Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is the Scottish New Year celebration known for street parties, concerts and fireworks.
Hogmanay is the Scottish word for New Year’s Eve and the surrounding New Year festivities. Edinburgh developed a major organized celebration featuring public entertainment, a torchlight procession, concerts and a large street gathering in the city center. The event attracts visitors from Scotland and abroad.
The modern festival grew from Scotland’s strong Hogmanay traditions, including “first-footing,” in which the first person to enter a home after midnight was believed to influence the household’s luck. Gifts such as shortbread or whisky were traditionally carried by visitors, and a dark-haired first-footer was often considered especially fortunate in some regions.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay should not be confused with Burns Night, which honors poet Robert Burns on January 25. It also differs from St Andrew’s Day, Scotland’s national day on November 30. Hogmanay specifically concerns the New Year period.