Hogmanay is the Scottish festival celebrating New Year's Eve and the arrival of the new year.
The word refers to the final day of the old year and, by extension, to the associated celebrations. Edinburgh's Hogmanay is especially famous for torchlight processions, concerts, street parties, and a large midnight gathering. Customs vary across Scotland, but singing, visiting friends, and welcoming the first person to enter a home after midnight are widely associated with the occasion.
Hogmanay is not simply another name for Burns Night, which honors poet Robert Burns in January, and it is distinct from Up Helly Aa, a winter fire festival in Shetland. Scotland's New Year customs developed through a mixture of older seasonal practices, Christian calendar traditions, and local community celebrations.