Scotland's famous New Year's festival is Hogmanay.
Hogmanay is the Scottish celebration of New Year's Eve and the arrival of the new year. Major celebrations take place in cities including Edinburgh, where torchlight processions, concerts, street parties, and a midnight fireworks display form part of the program. The festival combines older winter customs with modern public events.
The singing of “Auld Lang Syne” is a central feature of Hogmanay and has helped make the song a worldwide New Year's standard. The poem was written by Robert Burns and published in 1796, although the melody and wording developed through earlier versions of the song.
Another Scottish custom is first-footing: the first person to enter a household after midnight may bring symbolic gifts such as coal, shortbread, or whisky. Customs vary across Scotland, so Hogmanay is not one single ritual but a broad collection of regional traditions.