IT could put the silent into Silent Night.
The capital's festival for the Christmas period - in which the centre of the city becomes transformed into markets, ice rinks, funfairs, festive grottos and light displays - will this year feature one of the world's largest "silent disco" events, to be called Silent Light.
As well as being the centrepiece of the Edinburgh Christmas festival, it will also be part of St Andrew's Fair Saturday, a new national arts festival to be launched later this month.
It aims to a "mass celebration of arts and culture", an event first prompted as a reaction to the consumer chaos of the 'Black Friday' sales.
Fair Saturday was first established in Spain by Jordi Albareda in 2014, promoting culture and charity as a reaction to the seasonal shop sales, and aims to "generate a massive mobilisation of people in favour of arts and culture, to highlight their essential role in the construction of a better future."
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Silent Light, a "silent street party", will see people buying tickets for 3000 earphones, to listen to music which is choreographed with 24 arches of 60,000 lights in the city's historic George Street.
Commissioned by Underbelly - which also produces Edinburgh's Hogmanay and is a major Fringe venue - it will be on up to five times a day, and each musical session will last 20 minutes.
Money from each ticket, 50p, will go towards the One City Trust, a city charity, and 26,000 free tickets will also be made available to more than fifty charities.
Charlie Wood, director of Underbelly, said: "You will have seen silent discos around Edinburgh, particularly during the festival in sold out shows, so we are going for a world first: fusing silent disco with a giant street of light construction on George Street in the same way we did in 2016, from Charlotte Square to Castle Street.
"The lights will synchronise to the songs and the music you hear through your headphones.
"The lights will be on all the time, but there will be between three and five shows a day....I think it will be genuinely exciting and unique event."
READ MORE: Underbelly reveals plans for Hogmanay 2018 events
On December 1, all proceeds from the event will go to three charities - Deafblind Scotland, National Deaf Children Society and the Royal National Institute of Blind People - as part of the Fair Saturday festival.
Wood said: "Mr Albareda set it up in Spain in 2014...he was saying: 'You don't have to spend that Friday spending in the shops, you can celebrate in your cities in another way', and now it has grown into events in cities all over the world.
"The idea is that the city decides how it is going to give something back, and it is based around art and culture and society.
"There will be things going on all over Edinburgh and Scotland, and Silent Light will pay all of its proceeds to those three charities."
The Christmas lights will be switched on, on 18 November, by Saskia Eng, a singer and contestant on TV show The Voice.
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Once again, East Princes Street Gardens will be turned into a large market, and an ice rink will be established in the middle of St Andrew Square.
The organisers are hoping to replicate the sales of last year's festival, when 781,520 tickets were sold for rides, attractions and shows.
That figure marked a 13% increase on 2016, when 690,878 tickets were sold.
Of the 2017 ticket sales, 142,333 were booked by Edinburgh residents.
The annual outdoor Nativity Carol Concert takes place on 2 December in St Andrew Square.
Jordi Albareda, the Founder of Fair Saturday said: “We are very excited to be working with Underbelly and Edinburgh’s Christmas as part of the programme of St Andrew's Fair Saturday next December 1st.
"On that day, the City of Edinburgh will celebrate Christmas, Scotland's vibrant culture, its role in the positive transformation of society and the wider celebration of St Andrew's Day all across Scotland.
"All of this connected with hundreds of events that will be taking part in Fair Saturday worldwide.
"It is an honour for us to bring to Scotland a project born in the Bay of Biscay in 2014."
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