Welcome, 2025: World rings in New Year with light shows, embraces, ice plunges
World rings in New Year with light shows, embraces, ice plunges
- The 9 p.m. fireworks are seen during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday. AAP Image via AP
- Swimmers attend the traditional New Year’s Eve swimming at Lake Moossee in Moosseedorf, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Keystone via AP
- A woman from Nagoya (left) and her friend from Tokyo, both originally from Indonesia, react to photos they just took as they visit Sensoji Buddhist temple on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday. The Associated Press

The 9 p.m. fireworks are seen during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday. AAP Image via AP
From Sydney to Mumbai to Nairobi, communities around the world began 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 recognized Indigenous people.
Countries in the South Pacific Ocean were 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 acknowledgments of the start of 2025 in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.
Earliest fireworks

Swimmers attend the traditional New Year’s Eve swimming at Lake Moossee in Moosseedorf, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Keystone via AP
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.
Year of the Snake
Much of Japan shut down ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a thorough cleaning.

A woman from Nagoya (left) and her friend from Tokyo, both originally from Indonesia, react to photos they just took as they visit Sensoji Buddhist temple on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday. The Associated Press
The upcoming Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac is heralded as one of rebirth — alluding to the reptile’s shedding skin. 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 canceled 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 fireworks display in Indonesia’s Jakarta featured 800 drones.
Seaside celebrations
In India, thousands of revelers in the financial hub of Mumbai flocked to the city’s bustling promenade facing the Arabian Sea. In Sri Lanka, people gathered at Buddhist temples to light oil lamps and incense sticks and pray.
In Dubai, thousands attended a fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. And in Nairobi, Kenya, scattered fireworks were heard as midnight approached.
A Holy Year begins
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.
On Tuesday, Francis celebrated a vespers at St. Peter’s Basilica, followed by Mass today, when he is expected to again appeal for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Olympic spirit
Paris capped a momentous 2024 with its traditional countdown and fireworks extravaganza on the Champs-Elysees.
The Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games hosted in the French capital from July to September had transformed the city into a site of joy, fraternity and astonishing sporting achievements.
Wintry weather
London was due to ring in the New Year with a pyrotechnic display along the River Thames. With a storm bringing bitter weather to other parts of the United Kingdom, however, festivities in Edinburgh, Scotland, were canceled.
But in Switzerland and some other places, people embraced the cold, stripping and plunging into the water in freezing temperatures.
American traditions
In New York City, the organization managing Times Square has tested its famous ball drop and inspected 2025 numerals, lights and thousands of crystals as part of a tradition going back to 1907. This year’s celebration will include musical performances by TLC, Jonas Brothers, Rita Ora and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Las Vegas’ pyrotechnic show will be on the Strip, with 340,000 people anticipated as fireworks are launched from the rooftops of casinos. Nearby, the Sphere venue will display countdowns to midnight in different time zones.
In Pasadena, Rose Parade spectators were camping out and hoping for prime spots. And some 200,000 people were flocking to a country music party in Nashville, Tennessee.
American Samoa will be among the last to welcome 2025, a full 24 hours after New Zealand.