The annual Hogmanay Torchlight Procession traditionally begins in Edinburgh.
Hogmanay is the Scottish celebration of New Year’s Eve, and Edinburgh’s festivities include a large torchlit procession through the city. Participants carry flaming torches along a route toward central Edinburgh, creating a moving river of light before the main New Year celebrations.
The procession is a modern public event rather than an unchanged medieval ceremony. It was introduced in its current form in the 1990s and has become one of the best-known opening events in Edinburgh’s Hogmanay program. Exact routes, dates, and arrangements can vary from year to year.
Edinburgh’s celebration also includes concerts, street parties, fireworks, and the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.” Glasgow and other Scottish cities hold their own New Year events, but the torchlight procession most strongly associated with Hogmanay is the one in Scotland’s capital. The term Hogmanay itself refers broadly to Scottish New Year customs, not only to this procession.