The focus this post is going to be Scottish Hogmanay. Hogmanay is simply a very large and flashy New Years celebration and Edinburgh is rated to have on of the best New Years celebrations in the world. Being right in the middle of it, I couldn't agree more.
The beginning of the festivities starts a few days before New Years with an event called the "Torchlight." Marching through the streets of Edinburgh beginning in Old Town by St. Giles and ending at Calton Hill there is a large group of people (about 20,000) carrying torches through the street following a chorus of bagpipes and a viking ship. Once on the hill the Viking Ship is burned (symbolizing Scotlands Scandinavian roots) and an effigy representing last year's Hogmanay is also torched. This year it was a stag. After the crowds grows restless and there is nothing left to burned fireworks are lite on Calton Hill above their heads. Amazing!!!
The next few days there is festivities such as outdoor concerts, fairs, and outdoor food booths. Of course tons of drinking.
New Years Eve is the big show however. Princes Street and the Mound where I live were closed and only open to those who had purchased wrist bands. We watched the streets fill from my flat windows and headed down to join the festiviites. The streets were loaded down and the countdown brought in 2008 and the largest fireworks show I'd ever seen. The castle became an inferno of fireworks and around us from Calton hill and other locations the fireworks matched! It was phenomenal! So was trying to get back to my flat... no one does New Years like the Scots.
(Please Note the Video was not done by us, but these people had to have been standing near us with the same view)
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