New Year’s Eve Celebrations From Around the World

From enormous fireworks shows in Las Vegas and Australia to an impressive LED lightshow on the tallest building in the world in Dubai, check out how partygoers rang in 2018 across the world.

California

The Golden State went green when the clock struck 12 this New Year Day. Starting at midnight, California joined the list of growing states that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

However, medical marijuana has been legal in California for the past two decades and the state is generally tolerant of the drug, so there most likely won’t be a non-stop celebratory party. 

Las Vegas

Partygoers in the Sin City saw tightened security from state and federal resources alike, such as an added police presence, 350 National Guard soldiers and airmen and federal authorities. Police cruisers and dump trucks blocked key intersections to try to prevent anyone from plowing into crowds, and snipers were employed in the case of an emergency like October’s Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting, in which 58 were killed and hundreds injured.

A roughly eight-minute fireworks display at the top of seven of the city’s world-famous casino-hotels started ten seconds before midnight Monday. Sprays of gold, red and green lightened the sky on time for 2018.

New York

Despite the second-coldest New Year’s Eve celebration ever recorded in New York City, Times Square was a-rockin’ with Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve and the crystal ball dropping.

Partygoers bundled up in the 10-degree weather with extra layers, wearing warm hats and face masks, while dancing and jogging in place to ward off the cold.

There was also tighter security than ever after two terrorist attacks and a rampaging SUV driver who plowed into a crowd on the very spot where the party takes place. The party went off with no major problems.

Australia

Aussies in Sydney rang in the new year with a massive fireworks display over Sydney Harbor, launching over 17,000 lbs) of fireworks and creating 100,000 pyrotechnic effects. The display cost $7 million AU (about $5.4 million U.S.) and lasted 12 minutes.

The biggest display was saved for a rainbow tribute to the country recently making same-sex marriage legal. It was also a salute to the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras.

A 20-second segment of the fireworks display was designed by The Greatest Showman actor and native Australian Hugh Jackman. He worked with Fortunato Foti of Foti Fireworks to create the display, which is set to the music written by the late Gurrumul Yunupingu.

Brazil

Rio de Janeiro saw a massive fireworks display on Copacabana beach after the clock struck midnight to usher in the new year.

After 17 minutes of a multicolored show in the skies, singer Anitta led the party on stage with her single “Vai Malandra,” a song that scored 84 million views on YouTube in two weeks. Some of the city’s most traditional Carnival samba schools performed later.

New Mayor Marcelo Crivella said he believed the celebrations would bring 3 million people to the iconic beach, which would mean nearly half of Rio’s population. But locals said Brazil’s economic crisis is still impacting one of the city’s biggest parties. In 2017, 2 million people showed up at Copacabana beach, a number that hasn’t changed much over the years.

Vatican

On New Year’s Eve, Pope Francis decried wars, injustices and environmental decay which he says have “ruined” the year.

He presided over a New Year’s Eve prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica, a traditional occasion to say thanks in each year’s last hours.

He says God gave to us a 2017 “whole and sound,” but that “we humans in many ways ruined and hurt it with works of death, lies and injustices.”

However, he added, “gratitude prevails” thanks to those “cooperating silently for the common good.”

New Zealand

New Zealanders were the first in the world to usher in the new year, taking to streets and beaches with fireworks crackling above city centers and harbors. 

In Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, tens of thousands gathered around Sky Tower as five minutes of nonstop pyrotechnics exploded from the top of the structure.

But on nearby Waiheke Island, 30 kilometers (20 miles) away, authorities canceled the planned fireworks display because of drought conditions and low water supplies for firefighters.

Russia

As Russians counted down the last moments before 2018 ticked over into each of the country’s 11 time zones, President Vladimir Putin called on them to be considerate and conciliatory with each other in the new year.

“Say the most cherished words to each other, forgive mistakes and resentment, admit love, warm up with care and attention,” Putin said in a televised message broadcast on Sunday just before midnight.

Intermittent rain and constant grey skies bogged down a usually snowy New Year’s Eve in Moscow.

Japan

Many Japanese celebrated the arrival of the Year of the Dog in the traditional way of praying for peace and good fortune at neighborhood Shinto shrines and eating New Year’s food like noodles, shrimp and sweet black beans.

Barbecued beef and octopus dumpling stalls were out at Tokyo’s Zojoji Temple, where people took turns striking the giant bell 108 times at midnight, an annual practice repeated at other Buddhist temples throughout Japan.

Turkey

Security measures were ramped up across Turkey, which a year ago was hit by a New Year’s attack that killed dozens of people.

In Istanbul, 37,000 officers were on duty, with multiple streets closed to traffic and large vehicles barred from entering certain districts. Several New Year’s Eve street parties were canceled for security reasons.

This New Year’s Eve, about 100 people gathered outside Istanbul’s Reina nightclub to remember the 39 killed and 79 wounded from the attack ISIS claimed responsibility for.

United Arab Emirates

Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, again served as the focal point of New Year’s Eve celebrations — though this year authorities decided against fireworks and decided on a massive LED lightshow instead.

That decision was made in part due to safety in the city-state in the United Arab Emirates, which saw a massive skyscraper fire on New Year’s Eve in 2015.

The display, running down the east side of the 828-meter-tall (2,716-foot-tall) tower, showed Arabic calligraphy, geometric designs and a portrait of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s first president.