New Year’s Day arrived to the sound of cheers, well wishes, and reflections upon the year gone by.
The world has celebrated the arrival of 2024 with fireworks, concerts, and messages of hope in anticipation for what we will make of the gift of a new year.
At midnight along the eastern seaboard, thousands of Americans came together under the heavens to awe at New Year’s Eve fireworks displays, as the rest of the nation readied to welcome in 2024 with their own displays of light, loud noise, and sparkle.
Tens of thousands came together in New York’s Times Square to be showered with confetti and hugs and kisses as New Year’s Day arrived with the descent of the colorful ball marking the birth of 2024.
“It’s beautiful,” Corin Christian of Charlotte, North Carolina, said seconds past midnight as Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blared from speakers in the square known as the Crossroads of the World.
“It’s going very well so far,” said Jacob Eriksson of Salt Lake City, Utah, with the earliest assessment of the new year.
Tyrell Jacobs, 27, and Sarah Crayton, 26, arrived in Time Square from New Orleans 15 hours before midnight and got engaged in streets packed with tens of thousands of people counting first the hours and then the minutes until midnight.
Around the World
There were snapshots of joy from country to country as the new year was welcomed with optimism as to what its days will bring.
New Zealanders were among the first in the world to celebrate the arrival of 2024 with a fireworks display in Auckland on Monday, which was 6 a.m. ET. The fireworks illuminated the cloudy night sky and were accompanied by a laser light and animation show. Islanders in the small island nations dotted across the Pacific, like Tonga, Fiji, and Guam, were also among the earliest to usher in the new year.
Australia welcomed in 2024 with dazzling fireworks displays across its various cities. The famous Sydney Harbour fireworks featured silver and gold pyrotechnics to mark the 50th anniversary of its iconic Opera House. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in his new year’s message acknowledged the financial squeeze felt by many Australians in 2023, saying that the government’s top priority in 2024 will be to reduce cost-of-living pressures.
By Melanie Sun
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