Hogmanay is the Scottish New Year's Eve festival held in Edinburgh's city centre. Edinburgh's celebration includes a torchlight procession, concerts, street parties, and midnight fireworks, although the exact program changes by year.
The word Hogmanay refers broadly to Scottish New Year customs, not only Edinburgh's event. The modern Edinburgh festival developed into a major organized celebration in the late twentieth century and became known for large ticketed street events and international visitors.
Scottish “first-footing” traditions continue around Hogmanay: the first person to enter a home after midnight traditionally brings symbolic gifts such as shortbread, coal, or whisky. “Auld Lang Syne,” associated with Scots poet Robert Burns, is commonly sung. Hogmanay is therefore both a city festival and a wider national season of visiting and good wishes.