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Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters
People celebrate at Myanmar's first public New Year countdown celebration at the Myoma grounds in Yangon January 1, 2013.
Updated at 5:05 a.m. ET: As the clock struck midnight in each new timezone starting with in the Pacific Rim it was met with spectacular shows from Sydney to Beijing.
In Myanmar, where citizens were holding their first public countdown, the jubilation was at least as heartfelt, even if set against a humbler backdrop. It signaled a new year, as well as a new era of expanding democracy after five decades of military rulers who discouraged or banned public gatherings.
"We feel like we are in a different world," said Yu Thawda, a college student enjoying the festivities in Yangon, the capital.
Not every celebration was imbued with the same degree of hopefulness.
In Russia, Moscow's iconic Red Square was filled with spectators as fireworks exploded near the Kremlin. President Vladimir Putin gave an optimistic New Year's Eve address, making no reference to the anti-government protests that have occurred in his country in the past year.
Russians were marking their last New Year’s Eve with unfettered access to beer. New restrictions preventing sale of suds overnight or at street kiosks go into effect Jan. 1, part of a government effort to curb alcoholism.
Beer now considered alcohol, not food, in Russia
"You have to stock at home. And stocking beer is more problematic than stocking vodka," brewing industry official Isaac Sheps told London’s Daily Telegraph. "It’s bulky. It’s big."
In austerity-hit Europe, the mood was also restrained as 2012 came to a close. The coming year is projected to be a sixth straight one of recession amid Greece's worst economic crisis since World War II. In fact, the new year was starting with a 24-hour strike by subway and train workers in Athens to protest salary cuts that are part of the government's austerity measures.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's New Year's message warned her country to prepare for difficult economic times ahead. Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, decided to cancel celebrations in light of the economic crisis.
Damian Shaw / EPA
From Sydney to Siberia, revelers celebrate the arrival of a new year.
Celebrating New Year's Eve with a vespers service in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI said that despite all the injustice in the world, goodness prevails. In Spain, where a recession has left unemployment at a staggering 25 percent, people are hoping for a better new year.
In London, the chimes of the clock inside the Big Ben tower counted down the final seconds of 2012 and fireworks dazzled the sky above Parliament Square. Streamers shot out of the London Eye wheel and blazing rockets launched from the banks of the River Thames.
One night of revelries wasn't enough for some people.
Scotland launched the annual festival known as Hogmanay on Sunday night with thousands of torchbearers marching in Edinburgh, drawing inspiration from pagan traditions. The Scotsman newspaper estimated that 7,000 people participated in the "river of fire" through the city center.
The fete was set to last until Wednesday and draw 80,000 revelers from around the world, according to the official Hogmanay website.
New laws ban sex with prisoners, hound-hunting of bobcats, etc.
First across the line to 2013
The new year’s westward march across the globe began with Samoa ushering in 2013 a full day before the clock strikes midnight in neighboring American Samoa.
It’s a quirk of the international dateline, which Samoa moved a year ago, giving it a jump on the jubilation that erupts as the earth bids farewell to one year and welcomes another, time zone by time zone.
The celebration started small in places like Christmas Island, an Australian territory, and Kiribati, an equator-straddling chain of islands in the Pacific, at 5 a.m. ET Monday.
An hour later, Auckland, New Zealand, became the first major city to begin a new calendar, with fireworks shot from the Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere at 1,076 feet.
The really big parties started, though, when the new year reached Australia at 8 a.m. ET. More than a million revelers gathered in Sydney’s harbor for a massive $6.9 million pyrotechnics party hosted by pop star Kylie Minogue.
Mariana Bazo / Reuters
We may have different calendars, customs and beliefs, but most of us mark the arrival of a new year. Take a look at the ways cultures around the world celebrate and bring good luck for the year ahead.
Among those watching in person was Melissa Sjostedt, of Florida, who read about Sydney’s firework spectaculars in National Geographic a decade ago.
"Ever since that, I've always wanted to see this for real, live, in person," she told the Associated Press.
North Korea’s fireworks went off a day after another party, marking the one-year anniversary of Kim Jong Un's ascension to supreme commander. Hong Kong was hosting its biggest bash ever with a $1.6 million fireworks display. In Japan, bells at temples rang 108 times.
David Moir / Reuters
Up Helly Aa vikings from the Shetland Islands march in the torchlight procession to mark the start of Hogmanay (New Year) celebrations in Edinburgh on Dec. 30.
In India, outrage over the fatal gang-rape of a young woman tempered celebrations.
"The Indian army, air force and navy have decided to cancel all the parties planned to welcome the new year," a senior official told Agence France Presse. "They want to dedicate the last day of the year to the gang-rape victim."
Ashish Gupta, 35, an accountant, said it would be too difficult to enjoy the traditional revelry.
"This New Year is not going to be the same for me and many of my friends," he said.
The Associated Press and NBC News' Stacy Connor contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Body of India rape victim cremated in New Delhi
- Pakistan militants kill 40 in mass execution, attack on Shiites
- Statue of Hitler praying is displayed in former Warsaw ghetto to controversy
- Putin signs law banning American adoptions
- Video: Elephants play soccer at Nepal festival
- US sailors sue Japan's TEPCO for post-quake radiation exposure
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
My wife and I have been to Sydney Harbor for New Years Eve (NYE) celebrations 2005/6 and it was awesome. They do a 10 pm fireworks celebrations for the children to view, along with a festively lit boat parade and then the main attraction of fireworks celebration at mid-night over the Sydney Harbor Bridge/Opera House. We were in the "Mrs McWhorry" area and enjoyed all of it throughout - our pictures were spectacular, as we always admired the NYE fireworks display on CNN from our television in the US in previous years. The neat thing is that at 8 am EST, it is midnight (+16 hours from EST) - so as the article states, it is 2013 on the western edge of Australia now!
Happy New Year, jack, for you and your family and friends.
Live long and prosper.
Happy New Year to all.
To all military who are not home to share the beginning of the year with family and friends, safe journey until you are again united with them.
To all veterans who have gone ahead to their ancestors, may we be worthy of your sacrifices.
Morning Jack. Yes mid night has been and gone and we are over 10 hours into 2013....Wonder what this one will bring. Watched the fire works on TV up in Sydney they are the best here. The harbour is just fantastic and the old coat hanger (the Sydney Harbour bridge) lights up so well...Hope you and your wife have a great New Year and health, wealth and happiness for 2013. And that is the same for everyone. Happy New Year everyone from Australia.
shona1 A very Happy New year to you and all your fellow Australians also! Here's wishing for a better year for all who have had a miserable 2012.
Good Morning and Happy New Year Shona
Thank you for your wish also! I always look at the New Year and see opportunity to do life better and strive for happiness. Glad to hear all is well and yes, the Sydney fireworks display on the "old hanger" is always spectacular - every year - and my wife and I watched it on the US tv news this year and it was the last in a list of 5 or 6 other locales - means being last in the list is that is always the best especially the finale!
Gidday Shona and Fare Dinkum!
Nice tits - gotta be a good year.
hey jack record it man -thats and event
now that everyone one has made it through the end of the world -can we please move on to the beginning of some thing cool like actually saving the planet not killing it-lets go in to space and most importantly lets all have a lot more fun and enjoy a beautiful planet and go and find more
pretty sure they are already here waiting for us to wake up to the fact we have friends
happy new year earth
mlcadle,
WE made it through... past, Doomsday !! screw prophesy ! BWAHahaha!
WE ARE HERE !
I HAD A HIGH-PAYING TEMP JOB... FOR 6 MONTHS THIS YEAR!!
I'M HAPPY.
Happy New Year, EVERYONE !!
It is wonderful to be alive and welcome in another year.So many who were loved did not make it this far. We have before us the beginning of a whole year.Each day like a present, filled with 24 hours, clean, fresh and full of endless possibilities. Remember, there are only two things in life you have to do. Everything else is an option.If you remember that, it will give you the freedom to do anything in life you desire. You are not trapped, forced, bound by anything else in life. Regardless of what anyone else tells you. Including yourself.
First, you have to die some day. No one gets out of that. Sorry, even if you get yourself frozen at the moment of death, believing your body can be fixed in some distant future date. Nobody escapes death. It is the debt that all men pay for being mortal.
Second, you must make choices. That is right, even choosing not to make a choice, is a choice. Everything else in your life is a optional. Including:
Going to work; staying married; paying taxes;paying your bills; raising your kids;getting out of bed; taking a bath; brushing your teeth; eating; sleeping; breathing; talking to your family, sex (I know this shouldn't be in here!), etc. No matter what you can think of. You may not like the consequences, but you can choose not to do it. People have made those choices in the past. Now don't tell your boss you quit because I said you didn't have to work!Remember, choices are optional, consequences are not!
Of course some led to death, others to prison, some led to the loss of relationships, health issues. But the point is this. We have tremendous power over our own lives. Freedom to change what we don't like about it. We simply lack the will to change. But given the right motivation, it is incredible, what we can do with our lives.Most people wait until they have a life threatening event. Because change is scary, and hard at times. But it can be thrilling and so rewarding afterward.
So, for a new year ahead, as one wise man suggested, if you want to feel alive, do one thing that is scary for you, each day. Just don't put your life at risk foolishly. Remember, the love others feel for you, is your stewardship, you owe to them.
Agree wds, great post.
@Windancersong,
Well put.
"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality." ---Ayn Rand
Happy New Year, DB, to you and your family and friends.
May the Force always be with you.
Scooter, Tracy...
Wherever you are, Happy New Year to you and family and friends. Be safe.
May you always walk in harmony with your Spirits.
@mimi,
Happy New Year to you and yours as well. How did you know my last name is Schwartz?
It's still 2012 here on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, THE Australian territory. Your article refers to Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean.......NOT an Aust territory. We are 4hrs behind Sydney at present (Summer Time).
Read the article again ..... slowly.
The person who wrote this article is just a bad journalist. In Kiribati there is a place called Christmas Island, which has no affiliation to the Australian territory Christmas Island which is in the Indian Ocean. The journalist probably did no research and should have left out of the Christmas Island part and just said that Kiribati and Samoa were the first 2 countries to go into the New Year. Saying,
was just redundant since the Christmas Island the journalist is referring to is in Kiribati. So yes it is pretty confusing to those of us who know our geography.
Fortunately, the original article has been edited, as it stated that the Christmas Island referred to was an Aust territory.
It's still wrong though, lol. Christmas Island, the Australian Territory is off the coast of Singapore. And as stated, still has not go into the new year. It's 11:30pm there, so they still have 30 mins to go. But yes, at least they stated it's an AUS territory, lol.
It's still 2012 here on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean - the Australian Territory. Your article refers to Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean - NOT an Australian territory. We are 4hrs behind Sydney in Summertime. The West coast is 3hrs behind, so it's still 2012 there too!
Good riddance to 2012. The only good thing that happened all year was the defeat of the fascist Romney.
and electing the muslim obama
Happy New Year to all! A "beautiful" performance; Please don't cry!
I hope I don't have nightmares :)
My new year wish #1 is the early demise of the tyranny of the Tea Party congress and their supporters.
May the people of the world be blessed with good health happiness prosperity and love for all.
Agreed! Nothing would be better for this country's overall mental health. These people have made anger, pessimism, and hate (not to mention firepower) en vogue in America. A terrible thing! Those are things we should be rejecting not embracing. Negativism destroys societies and America is not immune from this disease. In fact, it is our our freedoms that make her even more vulnerable. Where else can an uneducated man make billions calling the President a "dictator"? Our strengths provide our greatest weaknesses.
Christmas Island is part of Kiribati, but another Kiribati atoll, Milenium island, is the first place to greet the New Year.
In the picture on the article page; The "Holy man" blessing the female "religious follower?" for "good luck" was probably babbling like porky pig while uttering the incantation! Happy New Year Fellow Posters!!!
Why don't you tell them what that Lechon really is???
Baboy or Manuik ?
To WDS
Beautiful post! Full of much needed common sense without a political slant
*applause*
Cut down Thanksgiving, Veterans day, Memorial day, Christmas, and all the other holidays.... but NBC loves a good drunk fest or gay pride parade.
What was with the monks rubbing flowers all over the boob girl in the bikini? I want to celebrate there.
As others have noted, the article mis-identifies "Christmas Island". There are two. One is an Australian Territory in the Indian Ocean, not far from Java. The other is smack in middle of the Central Pacific, just north of the equator and in the longitude of Hawaii. That's the one that rang in the New Year before most other places in the world. The latter is now normally spelled Kiritimati (pronounced Kirisimus, or nearly "Christmas" after its earlier westerrn name) and is one of the islands of the archipelago nation of Kiribati (pronounced Kiribus). As far as time zones, since Kiritimati is part of the nation of Kiribati, it follows their date law which sets the date to the Asian standard. This is purely a matter of local law. Any nation can change its date rule, though it would be unusual and probably confusing for any nation distant from the central Pacific to do so. There is no "official" International Date Line and the idea of an actual line is not necessary but was a useful invention of a late 19th century New York globe making company.
It would seem Congress has been partying all year--it's got nothing done!
Oh Congress did something in 2012. They passed a law now known as the "Fiscal Cliff" and the President signed that law. Make no mistake, the Fiscal Cliff was actively CREATED by Congress AND the Obama Administration. It didn't just appear out of nowhere.
gizmowiz,I agree and now it's our turn to party.
H A P P Y N E W Y E A R to everyone in cyberspace. May this be a year of health & happiness for all. May we find wisdom in our leaders & ourselves, PEACE and ACCEPTANCE of ALL TRADITIONS, BELIEFS & ETHNIC GROUPS in the WORLD, and prosperity for all. (May we accept each others opinions & views on our internet blogs & not insult one another for differing opinions - we can agree to disagree.) (But, most of all, may I not be late for my manicure appointment - Amen - ha, ha.) Happy New Year to All & to All, a REALLY GOOD NIGHT OUT- ha, ha!! PARTY ON!
I give all Praise to God,, NO praise to Americans, bunch of cowards who let governments destroy their lives as they sit in Disney land, For this country has been brought to shame and we deserve every horror we are going to witness. Americans envious of their foolish and wicked dictators. They are speaking corruption and wickedness and they set their mouths against you as a nation of puppets, their plagues concerning your oppression as they again say, HOW will God know when I am God. Happy poop year,, now you can go get sloppy drunk or stoned again and lie to yourself again on how this is going to be a good year,, The great American Horror just getting started. Happy screw YOU year,,as your government screws you again in the ass. This country turning into some kind of butt F ers and the public just bend over..America today is Arming Muslim countries for wars, our teachers may as well be ready for wars. What? Now O-Abomination wants to limit our guns while he arms the Muslim brotherhood with more. May as well Arm America too for the coming world wars and if people as we see today keep silent about the terrorist coming right form our own society, YOU need weapons for the coming Race wars..Go O-Abomination.. Happy New Year folks,, NOT,, Happy greed year,,now you get a bill for $3400 more dollars of taxes so your PIG government can keep playing golf and keep their drug addiction of spending your taxes without accountability.. Plan on being $30 trillion dollars in debt by the end of this criminals theft of America. Pride and vanity is their ending goals as a great chain of debt is put around our necks and our children become slaves to these greedy selfish kings, Violence will cover them like a garment as their eyes only see fatness, they have more than any soul should need and now they speak lofty and treasonous acts against WE THE PEOPLE who now stand silent in ignorance, AGAIN. Behold, these are the Ungodly who prosper in the world today, they increase in riches as they leave you poorer, for all the day of their lives they shall be plagued with their own selfishness and greed. I was pained when shown this viperous generation of dictators, then I went into the presence of the Lord, then I understood their plagues, their end as God himself will cast them down into their own destruction's as He utterly consumes them with terror and All will despise their images. For they have become like a beast with rabies. God will destroy All these money whores, I have put all my trust in the Lord concerning these wicked kings and their minions whose purpose is to destroy and concur and in their quest, they have become the multitudes of wicked men working against their own peoples goodness
TL;DR version,
Whole lotta crazy was just said.
Its easier to blame the world, than yourself, isnt it..
Karl Rove, you've got to get over it. Ohio went for Obama, comprende?
Acceptance of all PEACE LOVING traditions of the world.
- Happy New Year, everyone!!! -
- Heres to peace and more love in the world. -
- And happiness for all in 2013 -
It seems Congress is intent on repeating the history of Nero in Rome while Americans party and the world watches in disgust.
I fear tomorrow's headlines.
Happy New Year to all
I know that some "more morally mature" individual will reprimand me for this (so go right ahead), but when I read "New Year parties kick off", I suddenly realized that by replacing the "r" in "parties" with an "n", one creates another interesting headline....................
Someone has started to celebrate early.............lol
PARTY TIME? Its only for the rich!!!!!!! The rest of us poor people, have NOTHING to party with or for!
Correction!!!!!!!!!!! Try to have a good year! due to congress,and congress alone, Happy, is not part of this greeting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!