Looking for a mid-1990s magazine article about end-of-year celebrations in Scotland

November 13, 2012 9:25 AM

Longshotfilter: Did anyone else in the U.S. see this magazine article about New Years Eve/Hogmanay (or possibly Christmas Eve) in Scotland circa 1996-97?

One evening in late 1996/early 1997 I was waiting for takeout in a Thai restaurant in Van Nuys, California. I picked up a magazine and was enchanted by a photo essay about the celebration of Hogmanay in Scotland. (it *might* have been Christmas, but I'm pretty sure it was about New Year's Eve.) I seem to recall that it focused on celebrations away from urban areas - maybe even on an island, and there were cozy photos of people dining, dancing and socializing by candlelight and/or strings of white christmas-type lights.

I did not have time to read the article completely, but those dimly-remembered photos have stuck with me all these years and I would love to track it down and read the whole thing.

Difficulty: I don't remember what the magazine was. I want to say it was something in the Smithsonian/National Geographic spectrum - not a pure travel & leisure magazine, but the sort of magazine that travels, if that makes any sense. On the other hand one nagging but probably unreliable memory says it might have been AAA California's magazine. Given that it was a magazine in a waiting area, it may have been even a bit older than 1996-97.

I've spent a bit of time unsuccessfully searching Google and the archive web sites of possible publications, but I suspect this is going to be one of those things where I need to hope that someone sees this and says "Yes, I totally remember that! It was in [Foo] magazine!" So here's hoping - thanks hive mind!

posted by usonian to grab bag (4 answers total)

If it helps, it was almost certainly Hogmanay, not Christmas, it's a much bigger deal.
posted by Happy Dave at 9:45 AM on November 13, 2012

Have you checked the readers guide to periodical literature? All libraries have this.
posted by brujita at 9:48 AM on November 13, 2012

I checked my university's databases and I came up with an article in In Britain magazine, which appears to be a tourist magazine: Happy Hogmanay by Ken Mactaggart, In Britain; Jan96, Vol. 6 Issue 1, p28, 4p, 2 Cartoon or Caricatures. Doesn't have a PDF of the pages though, so hard to say if it has photos.
posted by wsquared at 10:33 AM on November 13, 2012

Wow, thanks so much wsquared... that certainly seems like a promising lead! Unfortunately it seems In Britain (now just 'Britain') Magazine keeps no back issues. Time to set up an Ebay saved search.
posted by usonian at 9:04 AM on November 14, 2012