New Year’s Eve, the oldest of all holidays, has been celebrated in one form or other since 2000 B.C. The ancient Babylonian celebrations were at the beginning of spring, starting on the first new moon, and lasting for 11 days. It wasn’t until the Romans that the date of the New Year’s Eve celebration moved to December 31^st, and it was changed specifically to synchronize their calendar with the sun. Just as in the past, in many countries, New Year’s Eve is celebrated with parties, though they no longer last for days on end, most start sometime on the 31^st of December, and continue into the night until the early morning hours of January 1^st. Friends and family gather to celebrate the passing of one year into the next with food, drink, festivities and fireworks. Many countries host celebrations on official level to welcome the New Year with grand fireworks displays and open air public parties on large scale and spend millions of dollars arranging the event.

Sydney, Australia

The host to a huge celebration, Sydney holds its celebration over the Harbor. With over 1 million gathering to watch the fireworks display, the area is completely packed with people. Sydney’s party each year is set to a theme, the coming New Year’s celebration is The Time of Our Lives. The city goes all out, holding two different fireworks displays, one at 9pm for families, followed by their Harbor of Lights Parade, where Sydney’s Heritage Fleet, ferries, private vessels and commercial charters will sail through the harbor, the masts or hulls decorated with lights, and another at midnight to mark the New Year. Both displays are set off from barges over the water, the first 8 minutes long, the second 12, though the second involves more than just barges, some of the buildings in town are utilized, and the Harbor Bridge display is the place to keep your eyes on, as the culmination of the fireworks happens there, and promises to dazzle the eyes.

New York, New York

Times Square seems to be the place to be in New York on New Year’s Eve, the streets are lined with partiers, who seem to be oblivious to the cold as they gather to watch the dropping of the ball, a huge crystal and lighted ball which is lowered on a pole to the ground each year, reaching the bottom as everyone counts down the New Year, at 12 am. Special effects are seen in the lighting within the crystal ball, flashing red, yellow, blue, clear and green, strobe lights and mirrors creating bursts of what seems like fireworks inside the ball. Close to a million people come to watch the event, and many more throughout other cities in the United States watch it televised, vicariously enjoying the fireworks display there along with the beauty and tradition of the ball dropping.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro holds a festival on New Year’s Eve, and hosts their largest fireworks display at the Copacabana beach. In Brazil, they call New Year’s Eve ‘Véspera de Ano Novo’. They have special music shows before the fireworks, and many wear white and give offerings such as flowers to Iemanjá, a Candomblé deity of the ocean. They throw their offerings into the sea, in the hope that the goddess will hear their requests for the New Year, and grant them.

Paris, France

la Saint-Sylvestr, the French New Year’s Eve celebration is held along Champs Elysees, crowds gather drinking champagne after eating a feast fit for a king, and keeping their eyes on the Eiffel Tower. The Tower itself seems to burst into lights at the stroke of midnight, with other fireworks throughout Paris chiming in to light the sky in brilliance.

Whether enjoying one of these celebrations with your family or friends, watching them televised in your lounge room, or hosting one of your own, New Year’s Eve is a holiday that is enjoyed all over the world and brings new hope for better times ahead. Wherever you are stay safe, have a great time and a very happy new year.

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Dec 27th, 2007
by Tahira Khan

One Response to “Welcome New Year 2008”

1. BeachBoy Says:
   January 11th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

   There is no match for the Sydney celebrations, I’ve seen the ball drop in New York, be it on TV, but it was tame in comparison. I thought the Chinese celebrations were cool too though, a shame you missed those.

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