Scotland’s New Year’s Eve, known as Hogmanay, is a festival of light and joy, particularly cherished during the times when Christmas celebrations were prohibited. Imagine streets alive with days-long festivities! Today, Edinburgh is famed for hosting one of the grandest Hogmanay street parties globally, complete with awe-inspiring fireworks that light up the winter sky.
Amidst this vibrant celebration, the melodious strains of ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ penned by Scotland’s beloved Robert Burns, resonate. This tradition of singing together, arms linked in unity, dates back to the mid-20th century and remains a heartwarming highlight. While other poets like Robert Louis Stevenson have contributed to Hogmanay’s lore, nothing rivals the universal appeal of Burns’ anthem.
In Orkney, the Kirkwall Ba’ transforms the town into a colossal football pitch for an exhilarating New Year’s Day match!
And then, there are the fireballs…
Stonehaven’s Fireball ceremony at Hogmanay is one of the more memorable. It consists of mainly local people of all ages swinging flaming wire cages, around their heads. Each cage is filled with combustible material (each swinger has their own recipe) and has a wire handle two or three feet long, this keeps the flames well away from the swinger, but spectators can be vulnerable! The event starts at midnight, lasts twenty-five minutes and is watched by thousands. The idea behind the ceremony is to burn off the bad spirits left from the old year so that the spirits of the New Year can come in clean and fresh.
Hogmanay also invites home traditions like ‘redding,’ a thorough house cleaning to invite good fortune for the year ahead – but remember, no cleaning on New Year’s Day, or you might sweep away all that new luck! For the brave at heart, the Loony Dook offers a chilly plunge into the Firth of Forth on New Year’s Day, a refreshing start to the year.
