Hogmanay lights up Scotland with fireworks

EDINBURGH: Scotland’s capital kicked off its New Year “Hogmanay” festivities on Monday with a traditional ceilidh folk music dance for kilt-wearing revelers under Edinburgh Castle.

A whiskey-fueled street party was due to be attended by tens of thousands of people in the main Princes Street thoroughfare before a concert by Glasgow indie-rockers Franz Ferdinand and a firework display.

“Hogmanay” is the Scots word for “last day of the year” and its origins stretch back to celebrations of the winter solstice by the Vikings in late December.

The partying in Edinburgh this year began on Sunday with a torch-lit procession through the city and was due to end on New Year’s Day on Tuesday with a “loony dook” — or “crazy dip” — in the River Forth beneath its three famous bridges.