Scotland Today
EDINBURGH
Torchlight Procession
Dates: 29 December 2007
Times: 18:00-21:00
Location: Parliament Square to Calton Hill
Entry: FREE for spectators. Torches £4 online / £5 on the evening
Tickets: http://www.edinburghshogmanay.com/buy-tickets
Get this year's Edinburgh's Hogmanay off to a sizzling start at the Torchlight Procession. It begins at Parliament Square on the Royal Mile where, if you have booked online you can collect your torches or, for those late-comers, purchase one while stocks last. Follow the Lerwick Up Helly Aa Vikings and The Clann, join thousands of others (almost 20,000 last year!) and create a spectacular river of fire through the city along Princes Street and up Calton Hill.
Night Afore
Dates: 30 December 2007
Times: 20:00-00:00
Location: George Street
Entry: free unticketed event
The Night Afore Monster Ceilidh' on Sunday 30 December will be an eclectic mix of music, street theatre, storytelling and giant (but friendly!) monsters from throughout Europe. Building on the success of previous years, where Scotland celebrated the culture of other countries, this year the Night Afore will celebrate the Highlands and the impact our land to the north has had on the world. A hugely ambitious programme of music, dance and street theatre is planned over several stages and throughout George Street from 8pm.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay Street Party
Dates: 31 December-1 January 2008
Times: 22:00-01:00
Location: Edinburgh City Centre
Entry: Street Party pass - £5, Party Pack - £20
Tickets: http://www.edinburghshogmanay.com/buy-tickets
THREE LIVE MUSIC STAGES and TWO GIANT SCREENS – VARIOUS LOCATIONS!
GLASGOW
Glasgow’s Hogmanay Party
Dates:Monday 31 December 2007
Location:George Square
Times:9pm-1.30am
Ring out the old and bring in the new and make an early resolution not to miss the best in Scottish music at this year’s Hogmanay party! The View will headline the celebrations and wow the crowd following an incredibly successful year.
The View will be joining Scottish singer songwriter Amy Macdonald, Suspiciously Elvis and 15,000 revellers at the city’s Hogmanay celebrations.
Celtic Connections Glasgow
Dates:16 January 2008 - 03 February 2008
Telephone: 0 141 353 8000
E-mail: marketing@grch.com
Web Site: www.celticconnections.com
This is Glasgow’s international festival of traditional music and the biggest winter music festival of its kind in the world. In 1994 we launched a small festival in only one venue that attracted 32,000 people to attend. Now over 100,000 are filling 10 venues, listening to hundreds of artists brought to Glasgow from every part of the globe.
OBAN
Oban Street Party
Location:Tesco Car Park
Times:9.30pm
Oban has pushed the boat out and organised a Hogmanay event which has all the ingredients of being a great family occasion. Kicking off at 9.30pm in Tesco Car Park, Ceilidh band Skerryvore top the bill in a great line up of live music which will rock on until the early hours of the morning. Fireworks at midnight from high above the town will form a fitting centrepiece to the evening’s entertainment - all of which is FREE to both residents and visitors alike.
Oban Hogmanay Street Party
BIGGAR
Biggar Bonfire 2007
Biggar Bonfire is lit at 9.30pm on 31st December 2007
Hogmanay Bonfire
PERTH
Horsecross Hogmanay!
Dates:Mon 31 December
Location:Perth Concert Hall
Times:Doors 9.30pm / show 10pm
Entry:seated £15: £12 concessions
standing £12: £10 concessions
With: Blazin’ Fiddles in concert plus support Southpaw special guest Jim Malcolm and compere Bruce Fumme
One of Scotland’s very best traditional groups and the cream of Perthshire performers come together for a right old Hogmanay knees up.
STIRLING
Hogmanay Party
Dates:Monday 31 December
Times:10.30pm
Stirling Castle Esplanade
Live performance from the Proclaimers + Guest and Fireworks
Entry:£25
£80 family ticket
Stirling's Hogmanay
INVERNESS
Highland Lights - Solais na Gaidhealtachd
Dates:Saturday 12 January 2008
On Saturday 12 January 2008, “An t-Seann Bliadhn’ Ùr” (The Old New Year), join with the people of Inverness for Highland Lights - Solais na Gaidhealtachd, the grand finale of the city’s Winter Festival.
Winter festival
MORAY
THE BURNING OF THE CLAVIE
Dates:Fri 11 January 6.00pm
Location:Burghead, in Moray
The Burning of the Clavie, which takes place at Burghead, in Moray, is without a doubt one of the most bizarre of Scotland's Hogmanay festivals.
The event takes place on the night of January 11 (the original Hogmanay before the calendar changed in 1660). The "Clavie" is a half barrel filled with wood shavings and tar. In the past, it would have been a herring barrel. Today, iron-hooped whisky barrels daubed with creosote are used.
ORKNEY
THE BA
Location:Orkney
Every Christmas and New Year's Day the "Ba'" is contested in the streets of Kirkwall. The game has been played in its present form since about 1850, but is in fact much older. A looser form of football had occurred for a long time before 1850 on the "Ba' Lea". Undoubtedly, ball games have been played for a very long time. There are records from Greek and Roman times of ball games being played, and mass football seems to have been played in Roman-occupied Britain. The French game of "soule" was very like the Kirkwall Ba', according to contemporary descriptions, but died out about the turn of the century, partly due to official suppression.
www.bagame.com
STONEHAVEN, ABERDEENSHIRE
STONEHAVEN FIREBALL
Dates:31 December 2007
The Ancient Fireballs Ceremony at this fishing village, 16 miles south of Aberdeen, is one of the most unique Hogmanay festivals in Scotland. At the strike of midnight the High Street is lit up as sixty local fireball-swingers make their way, swinging their fireballs above their heads, through their town.
www.stonehavenfireballs.co.uk
