Scotland’s New Year celebration beginning on December 31 is called Hogmanay.
Hogmanay is the Scottish name for New Year’s Eve and the associated celebrations. Customs vary across Scotland, but commonly include street parties, concerts, torchlight processions, singing, and first-footing. In first-footing, the first person to enter a home after midnight brings symbolic gifts such as food, drink, or coal.
Edinburgh hosts one of the world’s best-known Hogmanay festivals, with a major street party and organized events around the city. Other Scottish communities have their own local traditions, and some celebrations incorporate fire rituals or traditional music.
Hogmanay is not the same as Burns Night, which honors poet Robert Burns on January 25. Nor is it simply another name for St Andrew’s Day, Scotland’s national day on November 30. The word’s exact origin remains debated, with proposed connections to French, Norse, Gaelic, and other languages.