Edinburgh’s famous New Year’s Eve celebration is called Hogmanay.
Hogmanay is the Scottish term for the last day of the year and the celebrations surrounding it. Edinburgh’s modern festivities usually include a torchlight procession, outdoor concerts, a large street party, and fireworks near Edinburgh Castle. The exact program can vary because of weather and safety conditions.
The word’s origin is uncertain. Suggested explanations connect it with Scandinavian, French, Gaelic, and Scots-language traditions, but no single etymology is universally accepted. Scotland’s New Year customs also include “first-footing,” in which the first person to enter a home after midnight brings symbolic gifts such as coal, shortbread, or whisky.
Hogmanay is often associated with the song “Auld Lang Syne,” which became especially prominent in Scottish culture through the poetry of Robert Burns. Burns did not write every word of the song from scratch, but his 1788 version helped establish the familiar form. Hogmanay is therefore broader than Edinburgh’s street party: it refers to Scotland’s entire New Year celebration tradition.