The first city to celebrate the new year. Who is the first to celebrate the New Year

Which countries are the first to celebrate the New Year and the new day? These are the Kingdom of Tonga, the Republic of Kiribati, as well as the New Zealand possession of Chatham Island.

Let's talk about this in more detail.

Map of time zones.

In the far left and right parts of the map, the Dateline, or (in other words) the International Date Line, is indicated.

It is crossed (at the bottom of the map, near Australia) by the Republic of Kiribati. Kiribati, due to its length, is located simultaneously in three time zones in relation to Greenwich time, namely in the zones: plus 12, plus 13, plus 14, and therefore cannot be considered a country that is entirely the first to celebrate the New Year and the new day. Only that part of Kiribati, which is located in the time zones: plus 13 and plus 14, celebrates the New Year and the new day first in the world.

In turn, the Kingdom of Tonga (time zone: plus 13) is the only country in the world that is the first to celebrate the New Year and the new day all year round. Tonga does not switch to daylight saving time as New Zealand does (New Zealand winter time: plus 12 and summer time: plus 13). Thus, in winter, New Zealand cannot boast of being the first country in the world to celebrate the New Year.

However, the New Zealand possession - Chatham Island (with its winter time: plus 12 hours 45 minutes) celebrates the New Year just 15 minutes after Tonga.

Kingdom of Tonga()is the only country in the world that is entirely the first to celebrate the New Year and year-round - the new day b.

The organ of the government of Tonga, the Tonga Chronicle newspaper (published in 1964-2009), in its issue of February 20, 1997, described the privilege and right of the Kingdom of Tonga to be called the first country to celebrate the New Year and the new day:

“Until the end of the 19th century, the world did not have a system of time zones. But as the network of railroads and regular shipping lines expanded, the need to somehow harmonize their timetables became apparent. As a result, the main trading nations in 1870 began to discuss the introduction of standard and standard time in order to get rid of the chaos in this matter.

These efforts culminated in the Washington International Meridian Conference. 1884., which divided the Earth into 24 standard meridians, 15° apart in longitude, starting west of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. Meridian, located at 180 ° (12 hours before Greenwich) became the basis for the so-called. Dateline, along which countries to the west of it entered the next day, while countries to the east remained in the previous one. (The following countries participated in the Washington International Meridian Conference, which developed a system of time zones for the whole world and drew the International Date Line: Austria-Hungary, the Brazilian Empire, Venezuela, the German Empire, Guatemala, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Spain, Italy, Colombia, Hawaii , Costa Rica, Mexico, Netherlands, Ottoman Empire, Paraguay, Russian Empire, El Salvador, Great Britain, USA, France, Chile, Sweden (in union with Norway), Switzerland and Japan Note site).

However, when determining the international Date Line, the conference participants agreed with its deviations from the 180th parallel in order to avoid dividing the day within individual subjects, such as New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Siberia (meaning the Far North of Russia Note ..

In the Southern Hemisphere, the International Date Line was drawn north of the South Pole... so as not to separate Chatham Island in terms of date. Raoul, Eng. Sunday, now New Zealand Note . site), the Kingdom of Tonga, which belongs to Fiji, the Lau archipelago, similarly to the North and South Islands of New Zealand ... Similar deviations in the date line were agreed in the Northern Hemisphere, so as not to divide the territories in the sense of date in Eastern Siberia ( meaning the Far North of Russia.

In theory, standard time should never be more than 12 hours ahead of or behind Greenwich Mean Time. But the permissible deviation, according to the decisions of the mentioned conference 1884 put Tonga in the zone 13 hours ahead of GMT. In turn, New Zealand and Fiji were in the zone 12 hours ahead of Greenwich time, and Western Samoa 11 hours behind Greenwich time.

But until 1941, Tonga did not adhere to its local time, which was supposed to be 13 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Tongan time was then 50 minutes ahead of New Zealand winter time, and accordingly Tongan time was 12 hours and 20 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

When New Zealand adjusted its standard time in the 1940s, Tonga had the choice of either changing its local time to match New Zealand's time; or move to a time ahead of Greenwich Mean Time by 13 hours (which would be 50 minutes ahead of New Zealand time).

His Majesty, the future King Taufaahau Tupou IV (Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, became king in 1965 ., and rules up to 2006. Note. site), while known as Crown Prince Tungi (Tungi), chose in this regard to change the Tongan time so that Tonga could be called the land where time begins.

The Legislative Assembly approved this choice. But some of the older, more conservative members of parliament from the outlying islands objected: “If we move the clock forward 40 minutes at midnight on December 31, as Your Royal Highness wishes, will that mean that we will simply lose 40 minutes?”

To which the crown prince presented a win-win argument: “But in this case, remember that during the “weekly prayer of the year” (see. Note. website) we will be the first people on Earth to perform the morning prayer".

Since 1974, when New Zealand began to switch to daylight saving time, during the four summer months this country is also in the zone when its time is 13 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. But Tonga is still the country in the world that is the first to welcome every new day of every week, every month and every year, ”the Tongan newspaper proudly noted.

So, time in Tonga is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT, today also called Coordinated Universal Time UTC) +13 hours .

In addition, the Republic of Kiribati, neighboring Tonga and another island country, can also be considered the first country to celebrate the New Year and the new day. However, Kiribati, due to its length, is located simultaneously in three time zones in relation to Greenwich time, namely in the zones +12, +13, +14, and therefore cannot be considered a country that is entirely the first to celebrate the New Year and the new day.

A still frame from the New Year's (2000) broadcast of the American television company ABC, which shows the Dateline (or (otherwise) International Date Line), as well as the first three countries in the world that are the first to celebrate the New Year and the new day: the Kingdom of Tonga ( Time zone: GMT plus 13); as well as part of the islands of the Republic of Kiribati (namely, those related to time zones plus 13, plus 14); and besides this, the New Zealand possession is Chatham Island (Chatham, its winter time: plus 12 h.

A still frame from the New Year's (2000) program of the American television company ABC, which shows the Dateline (Dateline, or (otherwise) International Date Line), as well as the first three countries in the world that are the first to celebrate the New Year and the new day:

Kingdom of Tonga (Time zone: GMT plus 13);

as well as part of the islands of the Republic of Kiribati (namely, those related to time zones plus 13, plus 14);

and besides this, the New Zealand possession is Chatham Island (Chatham, its winter time: plus 12 hours 45 minutes).

Quite close to Tonga is the New Zealand possession of Chatham Island, where the difference with Greenwich time is +12 hours 45 minutes, i.e. 15 minutes slower than Tongan. However, in the summer, Chatham switches to summer time and then the difference with Greenwich time is already +13 hours 45 minutes, and therefore 45 minutes more than Tongan.

In turn, New Zealand has winter time (Greenwich time +12), and summer time (Greenwich time +13). Thus, as noted in the Tonga Chronicle article, in summer New Zealand can be said to be the first to meet the new day. But not the New Year, because. Summer time in New Zealand operates from April to September.

A few words about how the New Year is celebrated in Tonga.

The entire first week of the New Year is called Uike Lotu (i.e. "weekly prayer") in Tonga. On every day of this week, members of the Protestant churches, to which the largest part of the population of Tonga belongs (despite the fact that 15% are Catholics), hold meetings and prayers in the morning and evening, and in between prayers there is a solemn meal.

A New Year's treat in Tonga consists of umu (umu, used in the Hawaiian Islands) of the traditional Tongan dish "lu-pulu" (lu pulu), which is beef cooked in taro leaves along with onions and coconut milk. Also, people eat root vegetables, such as taro, and also sweet potatoes, i.e. sweet potato, called in Tonga « kumala» (kumala), and besides this - tapioca (i.e. starchy puree), prepared from the roots of the cassava plant (plants of the Euphorbiaceae family), and seafood.

Young people launch fireworks with the help of cannons in the form of a large bamboo tube lying on the ground, such a cannon is called fana pitu .

Video: A Tongan teenager prepares a fana pitu bamboo cannon for the 2010 New Year's fireworks. Here's how the cannon fires:

On January 1, people also go to the beach and swim, at this time in Tonga the hottest midsummer. On the night of January 1, the King of Tonga arranges a reception for his high-ranking guests.

Video: Tonga, Kiribati and the New Zealand possession of Chatham Island are the first to celebrate the New Year (Here is 2000, and thus, in this case, the new millennium):

The video below is a fragment of the special international TV program "Meeting of the Year 2000" (also known as "2000 Today"), which was broadcast throughout the day on December 31, 1999 around the world and was organized in cooperation with 60 TV broadcasters from different countries, including which included both public - British Broadcasting Corporation (British Broadcasting Corporation - BBC), Polish Television (Telewizja Polska - TVP), Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC), Spanish Television (Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española - RTVE) and Public broadcasting service in the USA (Public Broadcasting Service - PBS), and private - American Broadcasting Company in the USA (American Broadcasting Company - ABC), Japanese TV Asahi. Broadcast short excerpts from the program in Russia.

The program was a telethon, consisting of live broadcasts, showing how the countries of the world, one after another, met the new year 2000. Starting from the very first countries where the new day comes: the Kingdom of Tonga and the Republic of Kiribati, as well as the New Zealand possession - Chatham Islands.

So the last minutes 1999 . and meeting 2000 . in Tonga, Kiribati and Chatham Island.

It first shows how the then King of Tonga, Taufaahau Tupou IV, addresses his subjects with a welcoming speech, and the subjects pray (as part of the so-called "weekly prayer") and sing religious songs.

At the same time, dancers and singers from the neighboring Republic of Kiribati, who came to the Kiribati-owned and usually uninhabited Caroline Island Atoll, officially renamed the Millennium Island by the government of this republic in 1999, held a ceremony to welcome the new millennium and year, in the presence of the leadership of the republic and journalists. Caroline Atoll is the very first territory of Kiribati, where the New Year and the new day come. It is also the first territory in the world to have a new date, as The atoll lies next to the Dateline, or International Date Line. Until 1995, the atoll was one of the last places on earth to welcome a new day. The date line ran to the east, and thus Kiribati was a country where new and old days went simultaneously. Now all three time zones of Kiribati are in the zone of one current day, in other words, at the initiative of the government of Kiribati, the Date Line has been pushed back.

Kiribati dancers performed traditional dances during a televised ceremony mwaie as well as songs. In addition, a traditional canoe was launched into the water, driven by an old man and a boy, with a torch. The descent of the canoe symbolized the hope for a new journey - from the past to the future.

Also in the program it was shown how the year 2000 was met on the New Zealand possession - Chatham Island. There were both Europeans and representatives of the Maori - the indigenous population of the islands of New Zealand, who once inhabited Chatham.

For our video, the broadcast of the TV program “Meeting of the Year 2000” (“2000 Today”) was taken from the airs of Polish Television (Telewizja Polska - TVP, the broadcast was on the second TV channel of this broadcaster) and the American Broadcasting Company (American Broadcasting Company - ABC (USA). Comments, respectively, were in Polish and English.

This material is based on an article in the former government-run Tongan English-language newspaper Tonga Chronicle and an article from the Internet community Hubpages (in both cases translated from English by the site), as well as other sources;

Do you think New Year can be celebrated only once a year? You are wrong. In our country, due to the fact that Russia is territorially divided into several time zones, this can be done 11 times. Imagine, you can make 11 wishes that will surely come true, you just need to know in what order the Russians celebrate the New Year.

The sequence of the New Year in Russia

The first wish can be safely made at 15.00. by Moscow time. It is at this time that the residents of Kamchatka raise their glasses and wish all the best to relatives and friends.
At 16.00 they celebrate the New Year in the Magadan region and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
AT 17:00. to the sound of the chiming clock, they burn a piece of paper with a cherished desire and drink it along with champagne in Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Ussuriysk.
At 18.00. this will be done in Chita, Blagoveshchensk, Transbaikalia and the Amur Region. At the same time, in Yakutia, the spirit of cold - Chyskhaan (our Grandfather Frost) grants all desires, for this you just need to touch his magic staff and say out loud.
At 19.00 they celebrate the New Year in Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude and Buryatia.
At 20.00. in the Krasnoyarsk, Altai Territories, Kemerovo, Tomsk, Novosibirsk regions, in the Republic of Tyva.
21.00. The next wish is made together with the inhabitants of the Omsk and Sverdlovsk regions.
AT 22.00. the cities of Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, Perm, the Republic of Bashkortostan.
23.00. The New Year will reach Udmurtia, Samara and Tolyatti, in just one hour and he will reach Moscow.
At 24.00. on Red Square, the chimes will strike, fireworks will thunder, the festivities will begin.
But the holiday will hurry on, and at one in the morning it will come to the Kaliningrad region. So, there is a chance to make one more wish after 12 o'clock at night - at 01.00.

Russia is the only country in the world where such a number of times.

When other countries of the world are waiting for the New Year

In general, the population of the small island of Christmas (only 5.5 thousand people), which belongs to the Republic of Kiribati and the inhabitants of the capital of the kingdom on the edge of the earth (as tourists call it) - the city of Nukualofa, will be the first to meet the holiday on the globe.

Then, following the sequence, Chatham Island (+0.15), New Zealand and the South Pole in Antarctica (+1).

With an interval of one hour, the holiday will reach the island of Fiji (+2).

From there he will go to hot Australia (+3), where he is met with amazing fireworks and a grandiose musical show. The climate of the country allows you to spend a holiday in the open air. At exactly 12 o'clock local time in the cities of Australia, the noise of music stops and the buzz of car horns, whistles and screams is heard. This is how the inhabitants of the island celebrate the New Year and all the good that they hope to receive with its arrival.

When on January 1 in Moscow the clock hands show 6 in the morning, and at 12 o'clock, do not forget to say to relatives and friends: “Akemashite omedo!”, which means: happy new year, and give them a rake for happiness so that there is something to rake in happiness. This is exactly what the Japanese do on this day.

In China (+6) the New Year is celebrated according to its own special calendar, which can begin on one of the days of the end of January or the beginning of February. On this day, forgive and forget old grievances. The whole family gathers for a festive dinner, and processions of people holding lit lanterns take place on the streets. This is how they light the way for the New Year.

7 route of the holiday will pass through Indonesia,

8 celebrate the holiday in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. And although the locals celebrate the New Year in April, they arrange colorful fireworks and beach parties for tourists on New Year's Eve. Dinner includes lobster and king prawns.

Without breaking the sequence, other countries are waiting for the New Year - Pakistan (+9), Armenia, Azerbaijan (+10).
In Armenia, the holiday is celebrated as many as three times a year: March 21 (Amanor), August 11 (Navasard) and January 1. These days, close and dear people give each other gifts, tell fortunes and gather at a rich family table.

12 New Year is celebrated in Greece, Romania, Turkey, Israel, Finland.

13 in Belgium, Italy, France, Hungary, Sweden.

14 in the UK, Portugal.

16 in stunning Brazil.

17.30-20.30 in different parts of Canada and the USA.

23 in Alaska.

24 in the Hawaiian Islands.

Residents of the independent island state of Samoa will be the last to celebrate the New Year, at this time it will be January 2 on Christmas Island!

All countries of the world celebrate the New Year in different ways. But for everyone this day is the most special and the most magical. It personifies the opportunity to leave everything bad in the past and gives hope for happiness!

Last updated: 12/29/2015

Russians will celebrate the New Year 11 times this year. AiF.ru has created a special infographic hint that will help Muscovites not to get confused and at the right time to congratulate their relatives living in other regions of the country on the holiday.

In what order will the people of Russia celebrate the New Year?

In Russia, the people of Kamchatka and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug will be the first to celebrate the New Year. The holiday for them will come 9 hours earlier than for Muscovites.

Following Kamchatka and Chukotka, the president will congratulate the inhabitants of the eastern regions of the Yakutsk region and the Severo-Kuril region of the Sakhalin region on the New Year. There, the last strike of the chimes will sound 8 hours earlier than in the capital.

The third champagne will be opened by residents of the central part of Yakutia, as well as Primorsky Territory, Khabarovsk Territory, Magadan Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region and the western part of the Sakhalin Region. They will meet the holiday 7 hours earlier than Moscow.

Then, walking around the country, the New Year will come to visit the inhabitants of the western regions of Yakutia and the Amur Region. For them, the holiday will come 6 hours earlier than the Russian capital.

Fifth in the new year will be residents of Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Irkutsk Region. They will make their most cherished wish under the chiming clock five hours earlier than Muscovites.

The sixth to celebrate the holiday will be residents of Tuva, Khakassia, the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Kemerovo Region. They will uncork the champagne four hours earlier than they do in Moscow.

Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tomsk regions, as well as the Republic of Altai and the Altai Territory will join the New Year celebrations seventh. They will be able to see fireworks three hours earlier than Muscovites.

Bashkortostan, Perm Territory, Yugra, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, as well as Kurgan, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk regions will celebrate the holiday eighth in the Russian Federation. Glasses in anticipation of the last blow of the chimes will be raised there two hours earlier than Moscow.

Residents of the Udmurt and Samara regions will be the ninth to launch fireworks and blow up firecrackers. They will enter the new year an hour earlier than Muscovites.

Tenth glasses of champagne will be raised by Muscovites and residents of the European part of Russia and the Crimean peninsula.

Residents of the Kaliningrad region will be the last to celebrate the holiday in the Russian Federation - the president wishes them happiness in the new year an hour later than Muscovites.

When we still have the last feverish preparations for the New Year, some inhabitants of the Earth have not only met it and had a good time, but by this time they even managed to relax and sleep. For there are places in the world where the New Year is celebrated much earlier than ours. In our photo gallery we present those places where the New Year is celebrated first on our planet.

Traditionally, the first to meet the New Year 2015 in Kiribati. And more specifically, on the Linear Islands, which are located to the east than the other islands of this country. In 1994, one of the presidential candidates promised the citizens that if he won the elections, he would make sure that Kiribati would be the first to celebrate the New Year in the whole world. He won and kept his word: he moved the demarcation line of time (a conditional line on a map of time zones). Since that time, Kiribati has been divided into three time zones, and in the easternmost of them, midnight comes 14 hours earlier than in London.

In the same time zone as Kiribati is Tokelau, which includes a group of islands consisting of three coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunono and Fakaofo. It is a dependent territory of New Zealand. The time zone change here happened quite recently, in 2011, and the main reason for this was the problem of interaction in contacts with New Zealand, since the island used to be on the other side of the demarcation time line.

An hour later, the New Year will be celebrated by the people of Samoa. In 2011, there was also a change of time zone, the date of December 30, 2011 was absent in the Samoan calendar. This was done to better interact and develop cooperation with Australia and New Zealand. Interestingly, the previous time zone change was carried out in 1892 in order to adjust the time to California.

At the same time as in Samoa, the people of Tonga, an island located one third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii, south of Samoa, will celebrate the New Year.

The next to celebrate the New Year are the inhabitants of the Chatham Islands. This small archipelago, which consists of two inhabited islands - Chatham and Pitt. Other small islands have the status of reservations and are generally inaccessible to both residents of the islands and tourists. Interestingly, Chatham Island has its own time zone, which is 45 minutes (less) different from New Zealand time.

After the inhabitants of the Chatam Islands, the next New Year 2015 will be celebrated in New Zealand.

At the same time as in New Zealand, they will celebrate the New Year in Fiji. This is a state that is located on 322 islands and islets of volcanic origin, surrounded by coral reefs, of which only 110 islands are inhabited.

The first mainland state whose inhabitants will celebrate the New Year 2015 (simultaneously with the inhabitants of New Zealand and Fiji) is Russia, or rather, the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, located in the southeastern part of the volcanic Kamchatka Peninsula.

In the same time zone as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, there are numerous small islands and archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean: Tuvalu, Nauru, Wallis and Futuna, Wake and the Marshall Islands. Photo: Nauru island.

We travel further and move west. The next New Year will be celebrated by the inhabitants of New Caledonia, a French overseas territory located in the Western Pacific Ocean, in Melanesia, about 1,400 kilometers east of Australia and 1,500 kilometers northwest of New Zealand.
Countries that celebrate the New Year at the same time as New Caledonia are: Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Solomon Islands.

Together with New Caledonia, the New Year 2015 will be met by residents of another Russian city - Magadan.

On our journey, we finally arrived in Australia, where the first to celebrate the New Year, of course, are the inhabitants of the east coast - Sydney and Melbourne.

Simultaneously with the residents of Sydney and Melbourne, the New Year will be celebrated in Vladivostok and on such Pacific islands as Guam, the Mariana Islands and Papua New Guinea. Pictured: Guam Island.

We end our journey in this time zone, and if you want to continue it, the atlas will help you with this!

13 PHOTOS

1. Traditionally, the first to meet the New Year 2015 in Kiribati. And more specifically, on the Linear Islands, which are located to the east than the other islands of this country. In 1994, one of the presidential candidates promised the citizens that if he won the elections, he would make sure that Kiribati would be the first to celebrate the New Year in the whole world. He won and kept his word: he moved the demarcation line of time (a conditional line on a map of time zones). Since that time, Kiribati has been divided into three time zones, and in the easternmost of them, midnight comes 14 hours earlier than in London. (Photo: DS355/flickr.com).
2. In the same time zone as Kiribati, Tokelau is located, which includes a group of islands consisting of three coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunono and Fakaofo. It is a dependent territory of New Zealand. The time zone change here happened quite recently, in 2011, and the main reason for this was the problem of interaction in contacts with New Zealand, since the island used to be on the other side of the demarcation time line. (Photo: Haanee Naeem/flickr.com).
3. An hour later, the New Year will be celebrated by the inhabitants of Samoa. In 2011, there was also a change of time zone, the date of December 30, 2011 was absent in the Samoan calendar. This was done to better interact and develop cooperation with Australia and New Zealand. Interestingly, the previous time zone change was carried out in 1892 in order to adjust the time to California. (Photo: Savai'i Island/flickr.com).
4. At the same time as in Samoa, the people of Tonga, an island located one third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii, south of Samoa, will celebrate the New Year. (Photo: pintxomoruno/flickr.com).
5. The next to celebrate the New Year are the inhabitants of the Chatam Islands. This small archipelago, which consists of two inhabited islands - Chatham and Pitt. Other small islands have the status of reservations and are generally inaccessible to both residents of the islands and tourists. Interestingly, Chatham Island has its own time zone, which is 45 minutes (less) different from New Zealand time. (Photo: Phil Pledger/flickr.com).
6. After the inhabitants of the Chatam Islands, the next New Year 2015 will be celebrated in New Zealand. (Photo: Philipp Klinger Photography/flickr.com).
7. At the same time as in New Zealand, they will celebrate the New Year in Fiji. This is a state that is located on 322 islands and islets of volcanic origin, surrounded by coral reefs, of which only 110 islands are inhabited. (Photo: brad/flickr.com).
8. The first mainland state whose inhabitants will celebrate the New Year 2015 (simultaneously with the inhabitants of New Zealand and Fiji) is Russia, or rather, the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, located in the southeastern part of the volcanic Kamchatka Peninsula. (Photo: Jasja/flickr.com).
9. In the same time zone as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, there are numerous small islands and archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean: Tuvalu, Nauru, Wallis and Futuna, Wake and the Marshall Islands. Photo: Nauru island. (Photo: Hadi Zaher/flickr.com).
10. We travel further and move to the west. The next New Year will be celebrated by the inhabitants of New Caledonia, a French overseas territory located in the Western Pacific Ocean, in Melanesia, about 1,400 kilometers east of Australia and 1,500 kilometers northwest of New Zealand. (Photo: Tonton des Iles-Bye bye Everyone/flickr.com).

Countries that celebrate the New Year at the same time as New Caledonia are: Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Solomon Islands.

11. Together with New Caledonia, the New Year 2015 will be met by residents of another Russian city - Magadan. (Photo: Tramp/flickr.com).

12. On our journey, we finally arrived in Australia, where the first to celebrate the New Year, of course, are the inhabitants of the east coast - Sydney and Melbourne. (Photo: El Mundo, Economía y Negocios/flickr.com).

13. Simultaneously with the residents of Sydney and Melbourne, the New Year will be celebrated in Vladivostok and on such Pacific islands as Guam, the Mariana Islands and Papua New Guinea. Pictured: Guam Island.