We Love 2 Party
This is the warm and welcoming invitation to all visitors and resident Scots alike to come to Edinburgh for the world's greatest New Year celebrations, which will take place over a four day winter festival, from Saturday 29th December 2001 until Tuesday January 1st 2002. Edinburgh's Hogmanay, which boasts to be the biggest and the best party, will feature a feast of music, dancing, free street entertainment and the biggest and brightest firework show illuminating the midnight sky from the seven hills all around the city.
The Festival begins in a truly fiery style on the Saturday night with a Torchlight procession, open to all the family. Around 10,000 people are expected to gather in at Parliament Square beside St. Giles Cathedral and then follow the route with their blazing torches down the Royal Mile, along North Bridge and up to the Calton Hill, most appropriately an ancient site of anarchic pagan festivities. Here beside the Parthenon (a replica of the one in Athens), and Nelson's Monument, with stunning views overlooking the city, there will be musicians, fireworks and the spectacular burning of a Viking longship.
The next evening, Sunday 30th, there is the Night afore Fiesta, a fabulous free outdoor party right along George Street featuring a host of both Scottish and international musicians. On the World Music Stage come and listen to the brilliant foot-tapping sounds of Salsa Celtica, blending lively Latin rhythms with the beat of the Scottish jig or dance to the African reggae band Zuba. And keeping up the international diversity and spirit of the Fiesta the street will also be filled with a colourful display of street theatre companies with comedians, jugglers, and giant stilt walkers, dressed in outrageous costumes all the way from France, Spain, Macedonia and Poland.
This year the theme will focus as well on home-grown Scottish music and entertainment with performances of traditional fiddle music as well as contemporary Celtic music and song. The Fiesta Night begins with a procession of the ever-popular Massed Pipes and Drums, leading people from the Old Town down the Mound to the heart of the New Town. The Portobello Ceilidh Band and the Blazin' Fiddlers will welcome everyone to join in for an energetic spot of Scottish country dancing. The aim is to break the record and create the longest Strip the Willow in the World.
Pantomime and Theatre
Scotland is very much the home to traditional Victorian style pantomime and in Edinburgh over the festive season you can choose between Beauty and the Beast at the Lyceum and The Adventures of Peter Pan at the King's Theatre. Or if you want to treat yourself with a glitzy Broadway show, get down to the Playhouse for a magical evening with Sunset Boulevard, the hit musical from London and New York, which is described as " nothing less than a masterpiece …… a lavish, extravagant, glittering show".
Hogmanay Night
The Royal Bank Street Party - a ticketed but free event - takes place from 10pm on Hogmanay when Princes Street is closed to traffic and 100,000 revellers will enjoy live music entertainment and dancing till the wee sma' hours. The concert in the Gardens will be headed by leading Scottish band, The Proclaimers, with other live performances on different stages, including the popular Scottish folk musicians, Deaf Shepherd and the Battlefield Band. Giant screens will project the live concerts for all to see, both on the Edinburgh streets and at home around the world.
As well as the outdoor entertainment there is the Vegas Hogmanay Ball for the party of parties, with cocktails, jazz bands, and a casino for a wild night out. Or dance your way into 2002 at the New Year Revels at the Assembly rooms, with live bands and top DJs playing every taste and style of music.
At midnight is the glorious and spectacular firework display against the dramatic backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. Thereafter fireworks will be set off from the seven hills surrounding the city.
On the first day of the year the best antidote to a "sair heid" is to get out there for fresh air and exercise. Come and watch the Edinburgh bicycle Triathlon taking place around Arthur's Seat. Or set off to the Firth of Forth, beside the famous Railway Bridge and take a chilly dip in the sea - or as it is called here, the Loony Dook - which will certainly revitalise your body and spirit. For children on New Year's Day there will be more street theatre, this time from Catalonia, a wonderful, bizarre and colourful performance in the late afternoon on the Royal Mile. Throughout the festival there is the Hogmanay Carnival, described as Britain's biggest and most exciting fairground. The Winter Wonderland events in the gardens offer outdoor skating and the Giant Ferris Wheel for a wonderful view along Princes Street
and the gardens.
Come to Edinburgh, the "Home of Hogmanay" and experience a cultural jamboree of traditional customs as well as the best in Scottish and World musical entertainment for all the family. So as the song goes, "shake off your feathers ….. and come out to play."
For further details see Edinburgh's Hogmanay Web site. The illustrations in this feature are courtesy of that site.
