Hogmanay is the traditional Scottish celebration of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
The word refers to the Scottish New Year festival, whose customs developed through a mixture of Christian calendar traditions, older winter observances, and Scottish local practices. Edinburgh hosts one of the best-known modern Hogmanay events, with concerts, street celebrations, and a torchlight procession.
A central custom is first-footing. After midnight, the first person to enter a household is traditionally expected to bring good fortune, sometimes arriving with symbolic gifts such as shortbread, coal, salt, or whisky. Dark-haired first-footers were historically considered especially lucky in some regions.
Another familiar tradition is singing “Auld Lang Syne,” the song associated with poet Robert Burns. It is internationally linked with New Year celebrations, although its Scottish origins are often overlooked. Hogmanay can refer to the whole season of festivities, not only a single midnight gathering.