After pandemic hiatus, revelers hit New Year’s parties in droves
NEW YORK — New Year’s celebrations were sweeping across the globe, ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks — and marking an end to a year that brought war in Europe, a new chapter in the British monarchy and global worries over inflation.
The new year began in the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati in the central Pacific, then moved across Russia and New Zealand before heading deeper, time zone by time zone, through Asia and Europe.
At least for a day, thoughts focused on possibilities, even elusive ones like world peace, and mustering — finally — a resolve to keep the next array of resolutions.
In a sign of that hope, children met St. Nicholas in a crowded metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Yet Russian attacks continued New Year’s Eve, and Ukrainian soldiers spent the day — and night — in the trenches. Many Ukrainians returned to the capital, Kyiv, to spend New Year’s Eve with their loved ones. With millions without electricity, no big celebrations were planned, and a curfew was in effect as the clock struck at midnight.
Turkey’s most populous city, Istanbul, brought in 2023 with street festivities and fireworks. At St. Antuan Catholic Church, dozens of Christians prayed for the new year and marked former Pope Benedict XVI’s passing. The Vatican announced Benedict died Saturday at age 95.
New York City prepared to join the glow of the new year with a dazzling Saturday night spectacle in iconic Times Square, anchoring celebrations across the United States. The night culminates with a countdown as a glowing geodesic sphere 12 feet in diameter and weighing almost six tons descends from its lofty perch atop One Times Square. Its surface is composed of nearly 2,700 Waterford crystals that will be illuminated, officials said, by a palette of more than 16 million colors.
Before the ball dropped, there were heavy thoughts about the past year and the new one to come.
Ali Thompson, who was showing her brother around Times Square the day before, said people should do their part to take care of their corner of the world.
“I think we live in a broken world, and we see that play out every day,” she said. “I think anytime that we can do something to make it a little less broken is always a good thing.”
In Australia, more than 1 million people crowded along Sydney’s waterfront for a multimillion dollar celebration based around the themes of diversity and inclusion. More than 7,000 fireworks were launched from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and another 2,000 from the nearby Opera House.
“We have had a couple of fairly difficult years; we’re absolutely delighted this year to be able to welcome people back to the foreshores of Sydney Harbor for Sydney’s world-famous New Year’s Eve celebrations,” Stephen Gilby, the city’s producer of major events and festivals, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
In Auckland, New Zealand, large crowds gathered below the Sky Tower, where a 10-second countdown to midnight preceded fireworks. The celebrations in New Zealand’s largest city returned after COVID-19 forced them to be canceled a year ago.