Edinburgh hosts the Hogmanay New Year's Eve festival centered on Princes Street and Edinburgh Castle.
Hogmanay is the Scots word for the final day of the year and, more broadly, for Scottish New Year's celebrations. Edinburgh's modern festival developed into a major public event with torchlight processions, concerts, street parties, and a large midnight fireworks display.
The city's geography gives the celebration a distinctive setting. Princes Street lies beneath the Castle Rock, allowing the castle and surrounding skyline to form a dramatic backdrop for the countdown. Event formats and access arrangements have changed over time, but the public festival remains strongly associated with Edinburgh.
Scottish customs connected with Hogmanay include first-footing, in which the first person to enter a home after midnight is believed to influence the household's fortune. Traditional gifts for the first-foot can include whisky, shortbread, coal, or salt.