in here we’re show you In Scotland 10 festivals in Scotland. it’s not just beautiful scenery that you’ll fall for, but also the culture. Take a glimpse at Scotland’s events calendar and you’ll find there’s so much to dip your toe into. Scottish festivals celebrate everything from comedy to music, whisky to Viking heritage.
Check out this round-up of the best events and festivals in Scotland. Perhaps it will inspire you to enjoy them in person on your Scottish trip.
01. Edinburgh’s Art and International Book Festival
The Edinburgh International Book Festival is a distinctive international showcase celebrating the written word, literature and ideas. It brings leading and emerging international, British and Scottish authors and thinkers together to inspire each other and audiences in an extensive programme of public events.
Discussion, performance and interactive events have become prominent features of the Festival, complementing the more traditional interview-style conversations and readings, and contributing to the Book Festival’s reputation as a powerful forum for the public to exchange views with writers and experts on a wide range of issues: social, ethical and political as well as literary and cultural.
02. Shetland Folk Festival
The Shetland Folk Festival is one of the traditional scottish festival and a treat for all folk enthusiasts. This amazing festival has been happening for the last four decades and is growing bigger and better with each passing year. It welcomes all the international, British and Scottish artists to perform.
From traditional pub theaters to private gigs to workshops and youth-based programs, a lot is going to happen during this Scottish festival 2022.
03. Up Helly Aa
Up Helly Aa is the general term for a series of festivals held in Shetland every year. Shetland, or the Shetland Islands, are a group of islands that sit around 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland, and they are the most northerly inhabited islands of Great Britain.
Today the islands are a part of Scotland and therefore the UK. Historically, they were originally colonized from the Scandinavian countries in the 8th and 9th centuries, and there is still a great sense of connection between this region and the islands.
04. Dumfries & Galloway Wild Spring Festival
A festival celebrating all things nature is being launched in Dumfries and Galloway. The Wild Spring Festival is taking place right across the region with more than 100 events exploring wildlife, farming and the great outdoors.
A group of nursery school children have been learning all about life on the farm and have been meeting newborn lambs at the Cream O’Galloway, near Gatehouse of Fleet.
It’s just one activity on offer throughout the month of April, and other events include everything from kayaking and sailing to food foraging.
05. Orkney Folk Festival
From small beginnings in 1982, the Orkney Folk Festival has grown to become one of the most prolific and special throughout Scotland, the UK and further afield.
Established in 1982, and with the first event in 1983, the festival is manned by a voluntary committee of around a dozen members, who work year-round to bring the festival together each May, supported by countless more in the preceding weeks and days. This is one of the principles upon which it was founded over thirty years ago, and is central to the festival’s feel and welcome – for both artists and audiences.
06. Hogmanay
Hogmanay literally means New Year’s Eve in Scottish. The tradition goes back centuries, taking influence from the Vikings who once inhabited here and their propensity to rage over the winter solstice, and elements of ancient Gaelic traditions. It’s such a big deal because celebrating Christmas was banned in Edinburgh by the protestants — it wasn’t even made a holiday until 1958 — so the fun-loving Scots were forced to go all out when ringing in the New Year.
Hogmanay is all over Scotland, but the biggest and best is in Edinburgh. The city comes alive, with stages set up all over featuring international and local musical acts, street parades and fireworks from Edinburgh Castle.
07. Selkirk Common Riding
Selkirk Common Riding is the latest event to take place, with huge crowds taking to the streets. At numerous locations around Scotland, Riding the Marches is considered a traditional ceremony. It is observed on June 18, every year.
The June 1488 Battle of Flodden is what Selkirk is well known for. There are also similar festivities in Sanquhar, Linlithgow, Annan, Peebles, Lauder and Langholm.
08. St. Andrew’s Day
St. Andrew’s Day is a national holiday in Scotland that is celebrated with feasts on November 30. It is also Scotland’s national day, marking the beginning of Scotland as a nation. Variations of the holiday are also celebrated in Romania, Germany, Austria, Poland, and Russia.
Holiday traditions are an important part of global cultures as well as family identities.
Scots and others celebrate traditional Scottish culture on St. Andrew’s Day with Scottish food, music, recitations, dancing,and more. The day isn’t as widely celebrated in Scotland as some other holidays, such as St. Patrick’s Day, but it is a grand celebration nonetheless.Some towns, such as St. Andrews, even throw weeklong celebrations.
St. Andrew’s Day also marks the beginning of winter festivals such as Hogmanay and Burns Night.
09. Fort William Mountain Festival
Fort William Day is considered to be a celebration of the mountain cultures, which are known to exist in the Outdoor Capital of the UK. It is observed during late February.
A series of lectures are organized by expert climbers and mountaineers. Snowboarding opportunities are also arranged for, along with mountain biking and ice climbing. Often, a film night is organized which features the best picks of the Banff Mountain Film Festival.
10. Scottish Traditional Boat Festival
The festival celebrates traditional boats, local produce and flok and shanty singers, with the event’s main marquee dedicated to GalGael Trust, who work with local people to rekindle a sense of community and purpose and skills, such as rigging and boat building.
The Festival will also be the location for one of the first gatherings of the St Ayles Skiffs, a 22ft boat developed for the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project by The Scottish Fisheries Museum, which aims to encourage communities to get involved in boat building and rowing.