New Year’s Day is a national holiday in the United Kingdom and is observed on the first day of the year, January 1. It marks the end of the Christmas holiday period and is a time when people make resolutions for the upcoming year. The celebrations often carry over from the previous evening (New Year's Eve), many people attend parties and fireworks displays to welcome the New Year.
In Scotland, where it is called 'Hogmanay', New Year's Day has long been more celebrated than Christmas Day. Traditionally, Scots hold 'first-footing' at the stroke of midnight where the first person to cross a friend or neighbor's threshold brings various symbolic gifts such as salt, coal, shortbread, whisky, and black bun, a rich fruit cake, intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder. The first-footer must not be in the house at the stroke of midnight in order to first-foot, thus going out of the house before midnight and then coming back in to the same house is not considered to be first-footing.
In England and Wales, New Year's Day has become a day for family gatherings where people often go for a walk or watch the King George VI horse race. Parades are also organized and football matches take place across the country, driving large crowds. The New Year's Day Parade in London is a spectacular event and attracts an audience of more than 250,000 people lining the streets and many more watching it on tv.