New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is a celebration held the day before New Year's Day, on December 31, the final day of the year.

Localized celebrations

Australia

With crowds of over 1.2million people Sydney is one of the largest annual New Year's Eve celebrations worldwide benefiting from the Harbour City's warm summer weather and spectacular natural amphitheatre.

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Over 80,000 fireworks are traditionally set off from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and four other firing points covering 6km's along Sydney Harbour. The event can be seen from a 16km radius around Sydney and attracts an average of 300,000 international tourists each year.

Related Topics:
Sydney Harbour Bridge - Sydney Harbour

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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 the New Year at spots like Times Square and Ocean Terminal.

Related Topics:
Central - Causeway Bay - Tsim Sha Tsui - Harbour - Times Square - Ocean Terminal

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United Kingdom

100,000 people gather for an organised hogmanay street party in Edinburgh, with fireworks being set off from the castle and other major hills around the city. In London, a fireworks display is held around the London Eye. Bideford in North Devon is also famous for its New Year celebrations.

Related Topics:
Hogmanay - Street party - Edinburgh - Castle - London - London Eye - Bideford

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United States

For about four decades Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians would serenade the United States from the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue in New York City.

Related Topics:
Guy Lombardo - Waldorf-Astoria Hotel - Park Avenue - New York City

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In the United States New Year's Eve is a major social holiday. In the past 100 years the dropping of the 'ball' on top of One Times Square in New York City, broadcast worldwide, is a major component of the celebration. The 1,070-pound, 6-foot-diameter Waterford crystal ball located high above Times Square is lowered starting at 23:59 and reaches the bottom of its tower at the stroke of midnight on January 1. 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 harbours.

Related Topics:
United States - Holiday - Times Square - New York City - Waterford crystal - Midnight - Noon

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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 dropping a ball, also drop or lower an object (or an enlarged representation of an object), usually one of local significance. Some of these include:

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• Atlanta, Georgia - a peach
• Miami, Florida - an orange
• Raleigh, North Carolina - an acorn
• Flagstaff, Arizona - a pine cone
• Key West, Florida - a conch shell, a pirate wench and a red high-heel shoe
• Brasstown, North Carolina - a live opossum in a cage
• Port Clinton, Ohio - a walleye fish
• Cleona, Pennsylvania - a pretzel
• Hummelstown, Pennsylvania - a lollipop
• Liverpool, Pennsylvania - a canal boat
• Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - a wrench

There are also things going up. In Seattle the countdown is done with an elevator at the Space Needle, with fireworks from the top of the needle at midnight.

Related Topics:
Seattle - Space Needle

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