New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is a celebration held the day before New Year's day.

See New Year for a discussion of the calendric, religious, and cultural observance of a change of year.

New Year's Eve is a separate observance from the observance of New Year's Day. In modern 20th century practice, the celebration involves partying until the moment of the transition of the year, generally at local midnight.

In the United States New Year's Eve is a major social holiday. In the past 100 years the dropping of the 'ball' on top of 1 Times Square in New York City, broadcast nationwide, is a major component of the celebration. Drinking champagne is also a major part.

For about four decades Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians would serenade the nation from the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Park Ave in New York. But every city in America has its own local version of the celebration, even while keeping an eye on New York, and the New York-centric aspect of the holiday is diminishing.

Within many cultures the use of fireworks and other noise making is a major part of the celebration.

Most New Year's Eves have passed with just festivities. The major exception in current times was Y2K.

New Year's Eve is a public non-working holiday in the following countries, among others: Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Germany, the Philippines, and Venezuela.

See also: New Year