Torchlight procession starts Hogmanay celebrations
- Published
Around 7000 torchbearers and 30,000 onlookers gathered in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city, on Sunday night to start the annual Hogmanay celebrations. Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is the name given to Scotland's annual New Year celebrations.
The torch parade is the first event of three days of celebrations in Edinburgh to mark the New Year. The City Council is expecting up to 80,000 people for the main highlight - a massive New Year's Eve street party on Monday.
Some of the torchbearers dressed in Viking costumes. Norwegian Vikings or 'Norse' sailed to Scotland in the eighth century, where they settled in the north and on the Orkney and Shetland islands. For 500 years, from about AD 900, Vikings ruled the north of Scotland.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations attract visitors from all over the world. Last year, 63% of the 130,000 people that attended Edinburgh's Hogmanay events were from outside of Scotland.
Steve Cardownie, Edinburgh City Council's festivals and events boss, said the torch parade had become a really popular start to the city's New Year celebrations. "We actually moved it back a day because people were saying they wanted to participate but they arrived in Edinburgh too late to take part," he said.
On New Year's Eve, hourly firework displays will mark the count down to 2013 in Edinburgh. From 09:00pm fireworks will be let off on the hour every hour until midnight, when there will be a massive display. There will also be big New Year celebrations in towns and cities across the UK - including the annual fireworks along the Thames in central London.