Edinburgh hosts the Hogmanay street party centered on Princes Street and the West Princes Street Gardens.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is one of Scotland’s best-known New Year celebrations. Its program has included a large street party, live music, a torchlight procession, and a midnight fireworks display viewed against the city’s historic skyline. Princes Street and the gardens below Edinburgh Castle form the central setting for the main outdoor events.
The celebration’s name comes from Hogmanay, the Scottish term for New Year’s Eve. Scotland’s traditions developed through a mixture of Christian calendar customs, older winter practices, and local forms of visiting, singing, and symbolic gift-giving. First-footing is one of the associated traditions, but it is practiced in homes rather than being the name of Edinburgh’s whole festival.
Edinburgh’s event is distinct from New Year celebrations in other Scottish cities. Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee also mark the occasion, but the famous Princes Street street party and castle-side setting identify Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.