One of the first countries to welcome the New Year is Samoa. Some of the U.S. territories in the Pacific, including Midway Island, are among the last places where the clock will strike midnight.
The New Year, which falls on January 1 according to the Gregorian calendar, is one of the most popular occasions across the globe when people celebrate the day forgetting their sorrows and make pledge for the coming year with new hope and determination.
The sun rises in the East, the countries nearest to the International date line on the west side of it will experience the festivities first. Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati will be among the first to welcome in 2019.
In Berlin, tens of thousands of people greeted 2019 at a huge party at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the largest New Year’s Eve party in Germany.
In Auckland, tens of thousands gathered around Sky Tower as fireworks exploded from the top of the 328m structure.Thousands of South Koreans filled the streets of Seoul for a traditional bell-tolling ceremony near City Hall.
Ten hours earlier in New Zealand, a spectacular light show blazed across the skies of Auckland – making it the first capital to celebrate 2019.
Festive lights were seen engulfing the night sky of Downtown Dubai as the city held an extravagant celebration to make sure the New Year arrived with a bang.
The skyline was filled with an array of colour and smoke as a spellbinding fireworks display flew across the Burj Khalifa tower.
In Hong Kong, the city’s iconic skyscrapers provided the backdrop for a fireworks, music and light show over Victoria Harbor where some 300,000 people had gathered on New Year’s Eve.
In Thailand, fireworks were seen illuminating the night sky over the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok as hundreds of spectators gathered to welcome in the New Year while in Singapore crowds of people were greeted by a futuristic fireworks display and live performances at Marina Bay.
Tens of thousands stood on Paris’s Champs Elysees as they watched the Arc de Triomphe lit up in a magical array of colours.
In Moscow, concerts and light shows will be held across the Russian capital’s parks, and more than 1,000 ice rinks have been opened for merrymakers.
