We celebrate the New Year according to time zones. How to celebrate the New Year in other time zones Where the New Year has already happened

Just imagine that at a time when we are just preparing for the New Year, it has already been celebrated somewhere in the world. When in Kyiv it’s only 2 o’clock in the afternoon and exemplary housewives are working hard in the kitchen, then in New Zealand they have already managed to not only raise their glasses, but also drain them at the last twelfth stroke of the clock.

We invite our travel readers to dream and imagine how great it would be to celebrate the New Year not only once a day, at 12 o’clock at night, but all day long.

The first to celebrate the New Year are the inhabitants of the island of Kiritimati, which is part of the Christmas Islands (Republic of Kiribati), as well as residents of the city of Nuku'alofa (the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga). Both places are in Oceania. So if you want to be at the forefront, go to these islands.

How to get to Christmas Island: from Perth, Australia (Austasia Airlines, 4 hours travel time, AUD 1,680 round trip via Cocos Islands). If you are interested in Christmas Island above Australia itself, then you can fly through Denpasar (Bali, Indonesia) (Austasia Airlines, flight Denpasar - Christmas Island costs $650 round trip).

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the standard by which society regulates clocks and time (from Greenwich Mean Time).

But you shouldn’t relax, because in 15 minutes (UTC+13:45) the New Year will come to Chatham Island (New Zealand), which is remote from the main islands of New Zealand and is located in a special time zone.

UTC+13 - and the New Year is celebrated by New Zealand and polar explorers from the South Pole stations in Antarctica.

UTC+12 - They are starting to celebrate the New Year in the Far East - Anadir, Kamchatka. They are also supported by the islands of Nauru, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands.

UTC+11 - residents of eastern Australia - Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, some Pacific islands - Vanuatu, Micronesia, Solomon Islands.

UTC+10 - the first clock strikes begin to sound in the state of Queensland in Australia and on some islands: Papua New Guinea.

UTC+9 - it's time to welcome the New Year in Japan and Korea.

UTC+8 - China, part of Southeast Asia (Singapore, Mongolia, Malaysia, the Philippines and the island of Bali) welcome 2018.

UTC+7 - Thailand, Laos, Vietnam. Just imagine that at the same time on the Kiritimati islands it will already be 7 o'clock in the morning on January 1st.

UTC+6 - Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. When Delhi and Mumbai celebrate the New Year, it will be 7 hours and 30 minutes in New Zealand on January 1, 2018.

UTC+5 - Maldives, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan. And on the Kiritimati islands it will already be 9 a.m. on January 1st.

UTC+4 - Armenia, Azerbaijan, some islands in the Indian Ocean, Dubai. Next, the New Year will come to Iran, which is 3 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich time.

UTC+3 - Kenya, Tanzania, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Madagascar.

UTC+2 - and finally the New Year has reached Ukraine! Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Greece, Syria, Israel, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia will also raise glasses of champagne with us.

UTC+1 - Western and Central Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway), part of Africa.

UTC +0 - and 2018 comes to the countries of the Prime Meridian (Greenwich). And this is Great Britain, Portugal, Iceland, part of Africa. And on the Kiritimati islands it will already be 14:00 on January 1st.

UTC -1 - Azores Islands,

UTC -2 - Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Sao Raulo), UTC -3 - Argentina and part of eastern South America,

UTC -4 - Newfoundland Island (Canada).

UTC -5 - Eastern Canada, many Caribbean islands, parts of South America

UTC -6 - Eastern parts of Canada (Ottawa) and the USA (Washington, New York), western part of South America.

UTC -7 - Central parts of Canada and the USA (Chicago, Houston), Mexico and most Latin American countries.

UTC -8 - Western parts of Canada (Vancouver), and the USA (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas).

UTC -10- Hawaii, Cook Islands and Tahiti.

UTC-11- and the last to greet 2018 will be the islands of Samoa and American Samoa. And when Samoans celebrate the New Year, it will already be 1 a.m. on January 2, 2018 on the Kiritimati Islands.

Let us remind you that we previously told you which 5 places in Qatar are worth visiting for tourists. Details

The transition of the Saratov region to another time zone became a second birth for many Saratov residents. I had to re-learn how to deal with such everyday situations as the arrival time of trains and the start of TV shows, but the main question remained: “How are we going to celebrate the New Year now?” TSR spoke with the editors of the Urban Rooms network, who live in cities with an even greater time gap from Moscow.

Alexander Shumeiko, Vladivostok. MSK+7.

Only the most ardent alcoholics celebrate the New Year in Moscow, because here it is already 7 am, when in Moscow it is 12. By this time everyone is usually asleep. The feelings of people who celebrate the New Year seven hours earlier than Moscow are cheerful and playful, they say, Moscow is a year behind, we already have a new year, and then there is the last one.

Zhirinovsky is constantly remembered with his proposal to move the capital to Vladivostok, because it is 7 hours ahead of Moscow.

We have two Russian channels, so we first watch the President’s address according to Kamchatka time (two hours earlier than in Vladivostok), and then our own. Of course, in some areas such a gap with the capital interferes with communication with relatives or colleagues. We have to choose the time.

Kirill Tsvetkov, Novosibirsk. MSK+4.

In Novosibirsk there is no tradition of celebrating the New Year according to capital time. Here, in general, few people focus on the capital; rather, they brush it off like a vulture. Therefore, everything is only in local time and only with local brews. Like all decent cities, which Novosibirsk is, we have our own TV channels with our own Putin. First the governor congratulates, then the mayor, and then the president.

The difference with Moscow does not mean that we begin to shake the city to the squeals of Khryusha and the sobs of Stepashka.

And the four-hour difference only bothers sports fans. The games are late, so you have to get up in the middle of the night and watch the matches. And so time does not play a special role, because it is regulated based on the geographical features of the region, daylight hours and length of night. I haven’t discovered America just yet, but it would be stupid to rejoice in pitch darkness at lunchtime.

Alexey Shakhov, Ekaterinburg. MSK+2.

We celebrate the New Year in local time and only receive calls and messages from friends from Moscow who ask the banal “well, how is it in the future.” Some companies clink glasses for the New Year in the capital, but no more. We watch the President's address at 23:55 local time, all TV channels are adapted for it. The gap does not interfere much: we live our lives here, the city and everything in it is adapted to the local time. Television, releases, screenings. Perhaps in some Vladivostok this is a problem, but two hours for the Urals is nothing.

Yuri Pechkin, Tolyatti. MSK+1.

We don't have such a big time difference with Moscow. So when it’s midnight in the capital, it’s already one in the morning. Instead of the president's address, they watch the governor's address, and most often they simply set off fireworks, clink champagne and perform other holiday traditions. At this moment there is some kind of “New Year's Light” on TV, but this does not bother me too much. I haven't watched TV for about ten years.

An hour later, everyone turns on the president’s address and once again makes a wish at the chimes. No one is especially embarrassed by this double New Year's celebration.

The region was once led by a governor who lived in Moscow and was known for his passion for expensive watches and private jets. In order not to move the clock back and forth, constantly flying from Samara to visit his family in Moscow and back, he came up with the idea of ​​moving the hands forward an hour and matching the time with the capital. Apart from the identity of the TV program, there were no other advantages. It began to get dark earlier, electricity costs increased, and winter became more difficult to cope with. And also for everyone who works in companies with head offices in Moscow, the temporary advantage of one hour has evaporated: “It’s already eleven for us, and it’s only ten in the morning for them.” So the time difference does not bring with it any tangible advantages or disadvantages, except perhaps confusion with Russian Railways. Trains run strictly “through Moscow”.

Alena Pyatrauskaite, Kaliningrad. MSK-1.

In Kaliningrad it has always been an hour less than in Moscow, as long as I can remember. This did not create any serious inconvenience. Only in childhood did my parents immediately explain that when you see announcements of TV programs, you need to take away one, and then you will watch your favorite cartoons on time. Friends from big Russia, with whom we communicated back then in paper letters, were even a little jealous: we could see movies and the first horror films, because it was just that hour of time. And if they were not allowed to watch something that started in the capital at 00:00, then our clock was only 23 and this gave them a chance to start watching, and then persuade them - they say, let me find out how it ended. Even when the clocks were changed, it was convenient to navigate by TV: if the time coincides with the program, then you need to move the hands back. But this was before the advent of the Internet, of course.

The New Year has always been celebrated twice, and this also seems something natural, simply because it has always been this way. First, we listen to the president at 23:00 with glasses of champagne, and then for another hour we don’t leave much and wait for our governor’s address. Many Kaliningrad residents, when they leave for the New Year holidays, still count down two New Years - Moscow time and local time.

Probably, the capital holiday is more important: it is the first and takes place earlier, and is common to the entire country, from which we are separated by borders.

Everyone is rushing and getting ready for the president’s address, but for the local one they are already gathered and waiting for “when will we clink our glasses again and shout Happy New Year.” It’s also great that you can, for example, celebrate a holiday in Moscow with your parents or one group, and catch the Kaliningrad chimes (we show the clock on the Cathedral - one of the symbols of the city) and take a taxi to another part of the city. In fact, it is difficult for me to judge whether this time difference can interfere or not, because in Kaliningrad people are born and live with it. And they love to tell visitors about our two New Years (some are surprised and amused by this). Perhaps, if we decided to change the time zone, there would immediately be many opponents and supporters of changing the hands, but I think that this is unlikely to happen. Two New Years are better than one.

In July 2014, Russia adopted a law on the transition to winter time. Before that, for 3 years, summer time was constantly in effect, which was 2 hours ahead of astronomical time. Both during this period and now, seasonal adjustment of clock hands in Russia is not carried out.

Some regions of Russia submit bills to the State Duma of the Russian Federation to amend Article 5 of the Federal Law “On the Calculation of Time”. Thus, during 2015-2016, such bills were introduced by the following regions: Trans-Baikal Territory, Astrakhan Region, Sakhalin Region, Ulyanovsk Region, Altai Republic, Altai Territory, Magadan Region, Tomsk Region, Saratov Region, Novosibirsk Region.

By the end of the year, such bills for all ten regions were considered in the State Duma, approved in the Federation Council and signed by the President of the Russian Federation.

How have time zones changed in Russia in 2016?

True, the clock hands in these regions changed on different dates. Together with other countries implementing daylight saving time, March 27, 2016 At two o'clock in the morning the following regions moved their clocks forward an hour.

The Ulyanovsk and Astrakhan regions moved from time zone II to III, the Altai Territory and the Altai Republic moved to time zone VI, the Trans-Baikal Territory - from VII to VIII, and Sakhalin - to time zone X.

A December 04, 2016, after long discussions, the Saratov region also moved to another time zone.

Map of time zones in Russia in 2016

The Federal Law “On the Calculation of Time” establishes eleven time zones in Russia. After the changes that came into force in 2016, the composition of the regions in these zones will be as follows.

I time zone, MSK-1
Kaliningrad region.

II time zone, MSK
Adygea, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Karelia, Komi, Mari El, Mordovia, North Ossetia - Alania, Tatarstan, Chechnya, Chuvashia, Krasnodar Territory, Stavropol Territory, Crimea, Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Ivanovo, Kaluga, Kirov, Kostroma, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorod, Oryol, Penza, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tula, Yaroslavl region, Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

III time zone, MSK+1
Udmurt Republic, as well as Samara, Astrakhan, Ulyanovsk and Saratov regions.

IV time zone, MSK+2
Republic of Bashkortostan, Perm Territory, Kurgan, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk regions, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

V time zone, MSK+3
Omsk region.

VI time zone, MSK+4
Tyva, Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Altai Republic, Altai Territory, Kemerovo, Tomsk and Novosibirsk regions.

VII time zone, MSK+5
Republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk region.

VIII time zone, MSK+6
Most of the regions of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), including the city of Yakutsk, as well as the Amur Region and Trans-Baikal Territory.

IX time zone, MSK+7
Verkhoyansk, Oymyakon and Ust-Yansky uluses of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Primorsky Territory, Khabarovsk Territory, and the Jewish Autonomous Region.

X time zone, MSK+8
Several districts of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Sakhalin and Magadan regions.

XI time zone, MSK+9
Kamchatka Territory and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

Every time on New Year's Eve, all of us, sitting at the festive table, or standing on the street near a beautifully decorated city tree, look forward to the chiming clock and the coming of the New Year. Glasses of champagne are already in your hands - the long-awaited moment is about to come. In these seconds, someone makes wishes, and someone exchanges funny jokes with their neighbors, and here it is - New Year!

The entire vast country celebrates his arrival. Have you ever thought about who will be the first to celebrate the New Year 2019, to whom Father Frost or Santa Claus will send his reindeer team first? And who met him long before us? It’s quite interesting who will be celebrating the New Year a few hours after you, and who in general will be the last to celebrate it on this planet. Let's look at this interesting moment of the holiday from the height of the flight of satellites and Santa Clauses.

Residents of which countries are the first to celebrate the New Year 2019?

As it turned out, the first to congratulate each other on the New Year are the residents of Line Island, located in the state of Kiribati. This country is part of the Christmas Islands. Kiribati is located in the earliest time zone UTC+14; it is worth noting that the island’s clocks are identical to those of Hawaii, but the difference is a whole day. Thus, when it is midnight on December 30th in Hawaii, it is already midnight on December 31st on Line Island. Also, the inhabitants of the city of Nuku'alofa, which is also located in Oceania, are among the first to celebrate the New Year. Next in line will be New Zealand, located in the UTC+13:45 time zone, followed by the islands of Phoenix, Tonga and Fiji, which are 13 hours ahead of Greenwich Time.

When is New Year celebrated in the Russian Federation?

Surely, everyone knows that Russia is in more than one time zone, but did you know that their number is nine? Thus, it turns out that Russians have an excellent opportunity to celebrate the New Year nine times. Residents of Magadan, Kamchatka and Petropavlovka are the first to fill their glasses and light sparklers. Their New Year begins on December 31 at 16.00 Moscow time, while Muscovites are just starting to put dishes on the festive table. Then at 17.00 Moscow time, everyone living in Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Vladivostok and Ussuriysk begins celebrating the New Year.

And so every hour the inhabitants of one or another territory of Russia fill their glasses and make festive toasts. We will not write in detail about each city, since Mother Russia is a rather large country and listing all its cities will take a very long time. Let us only note that Moscow and St. Petersburg celebrate this magnificent holiday at 00.00 on the first of January, and an hour later the clink of glasses will be heard in the homes of residents of Kaliningrad - this city is the last in Russia where the New Year begins.

When is the New Year according to the Chinese calendar?

The Chinese celebrate this holiday differently than we do - on December 31st. They adhere to the lunar calendar, according to which the New Year will begin not on January 1, but on February 19, since this will be the first new moon after the winter solstice. Thus, all those who believe in the Eastern (Chinese) calendar will celebrate the New Year one and a half months later, compared to those who are used to celebrating this holiday strictly on December 31st.

How to celebrate Chinese New Year?

It's no secret that China is a country that has a rich culture and many different traditions. They prepare especially diligently and diligently for the New Year. First of all, the Chinese thoroughly clean their home, since dirt and dust are the highest degree of disrespect for the owner of the home for the coming year.
The Chinese try to pay off any debts before the New Year in order to start life with a clean slate and not owe anyone any money. What is important for Chinese residents is what they will wear on New Year's Eve. It is preferable to wear new clothes and bright accessories that will symbolize this amazing holiday.
The Chinese consider a rich festive table to be the key to success, prosperity and wealth in the coming year. As a rule, it contains traditional oriental dishes such as rice, seafood and noodles. Dishes prepared from these ingredients will help appease the yellow earthen pig, the patron saint of 2019.
Of course, these are not all the traditions of Chinese culture, but they can be called fundamental.

Finally

It doesn’t matter according to which calendar you prefer to celebrate 2019, and what traditions you adhere to, the main thing is a good mood and faith in the best. Try to ensure that there is no room for conflicts, quarrels and conversations about troubles and troubles at the holiday table. Greet your guests with a smile, willingly thank everyone who gives you New Year's gifts, and completely immerse yourself in the festive atmosphere, forgetting about any problems and worries. And it doesn’t matter at all who is the first to celebrate the New Year 2019, the main thing is that everyone celebrates it well.

Which countries are the first to celebrate the New Year and New Day? These are the Kingdom of Tonga, the Republic of Kiribati, and the New Zealand possession of Chatham Island.

Let's talk about this in more detail.

Time zone map.

Time zone map.

On the far left and right sides of the map is the Dateline (or (otherwise) International Date Line).

It is crossed (at the bottom of the map, not far from Australia) by the Republic of Kiribati. Kiribati, due to its extent, is located simultaneously in three time zones in relation to Greenwich Time, namely in the zones: plus 12, plus 13, plus 14, and therefore cannot be considered a country that is entirely the first to celebrate the New Year and the new day. Only that part of Kiribati, which is located in the time zones: plus 13 and plus 14, celebrates the New Year and the new day first in the world.

In turn, the Kingdom of Tonga (time zone: plus 13) is the only country in the world that is entirely the first to celebrate the New Year and a new day all year round. Tonga does not switch between winter and summer time, as New Zealand does (winter New Zealand time: plus 12, and summer time: plus 13). Thus, in winter, New Zealand cannot boast of being the first country in the world to celebrate the New Year.

However, the New Zealand possession of Chatham Island (with its winter time: plus 12 hours 45 minutes) celebrates the New Year just 15 minutes after Tonga.

Kingdom of Tonga()- this is the only country in the world that is entirely the first to celebrate the New Year and year-round - the new day b.

The Tonga government organ, the Tonga Chronicle newspaper (published from 1964 to 2009), in its issue dated February 20, 1997, described the privilege and right of the Kingdom of Tonga to be called the first country to celebrate the New Year and New Day:

“Until the end of the 19th century, the world did not have a time zone system. But as the network of railways and regular shipping lines expanded, the need to somehow coordinate their schedules became obvious. As a result, the major trading nations began to discuss the introduction of standard time and standard time in 1870 in order to get rid of the chaos in this matter.

These efforts culminated in the Washington International Meridian Conference. 1884., which divided the Earth into 24 standard meridians, 15° apart in longitude, starting west of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. The meridian, located 180° (12 hours ahead of Greenwich) became the basis for the so-called. The Dateline, in which countries to the west of it entered the next day, while countries to the east still remained on the previous day. (The following countries participated in the Washington International Meridian Conference, which developed a time zone system for the whole world and established the International Date Line: Austria-Hungary, Brazilian Empire, Venezuela, German Empire, Guatemala, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Spain, Italy, Colombia, Hawaii , Costa Rica, Mexico, Netherlands, Ottoman Empire, Paraguay, Russian Empire, El Salvador, Great Britain, USA, France, Chile, Sweden (in union with Norway), Switzerland and Japan Note website).

However, when determining the International Date Line, the conference participants agreed with its deviations from the 180th parallel in order to avoid dividing the day within individual entities, such as New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Siberia (meaning the Far North of Russia Note..

In the Southern Hemisphere, the International Date Line was drawn north from the South Pole... so as not to separate Chatham Island, now New Zealand. Raoul, Sunday, now New Zealand . site), the Kingdom of Tonga, the Fiji-owned Lau Archipelago, similar to the North and South Islands of New Zealand... Similar deviations in the implementation of the International Date Line were agreed upon in the Northern Hemisphere, so as not to separate territories in terms of dates in Eastern Siberia ( This means the Far North of Russia. Note..

In theory, standard time should never be more than 12 hours ahead or behind Greenwich Time. But the permissible deviation, according to the decisions of the mentioned conference 1884 placed Tonga 13 hours ahead of Greenwich Time. In turn, New Zealand and Fiji found themselves in a zone 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Time, and Western Samoa 11 hours behind Greenwich Time.

But until 1941, Tonga did not adhere to its own local time, which was supposed to be 13 hours ahead of Greenwich Time. Tongan time was then 50 minutes ahead of New Zealand winter time, and accordingly Tongan time was 12 hours and 20 minutes ahead of Greenwich.

When New Zealand adjusted its standard time in the 1940s, Tonga had the choice of either changing its local time to match New Zealand's time; or move to a time 13 hours ahead of Greenwich Time (which would be 50 minutes ahead of New Zealand time).

His Majesty, the future King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, became king in 1965 ., and ruled until 2006. Note site), then known as Crown Prince Tungi, chose in this regard to change Tongan time so that Tonga could be called the land where time begins.

The Legislative Assembly approved this choice. But some of the older, more conservative members of Parliament from the outer islands objected: "If at midnight on December 31st we move the clock forward by 40 minutes, as Your Royal Highness wishes, then we will simply lose 40 minutes?"

To which the Crown Prince presented a win-win argument: “But in this case, remember that during the “weekly prayer of the year” (see. Note website) we will be the first people on Earth to perform morning prayer".

Since 1974, when New Zealand began switching to daylight saving time, during the four summer months the country has also been in a zone where its time is 13 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. But Tonga is still the country in the world that is the first to welcome every new day of every week, every month and every year,” the Tongan newspaper proudly noted.

So, the time in Tonga is equal to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT, today also called Coordinated Universal Time UTC) +13 hours.

In addition, Tonga's neighbor and another island country, the Republic of Kiribati, can also be considered the first country to celebrate the New Year and New Day. However, Kiribati, due to its extent, is located simultaneously in three time zones in relation to Greenwich Time, namely in zones +12, +13, +14, and therefore cannot be considered a country that is entirely the first to celebrate the New Year and New Day.

A still frame from the New Year's (2000) broadcast of the American television company ABC, which shows the Dateline (or (otherwise) International Date Line), as well as the three first countries in the world that are the first to celebrate the New Year and the new day: the Kingdom of Tonga ( Time zone: Greenwich Time plus 13); as well as part of the islands of the Republic of Kiribati (namely those belonging to time zones plus 13, plus 14); and besides this, the New Zealand possession is Chatham Island (Chatham, its winter time: plus 12 hours.

A still frame from the New Year's (2000) broadcast of the American television company ABC, which shows the Dateline, or (otherwise) International Date Line, as well as the three first countries in the world that are the first to celebrate the New Year and the new day:

Kingdom of Tonga (Time zone: Greenwich Time plus 13);

as well as part of the islands of the Republic of Kiribati (namely those belonging to time zones plus 13, plus 14);

and besides this, the New Zealand possession is Chatham Island (Chatham, its winter time: plus 12 hours 45 minutes).

Quite close to Tonga is the New Zealand possession of Chatham Island, where the difference with Greenwich time is +12 hours 45 minutes, i.e. 15 minutes less than Tongan. However, in the summer, Chatham switches to summer time and then the difference with Greenwich time is already +13 hours 45 minutes, and therefore 45 minutes more than Tongan time.

In turn, New Zealand has winter time (Greenwich time +12), and summer time (Greenwich time +13). Thus, as noted in the Tonga Chronicle article, in the summer New Zealand can be said to be the first to greet the new day. But not New Year, because... Summer time in New Zealand runs from April to September.

A few words about how the New Year is celebrated in Tonga.

The entire first week of the New Year is called Uike Lotu (ie "weekly prayer") in Tonga. On each day of this week, members of the Protestant churches, which constitute the largest part of the Tongan population (with 15% being Catholics), meet and pray in the morning and evening, with a solemn meal taking place between prayers.

The Tongan New Year's treat consists of umu baked in a pit oven. used in the Hawaiian Islands) is a traditional Tongan dish called lu pulu, which is beef cooked in taro leaves along with onions and coconut milk. People also eat root vegetables such as taro, and also sweet potatoes, i.e. sweet potato, called in Tonga « kumala» (kumala), and in addition - tapioca (i.e. starchy puree), prepared from the roots of the cassava plant (plants of the euphorbia family), and seafood.

Youth launch fireworks using cannons in the form of a large bamboo tube lying on the ground, such a cannon is called fana pitu .

Video: A Tongan teenager prepares a bamboo fana pitu for the 2010 New Year's fireworks display. Below you can see how this gun fires:

On January 1, people also go to the beach and swim, which is the hottest time of summer in Tonga. The King of Tonga hosts a reception for his high-ranking guests on the night of January 1st.

Video: Tonga, Kiribati and the New Zealand possession of Chatham Island are the first to celebrate the New Year (Here is 2000, and thus, in this case, the new millennium):

The video below is a fragment of a special international television program “Meeting of 2000” (also known as “2000 Today”), which was broadcast throughout the day on December 31, 1999 around the world and was organized in cooperation by 60 television broadcasters from different countries, including which included as public - British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Polish Television (Telewizja Polska - TVP), Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Spanish Television (Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española - RTVE) and Public broadcasting service in the USA (Public Broadcasting Service - PBS), and private - American Broadcasting Company in the USA (American Broadcasting Company - ABC), Japanese TV Asahi. Short excerpts from the program were also broadcast in Russia.

The program was a telethon consisting of live broadcasts showing how countries around the world, one after another, celebrated the New Year 2000. Starting with the very first countries where the new day comes: the Kingdom of Tonga and the Republic of Kiribati, as well as the New Zealand possession - Chatham Island.

So, the last minutes 1999 . and meeting 2000 g . to Tonga, Kiribati and Chatham Island.

It first shows the then King of Tonga, Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, addressing his subjects with a speech of welcome, while the subjects pray (as part of the so-called "weekly prayer") and sing religious songs.

At the same time, dancers and singers from the neighboring Republic of Kiribati, who came to Kiribati's and usually uninhabited Caroline Island, officially renamed Millennium Island by the government of this republic in 1999, held a ceremony to welcome the new millennium and year, in presence of the republic's leadership and journalists. Caroline Atoll is the very first territory of Kiribati to celebrate the New Year and New Day. It is also the first territory in the world to receive a new date, because... The atoll lies next to the Dateline, or International Date Line. Until 1995, the atoll was one of the last places on earth to welcome a new day, because... The international date line ran to the east, and thus Kiribati was a country where the new and old days ran simultaneously. Now all three time zones of Kiribati are in the zone of one current day, in other words, at the initiative of the government of Kiribati, the International Date Line was pushed back.

During the broadcast ceremony, Kiribati dancers performed traditional dances mwaie, as well as songs. In addition, a traditional canoe was launched into the water, driven by an old man and a boy with a torch. The launch of the canoe symbolized hope for a new journey - from the past to the future.

The program also showed how the year 2000 was celebrated on the New Zealand property - Chatham Island. There were present both Europeans and representatives of the Maori - the indigenous population of the New Zealand islands, who once inhabited Chatham.

For our video, the broadcast of the television program “Meeting of 2000” (“2000 Today”) was taken from the broadcasts of Polish television (Telewizja Polska - TVP, broadcast on the second TV channel of this broadcaster) and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC (USA). The comments, respectively, were in Polish and English.

This material was prepared based on an article from the former government English-language Tongan newspaper Tonga Chronicle and a note from the Internet community Hubpages (In both cases, the site translated from English), as well as other sources;