Hogmanay - Torchlight Procession

In Edinburgh, New Year (or Hogmanay) celebrations seem to last several days rather than the one night of festivities to which we're accustomed. On Monday evening, we took part in the Torchlight Procession.

Basically, it's a large march through town, with each of the several thousand participants carrying a 2 foot long, flaming torch. It reflects some of the Norse connections with Scotland and Hogmanay with, you guessed it, a large bonfire. The kindling for the fire comes from a Viking warship that is carried along the route by numerous Scots clad in Viking garb.

We've uploaded several photos (that you see by clicking on the photo above) that show our flame carrying brethren along the road to our ultimate destination, Calton Hill. This is an area of town that we had previously seen, but not visited. It's quite pretty, and obviously historic (it's Edinburgh afterall), though we weren't able to get the full effect in the evening. Plus we were more interested in trying to avoid the flames of careless torch holders.

All-in-all, it was a fun evening. The one casualty that we saw was a few tree branches, though they were quickly doused by the ever-present march stewards toting fire extinguishers.