New Year's Eve 2010: Celebrations Around The World

Here is an article about New Year’s Eve 2010 in different corners of the world.
by TANALEE SMITH

ADELAIDE, Australia — Multicolored starbusts and gigantic sparklers lit the midnight sky over Sydney Harbour in a dazzling fireworks show witnessed by 1.5 million enthusiastic spectators who camped out all day to ring in the new year.

Sydney touted its claim to be the New Year's Eve capital of the world with a spectacular display over the iconic Harbour Bridge using 7 tons of fireworks, its largest since 2000.

"Stunning, beautiful," said Cinthya Romo, 32, a Sydney-based interpreter from Chile who watched the 12-minute fireworks show from the Opera House.

As the clock ticked closer to 2011, cities across Asia readied for midnight events ranging from traditional prayers in Japan to a massive pyrotechnic display in the shape of a dragon in Taiwan. Europeans were looking forward to celebrations that could help them forget their economic worries.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered along Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor to watch fireworks explode from the roofs of 10 of the city's most famous buildings. Shoppers bustled among the glittering malls and hotels on both sides of the harbor as they waited for the midnight countdown in a night of cool, clear weather.

At Japan's Zojoji temple in central Tokyo, founded in 1393, monks chanted as thousands packed in to count down until midnight. Revelers released a mass of silver balloons carrying notes with their hopes for the future, as the temple's giant 15-ton bell rang in the background.

A few hours earlier, New Zealand and many South Pacific island nations were first to see in new year.

New Zealanders sang and danced their way into 2011, with firework displays and sold-out concerts entertaining revelers. In the biggest city, Auckland, explosions of red, gold and white burst over the Sky Tower while tens of thousands shouted, danced and sang in the streets below.

In New York City, nearly a million revelers were expected to cram into the streets around Times Square to watch the traditional midnight ball drop. The 20-inch snowstorm that blanketed the city will be just a memory thanks to work crews and warmer temperatures.

This year marks the first time Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, officially celebrates the new year with a countdown blowout, complete with a light show and foreign DJs in front of the city's elegant French colonial-style opera house.
Vietnamese typically save their biggest celebrations for Tet, the lunar new year that begins on Feb. 3. But in recent years, the Western influence has started seeping into Vietnamese culture among teens, who have no memory of war or poverty and are eager to find a new reason to party in the communist country.

At midnight in Taipei, Taiwan, fireworks formed a spiraling dragon climbing up the city's tallest skyscraper.

In the Philippines, powerful firecrackers have injured at least 245 people in recent days and Health Secretary Enrique Ona urged safety during Friday's celebrations, saying he feared up to 1,000 injuries.

Many Filipinos, influenced by Chinese tradition, believe that noisy New Year's celebrations drive away evil and misfortune. But they have carried that superstition to extremes, exploding huge firecrackers sometimes bigger than dynamite sticks to welcome the new year.

In Europe, many people will be partying simply to forget their economic woes after a year that saw Greece and Ireland needing financial bailouts and others, such as Spain and Portugal, battling speculation that they will need similar aid.

In London, thousands will witness a musical and firework display at the 135-meter high London Eye, located on the southern banks of the Thames River. The Eye, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, lies almost opposite the Big Ben clock tower at Parliament that will chime in 2011.

If not at home or at private parties, Spaniards traditionally gather in their main town squares to eat 12 grapes one by one as the bell in the square marks the countdown to 2011.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her New Year message that Europe is dealing with a major test and must strengthen the euro, even as she celebrated Germany's emergence from the economic crisis, powered by strong exports.

Merkel said in her televised message being broadcast Friday that "it was a good year for Germany."

AP/The Huffington Post | TANALEE SMITH First Posted: 12-31-10 09:16 AM | Updated: 12-31-10 05:50 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/31/new-years-eve-2010-around-the-world_n_802996.html#217904

Some Christmas Traditions Around The World

photos top to bottom: Sweden, Netherlands, Spain, Austria

For children of all ages, Christmas conjures up enchanting visions of snowflakes, sleigh rides and sugar plums. But while the holidays may be universally thought of as the most wonderful time of the year, not all international yuletide customs are merry and bright.

In Austria as well as elsewhere in central Europe, St. Nicholas is accompanied by Krampus, a truly sinister, demon-like creature who bears a whip and a sack for misbehaved children. In the Czech Republic, the traditional Christmas Eve meal is carp, but buying one means bearing witness to a gruesome ritual of Wes Craven-like proportions, while in the Catalonia region of Spain, you might opt to steer clear of a legendary figure known as El Caganer, who's up to some foul-smelling business -- literally -- in the nativity scene.

Take a look at some of the most spirited Christmas traditions around the world here:
Austria
No doubt one of the most terrifying holiday traditions hails from the Austrian Alps, where a figure known as Krampus accompanies St. Nicholas on his travels. The sinister, demon-like figure carries a whipping rod and a sack for misbehaved children.
Spain
In Spain's Catalonia region, you'll find a character called 'El Caganer' among the figures in the traditional Nativity scene. He’s literally defecating -- according to Catalan legend, his “fertilizer” will yield a good harvest for the following year
Eukraine
An artificial spider and web, said to bring good luck, are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees, in honor of a folk tale in which a poor woman awoke on Christmas morning to find her tree trimmed with webs of silver and gold.
Sweden
Dec. 13 is Saint Lucia's Day, one of the few saint days observed in Sweden as well as throughout Scandinavia. Depicted as a young girl wearing a crown of candles to symbolize the fire that refused to take St. Lucia's life when she was sentenced to be burned, Saint Lucia delivers sweets and small gifts to good children.
Germany
The traditional Christmas Eve gift bearer throughout Germany is the Christkind, or "Christ Child," who also appears in other central European nations as well. Young German girls often don white robes and angel wings to deliver the gifts, and indicate their departure by ringing a small bell.
Czech RepublicThe traditional Czech holiday meal is carp, which are kept in enormous streetside pools the week before Christmas. When a live carp is purchased, the fish is then bludgeoned and its head hacked off in full view of passers-by.
Italy
Throughout Italy, a kindly old witch named La Befana -- who, according to legend, declined an invitation from the Magi to visit the infant Jesus in Bethlehem -- delivers presents to children as she searches for the Christ Child.
Japan
The Japanese have absorbed many Western Christmas traditions, including decorated trees, roast turkey and mistletoe. For non-Christians, the Japanese equivalent of Santa Claus is Hoeiosho, a Buddhist monk who bears gifts for children.
England
The traditional English Christmas pudding is familiar to anyone who's ever seen or read A Christmas Carol, and it is said that wish made while preparing the dessert will come true, but only if the ingredients are stirred in a clockwise direction.
Netherlands
St. Nicholas' Dutch companion is known as Black Peter, or "Zwarte Piet," who is depicted as a Moor and is usually dressed in a Renaissance page style costume with short pants, stockings, and a cap with a large feather. His face is covered with soot and he rides a mule,It and he travels down chimneys to leave gifts for the children, though in some legends he is also said to punish disobedient children.
Brazil
The Brazilian Santa Claus is 'Papai Noel,' who travels to Brazil every Christmas in breathable silks as opposed to heavy wool, and lives in Greenland (rather than the North Pole) for the remainder of the year.
Russia
Russia's Grandfather Frost is similar to his Western counterparts but is associated with the New Year, the most universally observed Russian holiday, rather than Christmas Day.
by Curtis M. Wong First Posted: 12-18-10 11:23 AM
To see photos of each, click on this link.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/18/christmas-traditions-arou_n_797890.html#s209868

Bhutan-the only country with a dress code for men

The Gho is the traditional and national dress for men in Bhutan. Introduced in the 17th century by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel to give the Bhutanese a more distinctive identity, it is a knee-length robe tied at the waist by a cloth belt known as the kera. On festive occasions it is worn with a kabney.

The government of Bhutan requires all men to wear the gho if they work in a government office or school. Men are also required to wear the gho on formal occasions. In its modern form, the law dates from 1989, but the driglam namzha dress code is much older.

Happy Holidays!!

At site of Nazi power, a Chanukah menorah at Brandenburg Gate

A costumed Maccabee stands at a Chanukah menorah-lighting ceremony at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, Dec. 1, 2010.

By Toby Axelrod • December 2, 2010
BERLIN (JTA) -- Icicles formed on Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal’s beard as he helped set up the towering menorah in the center of Berlin.

It wasn’t just any menorah among the thousands that the Chabad-Lubavitch movement erects every Chanukah in public locations around the world. Teichtal, the Chabad rabbi in the German capital, was erecting this one at the Brandenburg Gate, once a symbol of Nazi power.

By nightfall on the first night of Chanukah, the gate through which the Nazis marched and which for 28 years marked the dividing line between East and West Berlin had been transformed into a Jewish symbol.

In what was “the cold, dark center” of Nazi Germany, “we are here to say Am Yisrael Chai!’” -- the Jewish people live, said Teichtal, his voice booming across Unter den Linden Boulevard. A few hundred revelers answered in kind.

The menorah lit Wednesday will stay up for the full eight days, with a public candle-lighting ceremony held each night of the holiday.

It marks the sixth year that Chabad of Berlin, with the support of numerous Jewish organizations, has hosted a Chanukah first-night celebration at the Brandenburg Gate. In 2004, Teichtal won permission from the German government, arguing that this would be an event of national importance worthy of such a location.

Sure enough, the image of rabbis dancing in front of the menorah at the Brandenburg Gate appears in newspapers and on websites around the world.
The message is clear: In Germany, the Jews live again.
More than 200,000 Jews are living now in Germany, the majority of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union who came after 1990.

“Twenty or 30 years ago, nobody would believe that this would happen here,” said Arkady Schwarz, deputy chair of Konigs Wusterhausen, a Jewish congregation in Brandenburg.

“I like what this light represents,” U.S. Ambassador to Germany Philip Murphy told the crowd gathered Wednesday, Chanukah’s first night. “And I also like the length of the holiday: My kids want to know why certain other holidays can’t be as long.”
Murphy also hosted a small Chanukah reception at the embassy.

The ceremony on Chanukah’s first night was the culmination of a day filled with holiday activities ranging from a parade through Berlin of cars with menorahs strapped on top to visits to Jews in hospitals, prisons and senior centers.
“We give out Chanukah gifts to all children in the hospitals, including non-Jewish children,” Teichtal told JTA.

“In Berlin, which was the essence of darkness, we go to the source and bring light,” he said. “To all our enemies who have tried to destroy us, we answer not with sticks and stones but with light and good deeds and acts of kindness.”
After the first candle was lit at the gate, organizers passed around jelly doughnuts -- a traditional Chanukah treat known in German as a “Berliner.” Music blasted from speakers, hot drinks and sparklers were passed around, celebrants danced or huddled together to stay warm on a freezing Berlin night.

“Why are we here? Because we are Jews, why else?” laughed Schwarz, who emigrated with his family from Ukraine in 1999. “In Ukraine it was not only forbidden to practice religion, it was forbidden to think about religion, he said, recalling the communist days. “So we feel free here.”

Elijahu Borodin, 20, who came to Berlin from Odessa 13 years ago, set aside his math studies to don a Maccabee costume and stand on the ceremonial platform, torch in hand.“This is my job for now,” he said, “to show that the Jews have survived.”