Saturday, November 2, 2013

What Is It Like To Be In Sydney For New Year's Eve?

By Abby Cassinia


New Year's Eve is a great time of year for everybody, everywhere. It is often a time for people to relax and reflect on the year just gone. New Year's Eve is a perfect time to welcome the upcoming New Year and the new opportunities, new beginnings, new relationships and new experiences that it might bring.

It would seem that for one full day, the whole world stops and all the people of the world celebrate the coming of a new calendar year. It is a night for fun, music, parties, public parades and private resolutions.

People from different places in many ways celebrate New Year's Eve in similar ways. Nevertheless, at the same time, many countries have their own New Year's Eve traditions and ways of welcoming in the New Year that are different. Some countries get their traditions from where or whom they live with or their general beliefs.

Sydney in Australia has a special significance when it comes to celebrating New Year. Australia is among the first major countries to actually turn into the New Year and the New Year's Eve in Sydney is the biggest Downunder. Being near the International Date Line, Sydney effectively becomes the "starting point" for all New Year's Eve celebrations. It is as if the whole world waits and watches for Sydney to officially enter into the New Year and then countdown for the rest of the world begins!

Sydney's New Year's Eve celebration includes two massive fireworks displays held across the city's famous Sydney Harbour. Over the years, Sydney has become famous for entering the New Year with an amazing midnight fireworks display that the whole world watches. However, what is not as well known is that Sydney actually has its Family Fireworks display earlier in the evening at 9.00pm. So essentially you get two great fireworks displays in one fantastic night.

The amazing midnight firework display is strategically distributed through seven buildings around the harbour and on seven barges moored along the harbour. The seventh "barge" is actually the iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge! Last year the fireworks presentation played to the theme of "Embrace" and over a million people viewed this fiery display from vantage points along the harbour or aboard boat cruises. The New Year's Eve firework display on the stroke of midnight really is an impressive pyro technique presentation that is televised globally each year. Last New Year's Eve it is said that more than a billion people worldwide saw the Sydney New Year's Eve midnight fireworks at some stage during the day or night on their nightly news.

Although Sydney is such an amazing spot to see in the New Year, the most famous worldwide New Year's Eve celebration is in Times Square in New York City. Every year more than a million people flock to New York City's Times Square to watch the "ball drop" at midnight. This event first occurred over 100 years ago back in 1907 and has been consistently done ever since. The Times Square Ball is composed of panels with computerized LCD lighting. It drops from a temporary pole with a more than enthusiastic crowd of people below counting down the last few seconds. It is also watched across the country on TV by several millions of people.

Partying, music and dancing around the square and nearby buildings accompany the celebration of New Year.

In most other cities of the world, fireworks are a standard feature in celebrating New Year. In many cities, parades and parties are commonly practiced.




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