New Year’s Eve celebrations swept the world, ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks. It marks the end of a year rife with war in Europe and fears of global inflation.
The new year begins in the small atoll nation of Kiribati in the central Pacific, then crosses Russia and New Zealand, and continues on, time zone by time, to Asia, Africa and Europe, and finally into the Americas.
After a two-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia kicked off its celebrations with its first unrestricted New Year’s Eve. Sydney ushered in the New Year with a typical dazzling fireworks display, which included the Rainbow Falls over the Harbor Bridge for the first time.
In China, strict COVID-19 restrictions were not lifted until December. The government abruptly reversed the “dynamic zeroing” policy, a change that sent infection rates soaring. It also means some people aren’t in the mood to celebrate.
ukraine war
Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukraine continued on New Year’s Eve.
At midnight, the streets of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, were deserted. The only remnants of the New Year are local residents shouting from their balconies: “Happy New Year!” and “Glory to Ukraine!”
Only half an hour into 2023, air raid sirens sounded throughout the city, followed by successive explosions.
In a video message to congratulate the new year, Time magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said: “I want to wish all of us one thing, and that is victory.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin dedicated his New Year’s address to uniting the Russian people and supporting his military. But celebrations in Moscow were quiet, without the usual fireworks over Red Square.
Yelena Popova, 68, said: “No one should pretend that nothing happened, our people are dying (in Ukraine). Holidays can be celebrated, but in moderation.”
Many Moscow residents say they want peace in 2023.
silent celebration
Elsewhere in Europe, fireworks exploded over the Parthenon in Athens, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, as crowds gathered on the Champs-Elysees to watch the French capital celebrate New Year for the first time since 2019 Fireworks show.
However, the Czech capital Prague, like many places, did not hold a fireworks display due to financial constraints.
“It doesn’t seem very appropriate to have a celebration,” said City Hall spokesman Werther Hoffmann.
The bells of Big Ben were tolled as more than 100,000 revelers gathered along the Thames to watch a spectacular fireworks display around the London Eye.
The show featured a drone light display as the crown and Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait on the coin circled in tribute to Britain’s longest-serving monarch, who died in September.
Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro was greeted by a small crowd of thousands watching a short-lived fireworks display. Several cities in Brazil have canceled celebrations for 2023 due to concerns over the coronavirus.
Before the pandemic, New Year’s celebrations in the Brazilian capital usually drew more than 2 million people to Copacabana.
Istanbul, Turkey’s most populous city, welcomes street festivities and fireworks in 2023. At St Anthony’s Catholic Church, dozens of Christians prayed for the new year and marked the death of former Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican announced that Benedict XVI died on Saturday, December 31, 2022, at the age of 95.
In New York, intermittent rain didn’t stop crowds from watching the dizzying festivities across the US on Saturday night.
The Times Square party culminated with a glowing sphere 12 feet (3.6 meters) in diameter made of nearly 2,700 Waterford crystals dropped from Times Square.
Before the ball drops, think a lot about the past year and the new year ahead.
Arjun Singh said watching the scene in Times Square, “The theme of 2023 is recovery, the recovery of the world after the new crown epidemic and the war in Ukraine. We hope that these things will end.”
Concern over the war in Ukraine and the economic fallout it has unleashed globally is also being felt in Tokyo. Kawamura is having a great time in the city, but says he needs a free hot meal in the new year of 2023.
“I hope the war in Ukraine will end so prices will stabilize,” he said.