Year of Creative spotlight

With Hogmanay and Burns Night just around the corner, and a host of superb Christmas events on offer, now is the time to celebrate!

Christmas Crackers - experience Scotland’s winter wonderland

• Enjoy a packed programme of events filled with festive cheer, including Glasgow Loves Christmas (until 6 January) Edinburgh’s Christmas (29 November - 6 January) and Aberdeen’s Winter Festival, which runs until 25 January 2013. Don’t miss the festive events taking place at Historic Scotland and National Trust for Scotland properties throughout the country.

Hogmanay - welcome 2013 in style

• Edinburgh’s Hogmanay (30 December to 1 January) is one of the world’s top New Year events, with concerts and the famous Street Party, while the East Lothian town of Musselburgh (31 December), celebrates with a family ceilidh, and the chance to design your own tartan.
  
• Through in Glasgow, Hogmanayday, promises a fun-filled day with great music, food and fun, while the celebrations continue at the Stonehaven Fireball Festival,with Red Hot Chilli Pipers lined up as part of the foot stomping Open Air in the Square festivities.
  
• The Highland Capital of Inverness marks the bells with the Red Hot Highland Fling, as Big Country and Skerryvore take to the stage, while Stirling’s Hogmanay features street theatre and a concert by the Proclaimers, against the magnificent backdrop of Stirling Castle.  

Burns Night - pay tribute to Scotland’s national poet

• The ever popular Celtic Connections (17 January-3 February), includes several tributes to the great bard as part of the mass celebration of traditional and global music.
  
• Big Burns Supper (25 to 28 January) is Dumfries’s newest festival of contemporary arts. Centred on Burns Night, it features 2,000 artists across 50 venues, with music, theatre, family shows, and as much haggis, neeps and tatties as you can eat.
  
• In Inverness, Haggis Lich Nicht (25 January) is the city’s tribute to the great Robert Burns and the not so humble haggis. The city centre will host a celebration of the bard’s poetry and songs before heading to Eden Court Theatre for a finale performance to remember!
  
• Release your inner bard at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh and the National Museum of Rural Life, East Kilbride at Burns Unbound (26 and 27 January). Celebrity hosts mark the life and work of Burns by attempting to beat the world record for a mass recital of his works.

• Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh will celebrate all three of Scotland’s National Days with a host of storytelling and puppetry events.