NEW YORK: From Sydney to Mumbai to Nairobi, communities around the world welcomed 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges.
The New Year’s Eve ball dropped in soggy Times Square, where thousands of revelers stuck it out in heavy rain to celebrate the start of 2025 in New York City.
Countries in the South Pacific Ocean were the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 hours before the ball dropped in Times Square. Auckland was the first major city to celebrate, with thousands thronging downtown or climbing the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point.
Conflict muted acknowledgements of the start of 2025 in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.
American Samoa will be among the last to welcome 2025, a full 24 hours after New Zealand.
Earliest fireworks
Fireworks blasted off the Sydney Harbor Bridge and across the bay. More than a million Australians and others gathered at iconic Sydney Harbor for the celebration. British pop star Robbie Williams led a singalong with the crowd.
The celebration also featured Indigenous ceremonies and performances that acknowledged the land’s first people.
Asia prepares for Year of the Snake
Much of Japan shut down ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a thorough cleaning.
The upcoming Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac is heralded as one of rebirth — alluding to the reptile’s shedding skin. Other places in Asia will mark the Year of the Snake later, with the Lunar New Year.
In South Korea, celebrations were cut back or canceled during a period of national mourning following Sunday’s crash of a Jeju Air flight in Muan that killed 179 people.
In Thailand’s Bangkok, shopping malls competed for crowds with live musical acts and fireworks shows. A fireworks display in Indonesia’s Jakarta featured 800 drones.
China and Russia exchange goodwill
Chinese state media covered an exchange of New Year’s greetings between leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a reminder of growing closeness between two leaders who face tensions with the West.
Xi told Putin their countries will “always move forward hand in hand,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.
China has maintained ties and robust trade with Russia since the latter invaded Ukraine in 2022, helping to offset Western sanctions and attempts to isolate Putin.
Seaside celebrations and beyond
In India, thousands of revelers in the financial hub of Mumbai flocked to the city’s bustling promenade facing the Arabian Sea. In Sri Lanka, people gathered at Buddhist temples to light oil lamps and incense sticks and pray.
In Dubai, thousands attended a fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. And in Nairobi, Kenya, scattered fireworks were heard.
A Holy Year begins
Rome’s traditional New Year’s Eve festivities have an additional draw: the start of Pope Francis’ Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration projected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to the Eternal City in 2025.
On Tuesday, Francis celebrated a vespers at St. Peter’s Basilica. During Mass on Wednesday he is expected to again appeal for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Jan. 1 is a day of obligation for Catholics, marking the Solemnity of Mary.
In Saint Paul, Minnesota, about 400 Catholics joined the archbishop for a rare 11 p.m. Mass followed by a champagne reception in the city’s monumental cathedral.
“People have the tradition to stay up and toast the new year, so we said, ‘Ok, let’s build on that,’” said the Rev. Joseph Johnson.
Paris recaptures the Olympic spirit
Paris capped a momentous 2024 with its traditional countdown and fireworks extravaganza on the Champs-Elysées. The city’s emblematic Arc de Triomphe monument was turned into a giant tableau for a light show that celebrated the city’s landmarks and the passage of time, with whirring clocks.
“Paris is a party,” proclaimed Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
The Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games hosted in the French capital from July to September had transformed the city into a site of joy, fraternity and astonishing sporting achievements.
Wintry weather, for good and bad
London rang in the New Year with a pyrotechnic display along the River Thames. With a storm bringing bitter weather to other parts of the United Kingdom, however, festivities in Edinburgh, Scotland, were canceled.
But in Switzerland and some other places, people embraced the cold, stripping and plunging into the water in freezing temperatures.
Rio expects 2 million revelers
Rio de Janeiro threw Brazil’s main New Year’s Eve bash on Copacabana beach, with barges shooting off 12 straight minutes of fireworks. Thousands of tourists on cruise ships and charter boats witnessed the show up close, while many more streamed onto the sand to find their spot.
The crowd on Copacabana was expected to exceed 2 million people — most decked out in white to keep with tradition. They packed together to enjoy concerts by Brazilian music legends Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia and Ivete Sangalo, among others. Right after the fireworks concluded, Brazil’s biggest pop star, Anitta, took the stage.
“It’s so magical. It’s an incredible thing,” Alejandro Legarreta, a tourist from Puerto Rico, said after diving into the ocean.
American traditions, old and new
In New York City, crowds cheered and couples kissed when the ball weighing almost 6 tons (5.4 metric tons) and featuring 2,688 crystal triangles descended down a pole in Times Square. The celebration included musical performances by TLC and Jonas Brothers.
“It’s the biggest party in the world. There’s no other place to celebrate New Year’s than Times Square,” said Tommy Onolfo of Long Island.
Las Vegas’ pyrotechnic show will be on the Strip, with 340,000 people anticipated as fireworks are launched from the rooftops of casinos. Nearby, the Sphere venue will display for the first time countdowns to midnight in different time zones.
In Pasadena, California, Rose Parade spectators were camping out and hoping for prime spots. And some 200,000 people were flocking to a country music party in Nashville, Tennessee.
