Scotland rings in 2023 with Hogmanay celebrations

Scotland has welcomed 2023 with large scale events for the first time in three years.

Fireworks, street parties, bonfires and torchlit processions were held across the country - despite the wet weather.

In Edinburgh, alongside the capital's street party, the Pet Shop Boys headlined the Hogmanay concert in Princes Street Gardens.

About 30,000 people attended the party, in a scaled back event from the 60,000 of past years.

As midnight struck they watched the six minute firework display light up the January sky over the castle.

The weather was cold and wet but the celebrations continued as people danced on Princes Street and sang Auld Lang Syne.

Visitors from dozens of countries including Mexico, Poland, Switzerland and Canada had joined the crowds as The Pet Shop Boys rounded off the party with some of their most famous hits.

Neil Tennant, of the Pet Shop Boys, told BBC Scotland ahead of the concert: "It's a really exciting show to play, when you get here you realise Hogmanay is a big deal in Edinburgh.

"We played it first nine years ago and it was just a fantastic audience, it's an amazing site with the castle above you and everyone's there to have a good time."

The duo have another tour planned for 2023, including their first Aberdeen gig in decades.

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In a new year message posted on Twitter, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "Thinking back to Hogmanay last year and indeed the year before that, we're reminded of just how far we have come from the very darkest days of the pandemic."

Partygoers celebrated the new year at the Hogmanay street party

Revellers light sparklers on Calton Hill in Edinburgh

And despite the rain, people headed to Princes Street

In Edinburgh, people queued in the rain to enter the party in Princes Street.

Revellers were also able to become part of the Hogmanay show with illuminated LED wristbands, which were connected to the sound system, allowing people to create patterns in time with music played.

Organisers said all events on 31 December had sold out, including the candlelit concert in St Giles' Cathedral and the Festival of Ceilidhs Countdown to Hogmanay.

But the Edinburgh torchlit procession that traditionally kicks off Hogmanay and the New Year's "Loony Dook" at South Queensferry were both cancelled.

Three mermaids, who were visiting Scotland from London, were among the "dookers"

A "Portobello Dook" organised by the community instead allowed people to welcome in the new year with a cold swim.

In other parts of Scotland, Glasgow celebrated the Ashton Lane Street Party, featuring a live band, indoor and outdoor bars and fireworks.

There was also a party at the city's Merchant Square with performances from the French Fling Showgirls, Scott & The Fox and The Riffreshers.

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In Aberdeen, locals headed to a Hogmanay ceilidh at the Beach Ballroom with music from the Hipflask Ceilidh Band.

A spectacular fireworks display was held about the Wallace Monument

Stirling had a series of events lined up, including live music at the Albert Halls, a ceilidh at the Tolbooth, and fireworks above the National Wallace Monument.

Scotland's largest free Hogmanay celebration took place in Inverness, with the Red Hot Highland Fling providing live music.

It was hosted by stand-up comedian Fred MacAulay on the banks of the River Ness in Northern Meeting Park.

The tradition in Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire sees locals wield fire to ward off unwelcome spirits.

Around 40 men and women were led by a piper up and down the High Street swinging fireballs around their heads just before midnight.

The tradition, which has been celebrated for more than 100 years, began as a cleansing ritual to burn off any bad spirits lingering from the old year to bring in a pure New Year.

Biggar, in South Lanarkshire, also welcomed in the New Year with fire.

Locals gradually add to a large pile of wood in the town centre in the weeks before Hogmanay, before it was lit in the hours leading up to the midnight countdown.

In Comrie, Perthshire, tall torches were set alight and paraded around the village at midnight.

The Comrie Flambeaux was accompanied by music and people in fancy dress before the remnants of the torches were thrown into the River Earn.

After a Hogmanay ceilidh in Dufftown in Moray, people gathered in The Square for the bells.

Drams of whisky and pieces of shortbread were distributed for midnight countdown, courtesy of the local Glenfiddich distillery and Walkers biscuit factory.