World welcomes 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces
From Auckland’s fireworks to ice plunges worldwide, communities from Sydney to Mumbai welcomed 2025 with vibrant celebrations, light shows, and tributes to local cultures
Wellington: From Sydney to Vladivostok to Mumbai, communities around the world have begun welcoming 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges.
Auckland became the first major city to celebrate, as thousands thronged downtown or climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point. A light display recognised Indigenous people.
Countries in the South Pacific Ocean are the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 hours before the ball drop in Times Square in New York.
Conflict muted acknowledgements of the new year in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.
Fireworks blasted off the Sydney Harbor Bridge and across the bay. More than a million Australians and others gathered at iconic Sydney Harbor for the celebration. British pop star Robbie Williams led a singalong with the crowd. The celebration also featured Indigenous ceremonies and performances that acknowledged the land’s first people.
Much of Japan shut down ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a thorough cleaning. The upcoming Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac is heralded as one of rebirth — alluding to the reptile’s shedding skin. Stores in Japan, which observes the zodiac cycle from January 1, have been selling snake-themed products. Other places in Asia will mark the Year of the Snake later with the Lunar New Year.
In South Korea, celebrations were cut back or cancelled during a period of national mourning following the Sunday crash of a Jeju Air flight at Muan that killed 179 people.
In Thailand’s Bangkok, shopping malls competed for crowds with live musical acts and fireworks shows. A performance by popular rap singer Lisa, the Thai member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink, was scheduled just before midnight.
A fireworks display in Indonesia’s Jakarta featured 800 drones.
Chinese state media covered an exchange of New Year’s greetings between leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a reminder of growing closeness between the leaders who face tensions with the West. Xi told Putin their countries will “always move forward hand in hand,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.
In India, thousands of revellers in the financial hub of Mumbai flocked to the city’s bustling promenade facing the Arabian Sea. And in Dubai, thousands are were attending a fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.
Rome’s traditional New Year’s Eve festivities have an additional draw: the start of Pope Francis’ Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration projected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to the Eternal City in 2025.
Paris will cap a momentous 2024 with its traditional countdown and fireworks extravaganza on the Champs-Elysées.
