Customs vary throughout Scotland and usually include gift-giving and visiting the homes of friends and neighbours, with particular attention given to the first-foot, the first guest of the new year.

The earliest proposed etymology comes from the 1693 Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence, which held that the term was a corruption of a presumed Ancient Greek: ἁγία μήνη (hagíā mḗnē) and that this meant "holy month".

[6] Subsequent 17th-century spellings include Hagmena (1677),[5] Hogmynae night (1681),[5] and Hagmane (1693) in an entry of the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence.

The most commonly cited explanation is a derivation from the northern French dialectal word hoguinané, or variants such as hoginane, hoginono and hoguinettes, those being derived from 16th-century Middle French aguillanneuf meaning either a gift given at New Year, a children's cry for such a gift, or New Year's Eve itself.

[10] This explanation is supported by a children's tradition, observed up to the 1960s in parts of Scotland at least, of visiting houses in their locality on New Year's Eve and requesting and receiving small treats such as sweets or fruit.

[11] Compare those to Norman hoguinané and the obsolete customs in Jersey of crying ma hodgîngnole, and in Guernsey of asking for an oguinane, for a New Year gift (see also La Guiannee).

[16][17] Kelley himself uses the spelling Og-u-naa... Tro-la-la[18] whereas other sources parse this as hog-un-naa and give the modern Manx form as Hob dy naa.

This involves being the first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbour and often involves the giving of symbolic gifts such as salt (less common today), coal, shortbread, whisky, and black bun (a rich fruit cake), intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder.

[35] An example of a local Hogmanay custom is the fireball swinging that takes place in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, in northeast Scotland.

[38] In recent years, additional attractions have been added to entertain the crowds as they wait for midnight, such as fire poi, a pipe band, street drumming, and a firework display after the last fireball is cast into the sea.

And in Falkland in Fife, local men marched in torchlight procession to the top of the Lomond Hills as midnight approached.

For example, amongst the Scottish regiments, officers waited on the men at special dinners while at the bells, the Old Year is piped out of barrack gates.

"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem by Robert Burns, based on traditional and other earlier sources.

It is common to sing this in a circle of linked arms crossed over one another as the clock strikes midnight for New Year's Day.

[43] Between 1957 and 1968, a New Year's Eve television programme, The White Heather Club, was presented to herald the Hogmanay celebrations.

The performers were Jimmy Shand and band, Ian Powrie and his band, Scottish country dancers: Dixie Ingram and the Dixie Ingram Dancers, Joe Gordon Folk Four, James Urquhart, Ann & Laura Brand, Moira Anderson & Kenneth McKellar.

Following the demise of the White Heather Club, Andy Stewart continued to feature regularly in TV Hogmanay shows until his retirement.

As in much of the world, the largest Scottish cities – Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen – hold all-night celebrations, as do Stirling and Inverness.

Celebrations in Edinburgh in 1996–97 were recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest New Years party, with approximately 400,000 people in attendance.

[46] Similarly, the 2006–07 celebrations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Stirling were all cancelled on the day, again due to high winds and heavy rain.

The period of festivities running from Christmas to Handsel Monday, including Hogmanay and Ne'erday, is known as the Daft Days.