Kiribati greets the new year first; American Samoa is almost the last
Midnight on 31 December sweeps westward around the planet over roughly a full day. Kiribati's Line Islands, Samoa and Tonga, just west of the International Date Line, celebrate first. Their near neighbours in American Samoa, plus the uninhabited Baker and Howland islands, are among the very last to join in.
The last evening of the Gregorian year, and often the whole of 31 December, is marked across much of the world with dancing, eating, drinking and fireworks, with the party running past midnight into New Year's Day. Many Christians attend a watchnight service instead. How people spend it varies enormously from one country to the next.
Church looms large in parts of Africa. In Ghana and Nigeria, many people see the year out at a service while others head to nightclubs, pubs and street parties; Accra and Tema light up with fireworks at midnight. In Rwanda, Catholic services typically start at 6 pm and Protestant ones at 10 pm, and the president gives a live address at midnight; fireworks, a recent addition, are most spectacular at the Kigali Convention Centre and on the city's hills. In Juba, the capital of South Sudan, services begin at 9 pm and the congregation sings Hark! The Herald Angels Sing on the stroke of twelve before dispersing around half past midnight.
Broadcast rituals are just as binding elsewhere. South Africans vote in the run-up to the day for a top ten song countdown, and the winner plays simultaneously on every radio station in the country, amid fireworks and barbecues known as braais. Algerians hear the president's greetings read on television at 8 pm, and in the big cities the Martyrs' Memorial draws crowds. In Tunisia, where most families stay home, roast chicken is the traditional dinner, cake is saved for the first minutes of the year, and the comedy film Choufli Hal now airs annually, ending just before midnight.
Cities also compete for visitors. Lagos launched its Lagos Countdown in 2012, later renamed One Lagos Fiesta, hoping to match the tourist-friendly celebrations of other big metropolitan areas. In Azerbaijan, Soviet-era habits linger: after the president's message on state television, every channel plays the national anthem at midnight.
Source: New Year's Eve
