Edinburgh Hogmanay Blazes Into Life

Thousands of New Year revellers got the world famous Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations off to a blazing start in a torchlight procession through the streets of the Capital.
Heading the marchers were Up Helly Aa Vikings from Shetland, evoking Scotland’s Viking heritage, and massed pipe bands.
Young and old joined in a fiery send-off for the Old Year and a welcome to the coming New Year. After wending its way past many of the City’s famous landmarks, the procession culminated in a spectacular fire ceremony with the dramatic burning of a Viking longship, and a Son et Lumiere finale.
The event was part of a four-day programme of New Year celebrations, under the banner of “Edinburgh’s Hogmanay” – the traditional Scots word for New Year’s Eve.
On Hogmanay itself, 80,000 revellers will take part in one of the biggest street parties in the world, as the minutes are counted down to the start of 2011. The midnight fireworks from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle, celebrating the New Year, with its unique date of 1.1.11, will be broadcast to 150 countries and over a billion people around the globe.
Top bands and DJs will entertain the crowds from several open air stages, headlined by Scottish group Biffy Clyro, The Charlatans, and Billy Bragg, in the main arena beneath the Castle battlements.
Celebrations and events continue into New Year’s Day with a Fun Run from the Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and the Loony Dook, when hundreds of brave or crazy swimmers take a “dook”, or dip, in the freezing waters of the River Forth, at South Queensferry, in the shadow of the Forth Rail Bridge.
And on the open air stage another homegrown talent, K T Tunstall, will present a selection of her favourite artists, along with a headlining performance of her biggest hits.
Full information can be found at www.edinburghshogmanay.com
Photos by Ken Jack and Pauline Johnson.

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