Edinburgh's main New Year's Eve festival, famous for concerts and street celebrations, is called Hogmanay.
Hogmanay is the Scottish name for New Year's Eve and has become associated with a broad set of customs and public events. Edinburgh's festival commonly includes a torchlight procession, concerts, a large street party, and a midnight fireworks display, although the exact programme can change from year to year.
The word Hogmanay has an uncertain etymology. Scholars have proposed influences from Scots, French, Gaelic, Norse, and other languages, but no single origin is universally accepted. This uncertainty is part of why confident claims about one definitive word origin should be treated cautiously.
Hogmanay is not the same holiday as Burns Night, which honors poet Robert Burns on January 25. The Scottish song “Auld Lang Syne” is often sung at Hogmanay, but the festival name itself refers to the New Year's celebration.