Edinburgh's famous New Year's Eve festival is called Hogmanay.
Hogmanay is the Scottish celebration of the final day of the year and the arrival of the new one. Edinburgh's festival developed into a major public event featuring concerts, street celebrations, fireworks, and a torchlight procession. The word “Hogmanay” is Scottish, although its exact linguistic origin remains debated; proposed influences include French, Norse, and Gaelic traditions.
A well-known Hogmanay custom is “first-footing,” in which the first person to enter a home after midnight is believed to influence the household's luck for the coming year. Traditional gifts can include whisky, shortbread, coal, or salt. Hogmanay is not the same as Burns Night, which honors poet Robert Burns on January 25, nor Up Helly Aa, a separate Shetland fire festival held in winter.