The Hogmanay festival held around Edinburgh Castle and Princes Street takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay is a large multi-day New Year's celebration featuring concerts, street events, fireworks, and the torchlight procession. Its best-known events use the city's historic center, with Edinburgh Castle providing a dramatic backdrop for the midnight fireworks viewed by crowds along Princes Street and nearby areas.
“Hogmanay” is the Scots word for New Year's Eve, though its exact linguistic origin remains uncertain. Scottish customs connected with the occasion include first-footing, in which the first person to enter a home after midnight brings symbolic gifts such as coal, shortbread, or whisky.
The modern Edinburgh festival developed into a major international event rather than a single ancient ceremony. Attendance, ticketing, safety measures, and event layouts can change from year to year. It is therefore useful to distinguish Edinburgh's organized festival from the wider range of Hogmanay customs practiced throughout Scotland.