Edinburgh hosts a Hogmanay celebration that includes a major torchlight procession before New Year's Eve.
Hogmanay is the Scottish term for the New Year festival, and Edinburgh's modern celebration developed into a large public program of concerts, street events, fireworks, and processions. The torchlight event traditionally moves through the city toward a gathering point, creating a striking visual link between Edinburgh's historic streets and the approaching new year.
The celebration is distinct from Christmas traditions and reflects Scotland's long-standing emphasis on first-footing and communal New Year customs. In first-footing, the first person to enter a home after midnight is traditionally associated with the household's luck for the year.
Edinburgh's events have sometimes been canceled or altered because of severe weather, public safety, or public-health restrictions. The torchlight procession is therefore a signature programmed event, not an uninterrupted ritual held identically every year.