Happy New Year as Scotland welcomes 2023
01.01.2023 - 04:17
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Thousands of revellers returned from all over the world to welcome in New Year at Scotland’s biggest street party. Over 40,000 people flooded into Edinburgh for the world-famous Hogmanay for the first time in three years.
The city’s celebrations culminated in a dazzling fireworks show and the Concert in the Gardens headlined by the Pet Shop Boys. The celebrations, watched by one billion people across the world, had not been seen since 2019.
Street events were also taking place in Glasgow, with fireworks in Stirling and at smaller gatherings up and down the country as people celebrated being together for the first time since the easing of Covid restrictions.
But while Edinburgh was the most famous, it was the other side of the world which led us into 2023. Australia saw more than 7000 fireworks being launched from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a further 2000 from the nearby Opera House.
And celebrations also took place first in Wellington in New Zealand, Taipei in Taiwan, Manila in the Philippines and Seoul in South Korea. In Edinburgh, visitors braced for heavy rain and rejoiced at being able to party on the street, coming from far and wide.
Camila Chianca, 34, an English student from Brazil, said: “This is my first time in Scotland but I lived in Dublin for five months studying English and everyone said I had to come to Edinburgh for New Year. Even in Brazil it is famous. The street party is amazing. The city looks so nice – it’s cold but I love it.”
Student Filipe Figueiredo, 33, also from Brazil, said: “This is my first time in Scotland. We flew 17 hours from Brazil via Portugal and Ireland for this experience. The whole world has come together here for a party.”
Their friend, Brazilian Maureen Macedo, 33, said: