United States Edition
Ano Viejo leads today's complete edition for United States.
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.
Tallapoosa, Georgia, and Brasstown, North Carolina. On New Year's Eve, the town lowers a possum in a plexiglass box from a height at midnight. In Brasstown, the possum is named Spencer. In Tallapoosa, they crown a Possum King and Possum Queen. The AHA! moment: animal rights groups have protested the event, and the North Carolina legislature passed a law specifically allowing the possum drop, which tells you everything about how much this tradition matters to the people of Brasstown.