The first and the last to celebrate

The island nation Kiribati rings in the New Year first. Kiribati, also known as Christmas Island, is located in the Central Pacific. They celebrate throughout the nation at each village’s maneaba or meeting house, where all social and political activity takes place.

American Samoa is one of the last places to ring in the New Year, well, it’s actually the second to last place behind Baker and Howland Island, which are both uninhabited. Some tourists take advantage of the time difference by flying from Samoa to American Samoa to celebrate twice.

How it started

The first New Year’s celebration dates back 4,000 years. Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome, was the first to declare January 1, a national holiday.

He named the month after Janus, the Roman god of doors and gates. Janus had two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. Caesar felt that a month named after this god would be fitting.

Times Square New Year Eve Ball

The first rooftop celebration atop Times Square, a fireworks display, took place in 1904 and was produced by The New York Times to inaugurate their new headquarters in Times Square. The first New Year’s Eve Ball lowering celebration atop One Times Square was in 1907.

Since 1907, seven versions of the Ball have been designed to signal the New Year. Today, the Ball is 12 feet in diameter, and weighs 11,875 pounds.

This year, the 2021 numerals stand seven-feet high and use a total of 526 9-watt energy efficient LED bulbs. The four numerals weigh a total of 1,080 lbs. More than one tonne of confetti is dropped in Times Square during the New Year’s Eve celebration.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 26th, 2020