New Year’s Eve is celebrated with much fanfare in most countries of the world. In fact the celebrations in certain cities like New York and Sydney are legendary and attract hordes of tourists each year. The Scottish city of Edinburgh which is renowned for its many year round festivals is right up there with these cities in terms of its New Year’s celebrations which in fact last for four days. The end of the year festivities in Edinburgh are collectively known as Hogmanay and this year end festival consists of a plethora of events like a Torch light procession, a street party, Ceilidih music concerts, sporting events etc. Hogmanay begins on the 29th of December each year and continues well into the first day of the New Year.
Highlights of this year’s Hogmanay
The Winter Wonderland
The end of the year celebrations actually kick off in Edinburgh on the 28th of December with the advent of the scintillating Edinburgh Winter Wonderland which takes place in the gorgeous East Princess Street Gardens that are beautifully decked up with thousands of sparkling lights for the grand party. The Winter Wonderland has something for all the family with its many ice rinks, snowball cars and its snow slide, bungy dome and children’s rides. This Winter Wonderland also has stalls that sell traditional ‘Christmassy’ treats like mince pies, mulled wine and other hot foods and beverages. This year the Winter Wonderland will feature a cabaret called White Magic which will feature acts to entertain visiting adults like Australia’s premier drag act Drags Aloud.
The Torchlight Procession
The annual torchlight procession will take place this year on Monday the 29th of December from 6pm onwards. The event which is usually attended by entire families who carry wax based flaming torches starts off at the City Chambers and continues up to Calton Hill where a Viking Ship and Viking effigies will be burnt. You can actually reserve your torches for the event in advance by paying £5 ,torches will also be available at the event for a price of £ 6.
The Family Hoog
This new event will be held at George Street Assembly Rooms on Tuesday the 30th of December and will feature one of the most famous Scottish ceilidh bands called Whisky Kiss along with many of Edinburgh’s best DJs.
The Dancin
A new event which makes its debut at this year’s Hogmanay will be a free event called the Dancin which will feature many dance forms including the exciting production ‘Bollywood Steps’ based on the extremely popular Indian film industry. This event will also take place on Tuesday the 30th on various stages that will be set up in the Grassmarket area of the Old town.
The Edinburgh Street Party
This street party which is the main event of the Hogmanay will take place on Wednesday the 31st at the Edinburgh City Center and will feature much dancing and merry making along with many of Scotland’s hottest bands like Glasvegas and the Hoosiers who will be playing on special stages which will be set up for the event. To attend this fabulous Street Party you have to purchase a Street Party Pass which is priced at £10 . You can even purchase the Pass Plus which includes the Street Party Pass and an exclusive Saltire hat. Other fun events of the Hogmanay which will be held on the 31st include Boogie Wonderland, the concert in the gardens, the Hoog
Edinburgh Bicycle Trialthon and Kids Dualthon
Kick start the new year with a fitness blast at the challenging Edinburgh Bicycle Trialthon which will be held at the Royal Commonwealth Pool and Holyrood Park on New Year’s day, 1st of January 2009. Kids can also get into the act by taking part in the Kids Dualthon
Tickets for the many events of this exciting Hogmanay are available on the official website of this year end festival. If you need to look for accommodation in Edinburgh during the Hogmanay in Edinburgh you can avail of the highly tempting rates being offered by Edinburgh’s city center hotels like the Haymarket Hotel, the Bank Hotel and the Castle Apartment Hotels for this grand event so you can really be in the thick of things.
If you liked this post subscribe to our feed to get regular updates.
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 27th, 2008 at 6:08 pm and is filed under Europe, Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Edinburgh is always wonderful to visit, but it’s truly magical at this time of year
January 8th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Nice post! Thanks for sharing New Year celebration at Edinburgh. I want to be there on next New Year celebration.
April 12th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I only attended that event once and now I miss it every year. My current job is very though and I can’t travel a lot but I enjoy all those pictures because they are not unknown to me.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:01 am
The houses of Edinburgh are truly a spectacular site lit up by fireworks on Hogmanay - happy days.