Kiribati Edition
Ano Viejo leads today's complete edition for Kiribati.
Daily Edition
Official observances, world days, local context, and everyday celebrations for people who need something worth reading, sharing, or talking about today.
Not an official holiday, but try finding someone at work. The country gathers at the coast to watch the Valparaiso fireworks, eats twelve grapes at midnight for twelve wishes, and toasts with champagne. The Valparaiso show is three kilometers of fireworks over the bay and it is spectacular. The grapes are mandatory.
The fireworks over Sydney Harbour are watched by a billion people worldwide and by a hundred thousand people standing in the Domain with warm champagne and sore feet. The countdown is shouted. The kiss at midnight is given. And someone has already set off illegal fireworks in the suburban backyard and the dog is under the bed.
Another midnight celebration with the whole family. The leftover pan dulce from Christmas reappears, the sidra is still flowing, and someone counts down from ten. Paper fireworks in the street, hugs all around, and the unshakeable feeling that next year, surely, things will be better. "El ano que viene si," the eternal Argentine hope.
Because Kiribati spans both sides of the International Date Line, it is the first country to enter each new year. The celebrations on the Line Islands begin 30 hours before the celebrations in Hawaii, which is on the other side of the date line. The AHA! moment: the International Date Line was moved in 1995 so that all of Kiribati would be on the same day. Before that, the eastern and western islands were 24 hours apart, which meant that it could be Tuesday on one side of the country and Wednesday on the other. The government decided this was ridiculous and moved the date line eastward, making Kiribati the widest country on earth by time zone.
You observe the Curaçao white-tailed deer, tropical seabirds including the burrowing owl, and colorful fish species in the surrounding Caribbean waters. You find that residents commonly keep dogs, cats, and sometimes iguanas as pets in this island community. ACADA celebrates the world's pets, and helps assure better care.
