Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Every year, tens of thousands of visitors from across the globe flock to Edinburgh to take part in an enormous street celebration welcoming the new year. The Scottish capital has earned a reputation as the heart of Hogmanay festivities, a tradition that runs deep in the city’s history.
Historically, Scotland did not officially observe Christmas for centuries, with many Scots working through December 25. “Yule vacations” were banned in 1640 due to the influence of the Reformation, and Christmas only became a recognized public holiday in 1958. This absence of Christmas celebrations elevated Hogmanay—marked by feasting, music, dancing, and customs like first-footing—as the primary winter festival nationwide. As the country’s capital, Edinburgh naturally became the focal point for these growing celebrations, particularly throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
The prominence of Edinburgh as Scotland’s main city allowed Hogmanay traditions to prosper more robustly there than elsewhere. By the 1800s, the festivities had grown so popular that the city’s streets would overflow with revellers past midnight. Author Anna Marshall, who wrote *The Little Book of Christmas and Hogmanay*, links this rise to an early 19th-century reaction against the temperance movement. This movement, which promoted abstinence from alcohol, especially targeted industrial regions such as Glasgow and Lanarkshire. “There has been a long history of Hogmanay celebrations at The Tron in Edinburgh for as long as anyone can remember,” Marshall notes. She explains that while temperance ideas gained traction in some industrial areas, Edinburgh’s residents faced fewer restrictions, enabling more open celebrations and contributing to the capital’s identity as the home of Hogmanay.
The temperance movement’s influence lingered well into the 20th century in parts of Scotland; for instance, the village of Kilmacolm in Inverclyde remained “dry” until the 1990s. According to Marshall, Edinburgh, viewed as a more intellectual center, did not experience temperance restrictions as rigorously as industrial areas. Traditions like first-footing—where the first visitor to cross a home’s threshold after midnight brings luck—were widespread around Scotland, though typically limited to individual homes rather than large street gatherings. Other customs such as wassailing, which involved sharing warm spiced alcoholic drinks from house to house, ended abruptly in 1812 following violent incidents, signaling the existence of rowdy street celebrations in Edinburgh during Hogmanay. Historian Eric Melvin recalls that a riot took place outside the Tron kirk during the 1811 new year festivities, reinforcing the tradition of gathering there, partly due to the Tron’s clock being visible throughout the city. The church itself dates back to the 1630s, indicating the long-standing nature of these celebrations in that location.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations gained international prominence after the city council’s intentional efforts in the early 1990s. Visiting professor Judith Mair of Edinburgh Napier University highlights that Hogmanay’s pagan roots stretch back many centuries and that the tradition of marking New Year’s Eve more lavishly than Christmas has long been embedded in Scottish culture. The festival rapidly grew into one of the world’s largest New Year’s Eve events, securing a Guinness World Record in 1996 for the biggest New Year’s party. Today’s festivities feature a spectacular torchlight procession and a massive street party along Princes Street, drawing tens of thousands of participants. Financially, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay has become a significant contributor to Scotland’s economy, with 2018 figures estimating a boost of nearly £40 million from visitors engaging in hospitality, retail, and attractions during the celebrations
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.