foula up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, and many Norse words are still interlarded with the common speech.

The Irish Times, January 15th, 1930.