World bids goodbye to 2025 with fireworks and icy plunges
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Fireworks exploding over Sydney Harbour Bridge to mark the new year in Sydney on Jan 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Sydney's New Year included fireworks, enhanced security after a tragic attack, and a minute's silence for the 15 victims, with the Harbour Bridge lit in white and a menorah projected.
- Celebrations varied globally, from Seoul's bell-ringing and China's drum performance to Croatia's midday countdown and Hong Kong's light show instead of fireworks.
- Kyiv and Moscow residents expressed hopes for peace in 2026, with many Ukrainians seeing it as distant, while a young girl in Kyiv remained optimistic.
AI generated
LONDON - Ten… nine… eight… As Dec 31 turned to Jan 1, people around the world said goodbye to a sometimes challenging 2025 and expressed hopes for the new year to come.
Midnight arrived first on the islands closest to the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean, including Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Tonga and New Zealand.
One of the last centres to greet the new year was New York, where revellers celebrated in sub-zero temperatures and those in Times Square watched the traditional ball drop at midnight.
Fireworks light up Sydney
In Australia, Sydney began 2026 with a spectacular fireworks display, as per tradition.
Some 40,000 pyrotechnic effects stretched 7km across buildings and barges along its harbour and featured a waterfall effect from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
This year, it was held under an enhanced police presence, weeks after gunmen killed 15 people
Organisers held a minute’s silence
The Harbour Bridge was also lit up in white and a menorah – a symbol of Judaism – projected onto its pylons.
A menorah was projected onto a pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to commemorate the 15 people killed in a Dec 14 terrorist attack during a Jewish event in the city.
PHOTO: EPA
“After a tragic end to the year for our city, we hope that New Year’s Eve will provide an opportunity to come together and look with hope for a peaceful and happy 2026,” Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore said ahead of the event.
Chimes in Seoul
In Seoul, thousands gathered at the Bosingak bell pavilion, where a bronze bell was struck 33 times at midnight – a tradition rooted in Buddhist cosmology, symbolising the 33 heavens. The chimes are believed to dispel misfortune and welcome peace and prosperity for the year ahead.
Participants hitting a huge bell to welcome the new year at the Bosingak pavilion in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan 1.
PHOTO: EPA
Drums at the Great Wall of China
An hour to the west, there were celebrations and a drum performance at the Juyong Pass at the Great Wall of China just outside Beijing.
Revellers wore headgear and waved boards emblazoned with “2026” and the symbol of a horse. February will mark the arrival of the Year of the Horse on the Chinese lunar calendar.
Drummers performing at Juyong Pass in Beijing, China, on Jan 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
New beginnings, hopes in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, the annual New Year’s fireworks display was called off after the apartment complex blaze in November
Instead, a light show with the theme of “New hopes, new beginnings” transformed facades in the Central district.
People celebrating the new year at the Bank of China building in Hong Kong’s Central district on Jan 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
A Croatian noon countdown to the new year
In Croatia, revels got off to an early start.
Since 2000, the town of Fuzine has held its countdown at noon, a tradition that has since spread across the country.
Crowds cheered, toasted each other with champagne and danced to music – all in the middle of the day. Some brave souls in Santa hats took a plunge into the icy waters of Lake Bajer.
Croatians celebrating the new year at noon on Dec 31, with an icy dip in Lake Bajer, Croatia.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Brazil looks to break record
On Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, locals welcomed in the new year in warmer weather with a music and fireworks party known as Reveillon. Organisers were hoping to beat their 2024 Guinness World Record for the biggest New Year’s Eve celebration.
Fireworks and confetti in NY
In New York’s Times Square, 2026 was welcomed with fireworks and confetti as Mayor Eric Adams pushed the crystal button to signal the descent of the New Year's Eve ball.
People attend New Year's celebrations at Times Square in New York.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Environmentally friendly Greek celebration
Greece’s ancient Parthenon temple on the Acropolis had a quiet new year. The mayor of Athens said silent, environmentally friendly fireworks were used, citing distress caused by loud displays to pets, animals and some people.
Hope for peace in Ukraine and Russia
In snowy Kyiv and Moscow, both Ukrainians and Russians saw in the new year, expressing hopes of peace after nearly four years of conflict.
A couple in Kyiv, Ukraine, waiting to welcome 2026 on Dec 31, 2025.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“I wish for the war to end. I think that this is the main and most important topic for our country,” said a woman in central Moscow who gave her name only as Larisa and said she had travelled from distant Altai Krai to see the Russian capital in the winter holidays with her family.
Many Ukrainians lamented that peace still seemed a distant prospect.
But wrapped up warm and visiting a Christmas tree set up in front of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, nine-year-old Olesia was more optimistic.
“I think there will be peace in the new year,” she said. REUTERS
