Edinburgh is the world's festival city. There are 12 festivals throughout the year, half of which are celebrated during the mouths of July and August.

Hundreds of thousands of people visit the Scottish capital during the summer. Here are some of the events they can enjoy:

The Edinburgh International Festival

This is the original Edinburgh festival, which began in 1947. Actors, musicians, dancers and opera singers from all over the world perform to huge audience. You need tickets for most events which take place in theatres around the city.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (艺穗节)

This is the largest arts festival in the world with thousands of shows taking place across the city, More than 20,000 artists participate in it. as the festival is open to anyone. Visitors can choose from a huge variety of acts. Join thousands of visitors and locals at the Royal Mile, Edinburgh's min street, 10 watch all kinds of performers and shows.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival

The largest book festival in the world began in 1983 and tokes place every year in Charlotte Square Gardens, in the centre of Edinburgh. There are more than 700 events for children and adults who love books. You can meet many authors, talk to them, ask them to sign a book or listen to them talk about their stories. Children can listen to stories and watch illustrators (插画家) draw pictures.

The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

Music lovers come to this festival to enjoy music shows around the city. One of the highlights of this musical event in the street carnival (嘉年华), which is free to all. Artists perform street theatre, dance and circus shows in amazing costumes, and everyone can join in the dancing.

This happened when I was ten.

My girl cousin had decided to be a boy for Halloween, so my aunt called my mom to borrow some of my clothes. The next morning, they came to our house early before school. My cousin told me that she was going to be a boy for Halloween and wear some of my clothes. I told her that I didn’t care. Then, with a big grin(咧嘴笑) on her face, she told me that I was going to be a girl. I told her she was crazy but she said that she had overheard my mom’s plan and that her mom had brought some of her clothes for me.

So I went to the living room to see our moms. Then I knew she wasn’t lying. There was a wig(假发）on the table and my mom and aunt were both smiling at me. I shook my head and told them “ NO WAY!” before they even said a word. My aunt said that it would be really cute. Then Mom told me not to be a stick-in-the-mud. She said that it would be fun and she wanted to see what I’d look like as a little girl. I told them I absolutely would not do it!

I was still refusing twenty minutes later… when my aunt was putting make-up on me. I was wearing a pink party dress, the blond wig with pigtails(辫子) and earrings. My cousin wore one of my sweatshirts, my jeans and a baseball cap. We were sent to school like that, where I spent a sad day. The kids thought it funny that we were dressed that way and made stupid comments about us. They also played jokes on us and I’ve never been so uncomfortable.

I still don’t like Halloween to this day!

The Christmas season has always been important for the economy. Stores, hotels and travel businesses usually make their money at Christmas time. But it is unclear if the holiday season helps other industries. Governments are hoping to re-open their economies in time for Christmas. Some economists, however, wonder if it will do any good. The question is especially important this year. There is a risk that re-opening too early could hurt public health, economic growth and employment.

In Britain, December sales are usually around 12 percent of the yearly total. Economists say that helps retail businesses, even if people buy less in January to recover from December spending.

However, lower-priced Black Friday sales across Europe in late November has made December spending less important. The growth in online purchasing also makes it less necessary for some stores to stay open. German retail association HDE expects online sales to fuel an increase of 1.2 percent over 2019.

Some economists believe that even if people do not buy before Christmas, they will spend on other things. Paul Donovan is chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management. He said in his weekly blog, “Not spending on drinks at a Christmas party translates into the purchase of new furniture.”

And usually, productivity drops as Christmas nears. Workers rush out to buy things or go to parties. One research company found that 25 percent of workers said they did less work or tried to avoid more work during the holiday season.

There are even some economists who believe the act of buying gifts is bad for the economy. As Yale economist Joel Waldfogel once said that when people pay a lot for gifts, especially unwanted gifts, that was like destroying their economic value.

Most economists continue to argue about this idea. However, few disagree that Christmas does have unintended and harmful effects on the economy, from drunk-driving accidents to increased paper waste. Information on new coronavirus cases in coming days will show if Europe can reopen for Christmas. But for the economy, it may not make any difference.