New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is
December 31, the final day of the
Gregorian year, and the day before
New Year's Day,
New Year's Eve is a separate observance from the observance of
New Year's Day. In 20th-century
Western practice, the celebration involves partying until the moment of the transition of the year at midnight. Drinking
champagne is also a major part of the festivities.
Within many cultures the use of
fireworks and other noise making is a major part of the celebration in cities such as
Berlin,
Edinburgh,
Sydney,
London,
Paris,
Rio de Janeiro,
Toronto, and
Tokyo.
New Year's Eve is a public non-working
holiday in the following countries, among others:
France,
Australia,
Argentina,
Brazil,
Mexico, the
Philippines, and
Venezuela.
Australia
With crowds of well over 1.2 million people,
Sydney has arguably the second largest New Year celebrations worldwide, after
Rio de Janeiro (which attracts over 2 million people on Copacabana Beach; New York and London both average crowds between 800,000 and 1,000,000) benefiting from the harbour city's warm summer weather and spectacular natural
amphitheatre. Also because of its proximity to the
International Date Line, Sydney is home to the first major celebration to welcome the new year.
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Sydney leads the world in one of the first major New Year celebrations each year. |
Over 80,000 fireworks are traditionally set off from the
Sydney Harbour Bridge and four other firing points covering 6 km along
Sydney Harbour. The event can be seen from a 16 km radius around Sydney and attracts an average of 300,000 international tourists each year. The Harbour of Lights Parade adds to the attraction as cruise boats covered in fairy lights cruise the centre of the harbour all night. These vessels have the prime position for the evening. Sydney has recently been acknowledged by numerous media sources as having the world's best New Year celebrations, topping the list of cities such as
New York City,
Edinburgh,
Paris, and
London.
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NewYearsEve.com.au *
sydneynewyearseve.comHarbour of Lights[
1]
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong people usually gather in
Central,
Causeway Bay and
Tsim Sha Tsui harbourfront to see the lightworks on the skyscrapers along the
harbour and to count down to the New Year at spots like
Times Square and
Ocean Terminal.
United States
In the
United States, New Year's Eve is a major social
holiday. In the past 100 years the '
ball dropping' on top of
One Times Square in
New York City, broadcast to all of America, is a major component of the New Year celebration. The 1,070-pound, 6-foot-diameter
Waterford crystal ball (on the right) located high above
Times Square is lowered, starting at 23:59:00 and reaching the bottom of its tower at the stroke of midnight (00:00:00). It is sometimes referred to as "the big apple" like the city itself; the custom derives from the time signal that used to be given at
noon in harbors. From
1982 to
1988, New York City dropped an enlarged apple in recognition of its nickname. Since
1972,
Dick Clark has hosted
televised coverage of the event called
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve, shown on the
ABC network. For about four decades
Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians serenaded the United States from the ballroom of the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on
Park Avenue in
New York City. The song
Auld Lang Syne has become a popular song to sing at midnight on New Year's Eve.
Local Celebrations
Now, many cities in America have their own local version of the celebration, even while keeping an eye on New York, and the New York-centric aspect of the holiday is diminishing. Many cities, echoing the New York tradition of
ball drop, also descend or lower an object (or an enlarged representation of an object), usually one of local significance. There are also examples of things going up. In
Seattle the countdown is done by launching fireworks up the side of the Space Needle until it reaches the top at midnight.
New Year's Eve is a major event in
Las Vegas, Nevada, where
Las Vegas Boulevard is shut down as several hundred thousand people party. In
New Orleans,
Louisiana, another of the most popular New Year celebration venues in
North America, similar crowds of hundreds of thousands gather in the
French Quarter, particularly on
Bourbon and
Canal Streets, to celebrate the New Year.
Injuries and Deaths Caused by Random Gunfire and Unapproved Fireworks Use
In several areas of the U.S., particularly major
urban areas, New Year celebrations are punctuated by random celebratory gunfire, causing injuries and deaths.[
2][
3][
4].
Police departments in many areas, aided by
gun safety organizations, have attempted to crack down on this practice through technology[
5][
6] and enhanced penalties[
7][
8].
A New Year's Eve tradition in
Hawaii and other areas is the uncondoned use of
fireworks by local residents. Local governments have begun to severely limit this practice in recent years for numerous reasons, including its effect on people with breathing problems, thrill-seeking but dangerous twists on fireworks use (e.g. hanging fireworks from power lines), and unintended fires.
Legislation approved by the
Hawaii State Legislature has implemented a system of permits for fireworks use, yet this system is still frequently circumvented by locals.
United Kingdom
England celebrates the New Year by either waiting for
Big Ben, or another clock to strike midnight while enjoying the party. Usually, the partygoers will countdown the last ten seconds, by shouting out the numbers from "Ten!" and then as simultaneously Big Ben chimes and zero is reached, shout "Happy New Year!" instead of zero. Amusingly, the countdown is sometimes miscalculated and "One!" is repeated until Big Ben chimes.
Then the chimes are normally accompanied by
Auld Lang Syne and fireworks. It is also a major celebration in
Scotland, where it is known as
Hogmanay. The large street parties held in Edinburgh, and George Square of
Glasgow are attended by those all over the world, due to the reputation for celebration they have collected.
London's celebrations are the most covered. Since the construction of the
London Eye, it has been the centre-point of a huge ten-minute fireworks display each year, illuminated with coloured lasers. At the start of 2005, fireworks were launched from the wheel itself for the first time.
Spain
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A young man celebrates a New Year party at a hotel in Tortosa, Spain |
Spanish New Year's Eve (
Nochevieja, or
Fin de Año) celebrations usually begin with a family dinner, traditionally including
shrimps and
lamb or
turkey. The actual
countdown is primarily followed from the
clock on top of the
Casa de Correos building in
Puerta del Sol square in
Madrid. It is traditional to eat
12 grapes, one on each
chime of the clock. This tradition has its origins in
1909, when grape growers in
Alicante thought of it as a way to cut down on the large production surplus they had had that year. Nowadays, the tradition is followed by almost every Spaniard, and the 12 grapes have become synonymous with the New Year. After the clock has finished striking twelve, people greet each other and
toast with
sparkling wine such as
cava or
champagne, or alternatively with
cider.
After the family
dinner and the grapes, many young people attend New Year
parties at
pubs,
discotheques and similar places (these parties are called
cotillones de nochevieja, after the
Spanish word
cotillón, which refers to party supplies like
confetti,
party blowers,
party hats, etc.). Parties usually last till the next morning and range from small, personal celebrations at local
bars to huge parties with guests numbering the thousands at
hotel convention rooms. Early next morning, party goers usually gather to have the traditional
breakfast of
chocolate con churros (
hot chocolate and
fried pastry).
France
The French call New Year's Eve
la Saint-Sylvestre. It is usually celebrated with a feast called
le Réveillon de Saint-Sylvestre.This feast customarily includes special dishes and drinks like champagne and
foie gras. The celebration can be a simple, intimate dinner with friends and family or a much fancier ball (
une soirée dansante).
On
le Jour de l'An (New Year's Day), friends and family exchange
New Year's resolutions and sometimes gifts.
The holiday period ends on
January 6,
Epiphany. On this day, they traditionally enjoy a type of cake which varies depending on where you are in France (view the
Epiphany article for more information).
Ecuador
During the celebration of
Año Viejo,
Ecuadorean citizens burn
anthropomorphic figures made of
wood, newspapers, and rags, which are then stuffed with
fireworks. These figures, known also as
Año Viejo, represent symbolically the detritus of the old year and are generally references to noteworthy events during the past year. Often these have included hated political figures, pop-culture references, etc.
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Chinese New Year*
Omisoka (Japan)
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Áramótaskaupið (Iceland)
