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If you want to ring in the new year early, head Down Under and check out the amazing annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display put on by the city of Sydney, Australia in the harbor near the famous Sydney Opera House.
The Sydney New Year’s Eve Fireworks Live Stream
The live stream goes live at 8:30 p.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time on New Year’s Eve, which is 4:30 a.m. Eastern and 1:30 a.m. Pacific time in the United States. There are a bunch of activities and performances before the big fireworks display at midnight local time.
According to the Sydney New Year’s Eve website, there are two fireworks displays, plus pylon projections and lighting display, a smoking ceremony conducted by a tribal warrior, which is a “ritual of purification and unity, cleansing the space for the new year.”
The 9 p.m. fireworks are the “Calling Country” fireworks and their description on the Sydney website reads, “Calling Country fireworks celebrate the local histories and contemporary experiences of Indigenous storytellers through art, song, sound, and dance. As a way of Calling Country, the selection of artists brings connections between the land, water and sky to reflect on the past, and grow stronger into the future.”
Then at midnight come the New Year’s fireworks. Their description reads, “Ring in the new year with the world’s best fireworks show featuring pyrotechnics launched from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House and barges in the harbour.”
Local hosts for the festivities are ABC’s Charlie Pickering and Zan Rowe, and performers include Tones and I, Ball Park Music, Vika & Linda, Dami Im, Morgan Evans and Tasman Keith, according to TV Tonight Australia.
New Year’s Eve Around the World
New Year’s Eve marks the end of a calendar year on the Gregorian calendar, the calendar first introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it is named. Most countries celebrate the final day the year with parties, social gatherings, festivals, and/or fireworks. It goes by many names the world over, including Hogmanay in Scotland, Calennig in Wales, Baharu in Indonesia and Malaysia, Silvester in many European countries, Reveillon in France, Portugal, and Brazil, Kanun Novodgo Goda in Russia, and Omisoka in Japan.
Kiritimati, Tonga, and New Zealand are some of the first places to celebrate New Year’s Eve because they are located just west of the International Date Line, while the U.S.’ Baker Island is one of the last places to celebrate because it is just east of the International Date Line. Interestingly, because of the way the International Date Line jogs around a bit, Kiritimati is actually east of Baker Island.
In the United States, New Year’s is traditionally celebrated with parties and “drops,” the most famous of which is the ball drop held in New York City’s Times Square. But there are dozens of other “drops” held across the country, including a conch drop in Key West, Florida; a peach drop in Atlanta; an Indy car drop in Indianapolis; an acorn drop in Raleigh, North Carolina; a moon pie drop in Mobile, Alabama; a fleur-de-lis drop in New Orleans, a “Glowtato” drop in Boise, Idaho; and a tortilla chip drop in Tempe, Arizona, which is tied in to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game of college football.
New York also rings in the new year with a “Midnight Run” around Central Park that includes a fireworks show. Other fireworks displays around the country include shows at the Disney theme parks, the Las Vegas strip, and the Chicago “Chi-Town Rising” event.