Sylwester i Nowy Rok

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In Canada, New Year's traditions and celebrations vary from region to region. Generally, New Year's Eve ('New Year's Eve Day' or Veille du Jour de l'An in French) in Canada is a social holiday. In major metropolitan and tourist destinations such as Toronto, Niagara Falls, and Montreal, the holiday is celebrated with major celebrations and fireworks. Other New Year's Eve celebrations such as late-night partying, sporting events and concerts are major events in these cities and other places around Canada. In some areas, such as in rural Quebec, people ice fish and drink with their friends until the early hours of January 1.
The sketch comedy troupe Royal Canadian Air Farce is known for their annual New Year's Eve specials on CBC Television, featuring sketches celebrating and lampooning major events and news stories of the year. Debuting as a one-off special in 1992, 1992: Year of the Farce, it proved successful enough to spawn the creation of a weekly Air Farce television series after years as a fixture on CBC Radio. Consequentially, the Year of the Farce episodes continued to be a recurring part of the Air Farce television series, and its 2008 New Year's Eve special served as its series finale after 16 seasons. However, members of the original cast returned for reunion specials in 2009 and 2010.
Similarly in Quebec, Télévision de Radio-Canada also airs a yearly New Year's Eve comedy special, Bye Bye, which has been produced by various comedians since its original run from 1968-1998, and its revival by Québécois troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles in 2006. Its 2008 edition, hosted and co-produced by Québécois television personality Véronique Cloutier, however became infamous for several sketches that many viewers perceived as offensive, including sketches making fun of English Canadians and then American president-elect Barack Obama

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Mexicans celebrate New Year's Eve, Año Nuevo in Spanish, by downing a grape with each of the twelve chimes of the bell during the midnight countdown, while making a wish with each one. Mexican families decorate homes and parties, during New Year's, with colors such as red, to encourage an overall improvement of lifestyle and love, yellow to encourage blessings of improved employment conditions, green to improve financial circumstances and white to improved health. Mexican sweet bread is baked with a coin or charm hidden in the dough. When the bread is served, the recipient whose slice contains the coin or charm is believed to be blessed with good luck in the new year. Another tradition is making a list of all the bad or unhappy events from the current year; before midnight, this list is thrown into a fire, symbolizing the removal of negative energy from the new year. At the same time, thanks is expressed for all the good things had during the year that is coming to its end so that they will continue to be had in the new year.
Mexicans celebrate by having a late-night dinner with their families, the traditional meal being turkey and mole, a tradition which has now spanned worldwide. Those who want to party generally go out afterwards, to local parties or night clubs. In Mexico City there is a street festival on New Year's Eve; celebrations center around the Zocalo, the city's main square.[9] Celebrations include firecrackers, fireworks and sparklers and shouts of "¡Feliz año nuevo!"

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New Year's Eve is an occasion celebrated with elegant formal parties and family-oriented activities; New Year's Day is a public holiday in the United States. Celebrations often center upon dropping or raising an item of worth during the countdown, especially in the East coast.
Since 1917 the "ball dropping" on top of One Times Square in New York City is a major component of the New Year celebration. The 11,875-pound (5,386 kg), 12-foot (3.7 m) diameter Waterford crystal ball located high above Times Square is lowered, starting at 11:59:00 pm and reaching the bottom of its tower sixty seconds later, at the stroke of midnight. (After fifty seconds has passed, the crowd will count down the final ten seconds along with the hosts of various New Year's Eve shows. Toshiba's Times Square advertising screen will also tell the viewers when the New Year officially starts, which debuted in the 2009-10 edition.) From 1981 to 1988, the city dropped a large apple in recognition of its nickname as "the Big Apple" Similar ball drops are performed in many towns and cities across the United States. The custom derives from the time signal that used to be given at noon in harbors.

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From 1972 onward (except 2005), Dick Clark has hosted televised coverage of the event called Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, shown on ABC, and now renamed Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest for the arrival of 2009 with Ryan Seacrest handling hosting duties. On December 31, 1999, the show was integrated into ABC 2000 Today, with Dick Clark reporting during the "ABC 2000" broadcast and an introduction from Peter Jennings, saying some would not consider it the New Year if Dick Clark did not count it down. Between 1951 and 1976, Ben Grauer was known for his live television coverage of New Year's Eve at Times Square in New York. From 1956 to 1976 on CBS, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians serenaded the United States from the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue in New York City. After Lombardo's death in 1977, the Royal Canadians continued on CBS until 1978, and Happy New Year, America replaced it in 1979, continuing until 1995. The song Auld Lang Syne has become a popular song to sing at midnight on New Year's Eve, with the Lombardo version being the standard. NBC also has hosted New Year's coverage; traditionally, the networks' late night hosts have hosted special editions of their regular shows (including a special Central Time Zone-specific countdown on Late Night with Conan O'Brien), but since 2005, the network has opted for a special entitled New Year's Eve with Carson Daly in which Carson Daly hosted the program. Fox, CNN, and Fox News Channel also have their own New Year's specials along with the Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univision.
New Year's Eve is traditionally the busiest day of the year at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland in Anaheim, California, where the parks stay open late and the usual nightly fireworks are supplemented by an additional New Year's Eve-specific show at midnight.
Over 60 cities nationwide celebrate First Night, a non-alcohol family-friendly New Year's Celebration, generally featuring performing artists, community events, parades, and fireworks displays to celebrate the New Year.

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In the Roman Catholic Church, January 1st is a Holy Day of Obligation honoring Mary, Mother of God. It is required that all faithful Catholics attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on January 1st. However, since in the Catholic Church, a vigil Mass may be held on the evening before a Holy Day, it has become customary to celebrate Mass on the evening of New Year's Eve.
Many Protestant Christian congregations have New Year's Eve watchnight services. Some, especially Lutherans and Methodists and those in the African American community, have a tradition known as "Watch Night", in which the faithful congregate in services continuing past midnight, giving thanks for the blessings of the outgoing year and praying for divine favor during the upcoming year. Watch Night can be traced back to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, who learned the custom from the Moravian Brethren who came to England in the 1730s. Moravian congregations still observe the Watch Night service on New Year's Eve. Watch Night took on special significance to African Americans on New Year's Eve 1862, as slaves anticipated the arrival of January 1, 1863, when Lincoln had announced he would sign the Emancipation Proclamation

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In Austria, New Year's Eve is usually celebrated with friends and family. At exactly midnight, all radio and television programmes operated by ORF broadcast the sound of the Pummerin (bell of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna), and right after that the "Donauwalzer" ("The Blue Danube") by Johann Strauss II is played, which many people dance to at parties or on the street. Large crowds gather on the streets of Vienna, where the municipal government organises a series of stages from which bands and orchestras play music. Fireworks are set off both by ordinary people and the municipal governments.There are many lights and explosions.

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In Belgium, New Year's Eve is called Sint Sylvester Vooravond ("Saint Sylvester Eve") or simply Oudjaar ("old year"). Cosy family parties, called réveillon in the French speaking part of Belgium, are thrown. On television, a stand-up comedian reviews the past year after which a musical or variety show indicates midnight, when everyone kisses, exchanges good luck greetings, and toasts Champagne to the new year and to absent relatives and friends. Many people fire off their own fireworks, and those who don't go into the street to watch them. Most cities have their own fireworks display, the most famous being at Mont des Arts in Brussels. Cities, cafés and restaurants are crowded. Free bus services and special new year's eve taxis (the Responsible Young Drivers) bring everyone home afterwards.
January 1 is called Nieuwjaarsdag and children read their 'new year's letter' and give holiday greeting cards featuring golden cherubs and angels, colored roses and ribbon-tied garlands to parents and godparents, on decorated paper which they saved money to buy.
Belgian farmers also wish their animals a happy New Year for blessings

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For the Czechs, Silvestr is without doubt the noisiest day of the year. People generally equip themselves with fireworks and champagne for the midnight toast and gather with friends to eat, drink and celebrate at parties, in pubs, clubs, in the streets or city squares. In larger cities and especially in Prague, the first detonations of pyrotechics can be heard in full daylight, even before noon, the frequency steadily rising until midnight. In the first minutes after midnight, people toast, wish each other a happy new year and go outside to light their fireworks or watch others'.
All major TV stations air entertaining shows before and after the midnight countdown which is followed by the national anthem. The president gives his New Year's speech in the morning.

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Many Danish people go to parties or entertain guests at home. The evening meal is more exclusive than usual, with desserts including the marzipan ring cake Kransekage along with champagne, and mains traditionally include boiled cod, or stewed kale and cured saddle of pork. However, in recent years expensive cuts of beef as well as sushi have become increasingly popular.
The New Year is celebrated with merrymaking and fun. It is usually well-intentioned fun and only playful, not malicious. It can, however, become mischievous.
Two significant traditional events are broadcast on television and radio on December 31: the monarch's New Year message from Amalienborg Palace at 6pm and the Town Hall Clock in Copenhagen striking midnight. Thousands of people gather together in Rådhuspladsen and cheer. The climax is when New Year is celebrated with fireworks as the sound of the Town Hall Tower Bells chime over Copenhagen on the strike of midnight. It is an excellent opportunity to see the parade of the Royal Guard in red gala uniforms.

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Clocks symbolize the transition that occurs at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, with the celebration in London focusing on the clock housed in the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster, recognised worldwide as "Big Ben". The celebrations are televised from London by the BBC in the English regions, Wales and Northern Ireland. Parties are held up and down the country, in pubs, clubs and private houses. At the stroke of midnight people gather in a ring with hands joined as they sing Auld Lang Syne.
On New Year's Eve 2010, an estimated 250,000 people gathered to view an eight-minute fireworks display around and above the London Eye which, on that occasion, was set for the first time to a musical soundtrack, including some of the greatest songs by British artists such as Blur, The Beatles and Queen.[21] The celebrations in London continued into January 1, with the New Year's Day Parade, which has been held annually since 1987 and in 2011 marked its 25th year, involving more than 10,000 musicians, cheerleaders and performers.
Other major New Year events are held in the cities of Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle.
Bideford in north Devon is also renowned for its New Year's Eve celebrations, featuring a carnival and fancy dress. The celebration centers on Bideford's quayside and around its Old Bridge, with a lone piper playing Auld Lang Syne at midnight, followed by a fireworks display

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For New Year in Estonia, people decorate villages, visit friends and prepare lavish meals.
Some believe that people should eat seven, nine or even 12 times on New Year's Eve, those being three lucky numbers in Estonia, and for each meal consumed the person gains the strength of that many men the following year. Meals should not be eaten entirely; some should be left for ancestors and spirits who visit the house on New Year's Eve.
Traditional New Year food includes pork with sauerkraut or Estonian sauerkraut (mulgikapsad), baked potatoes and Swedes with hog's head, white and blood sausage. Potato salad with navy beet and pate form the delectable vegetarian item. Gingerbread and marzipan are very popular for the dessert. Traditional New Year drinks includes beer or mead, but mulled wine and champagne have become modern favourites.

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The French call New Year's Eve "la Saint-Sylvestre". It is usually celebrated with a feast called le Réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre (also called Cap d'Any in Northern Catalonia). This feast customarily includes special dishes like foie gras, seafood such as oysters and drinks like champagne. The celebration can be a simple, intimate dinner with friends and family or a much fancier ball (une soirée dansante).
On le Jour de l'An (New Year's Day), friends and family exchange New Year's resolutions kisses and wishes, the main ones being "Bonne Année", Bonheur, Sante, Amour, Argent ("Good Year", Happiness, Health, Love and Money). Some people eat desserts made of ice cream
The holiday period ends on January 6 (The Twelfth Night) for the Epiphany, or Jour des Rois. On this day, they celebrate the Wise Men, eating a traditional type of flat pastry cake, la galette des rois, most often two sheets of puff pastry, filled with frangipane (almond paste). The cake contains a fève, small china character, that whoever finds becomes king or queen and get to wear a gold paper crown, then chose their partner. This tradition can last up to two weeks.

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Germans call New Year's Eve Silvester because 31 December is the feast day of St. Sylvester. Since 1972, each New Year's Eve, several German television stations broadcast a short comedy play in English (recorded by West German television in 1963) entitled Dinner for One.[26] A line from the comedy sketch, "the same procedure as every year", has become a catch phrase in Germany. Every year Berlin hosts one of the largest New Year's Eve celebrations in all of Europe which is attended by over a million people. The focal point is the Brandenburg Gate and the fireworks at midnight are centered on that location. Germans have a reputation for spending large amounts of money on firecrackers and fireworks, and so fireworks are to be seen all over the country on this night. When the clock strikes midnight on Silvester, Germans toast the New Year with a glass of Sekt (German sparkling wine) or champagne. 'Bleigießen' is another German New Year's Eve custom, which involves telling fortunes by the shapes made by molten lead dropped into cold water. Other luck bringing things are touching a chimney sweeper or have him rub some ash onto your forehead for good luck and health. Traditionally jelly filled doughnuts with and without liquor fillings are eaten. Finally a tiny marzipan pig is consumed for more good luck.

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Gleðilegt nýtt ár is "Happy New Year" in Icelandic. Fireworks are very popular in Iceland, particularly at New Year. Bonfires are also very common, often accompanied by shows, musical events and foodtables.
Iceland's biggest New Year events are usually in and around the capital, Reykjavík. On the evening of December 31, the mass at Reykjavik's cathedral is listened to on the radio by most Icelanders. This is followed by dinner. Nightclubs in the city are very crowded and tend to stay open until at least 5am.
Áramótaskaupið ("The New Year's comedy" in English) is an annual Icelandic television comedy special, and is an important part of the New Year for most. It focuses upon the recent year from a satirical standpoint, and shows little mercy towards its victims, especially politicians, artists, prominent businesspeople and activists. Neighbours then meet at their nearest large bonfire, while watching the midnight fireworks

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The Irish call New Year's Eve by its English language name or in Irish by Oíche Chinn Bliana, Oíche na Coda Móire or Oíche Chaille. Celebrations in major cities are modest. The beginning of 2009 was heralded only by the ringing of church bells. Fireworks ring in the new year along with celebrations around the Country. Many Irish people tend to go to the smaller towns and villages around Ireland to celebrate the new year. Some popular destinations include Kerry, Limerick and Galway for festivities.

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Italians call New Year's Eve Capodanno (the "head of the year") or Notte di San Silvestro (the night of St. Silvestro). Traditionally there are a set of rituals for the new year, such as wearing red underwear and getting rid of old or unused items by dropping them from the window.
Dinner is traditionally eaten with parents and friends. It often includes zampone or cotechino (a kind of spiced Italian sausage) and lentils. At 8:30 pm, the President reads a television message of greetings to Italians.
At midnight, fireworks are displayed across Italy. A lentil stew is eaten when bell tolls midnight - one spoon per bell. This is supposed to bring good fortune; the lentils represent coins, being round in shape.

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Macedonian New Year's Eve celebrations are celebrated in all families across Macedonia. New Year's Day is usually the day where the children are getting gifts and the celebration is accompanied by fireworks all day long. The day is celebrated together with family or friends in house or usually in restaurants, clubs, cafe's and hotels with evening celebration encompassing good food, music, and dancing to both traditional Macedonian folk music but also modern music. New Year's Eve is celebrated on December 31 as well as on January 14 according to the Macedonian Orthodox Calendar.

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Malta organized its first street party in 2009 in Floriana, Malta, parallel to what other major countries in the world organize. The event was not highly advertised and controversial, due to the closing of an arterial street on the day. In 2010 then organised the first national celebrations in St. George's Square, Valletta. In spite of fireworks being very popular in Malta, where they are mostly constructed by amateur volunteers, their shooting is almost totally absent from Malta on New Year's Eve.

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Montenegrin New Year's Eve celebrations are held in all large cities, usually accompanied by fireworks. It is usually celebrated together with family or friends at home or outside. Restaurants, clubs, cafes and hotels organize celebrations with food and music.

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New Year's Eve is called Oud en Nieuw ("Old and New") or simply Oudejaarsavond ("old year's evening") in the Netherlands, and is usually celebrated as a cosy evening with family or friends. Traditional snack foods are oliebollen (oil dumplings) and appelflappen (apple turnovers) or appelbeignets (apple slice fritters).On television, the main feature is the oudejaarsconference, a performance by one of the major Dutch cabaretiers (comparable to stand-up comedy, but more serious; generally including a satirical review of the year's politics). In Reformed Protestant families, Psalm 90 is read, although this tradition is now fading away. At midnight, Glühwein (bishops wine) or Champagne is drunk. Many people fire off their own fireworks, which are on sale from a few days before. Towns do not organise a central fireworks display, except for Rotterdam where the national fireworks display can be seen near the Erasmus Bridge. Public transport shuts down completely (the only scheduled time during the year) between approximately 8pm and 1am. On television a clock is broadcast several minutes before midnight.

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The celebrations of New Year's Eve in Poland are full of much vibrance. Traditionally, Christian Poles have devoted each day on the calendar to a particular saint for adoration and devotion to that saint. December 31 is named after St. Sylvester, and thus the day is commonly referred to as Sylwester. Celebrations partake both indoor and out, with the most notable open-air concert being held in the Main Square in Krakow. Here 150,000 to 200,000 revelers celebrate the New Year with live music and a fireworks display over St. Mary's Basilica. Similar festivities are held in other cities around Poland including Wrocław. For those who do not wish to spend the New Year in the city, the mountains are a popular destination. Zakopane, located in the Carpathian Mountains, is the most popular Polish mountain resort in winter.

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The celebration of the New Year's Eve in Romania has a totally traditional flavor. Romanians welcome the New Year with the customs, rituals and conventions that have been around for centuries. The children as well as the adults, take part in the joyous celebrations with great enthusiasm. On New Year's Eve in Romania, small school going children sing Plugusorul and Sorcova. The songs wish good luck, happiness and success.

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Most Russians celebrate New Year's Eve with their families and close friends. The origin of this holiday in Russia derives from the Christian holiday of Christmas. Christmas was also a major holiday in Russia up until it was banned along other religious holidays by the Communist Party. To compensate for the absence of Christmas, New Year's was now celebrated similarly to Christmas, just without the religious aspect of the holiday. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, New Year's is celebrated in Russia and has became a Russian tradition.
The celebration usually starts one or two hours before midnight and the common tradition is to "say farewell to the old year" by remembering most important events of the last twelve months. At five minutes to twelve most of the people watch the president's speech on TV[33] or watch popular New Year TV shows ("Goluboy Ogonek"). There is a tradition to listen to the Kremlin clock bell (Kuranty) ringing twelve times on the radio or on TV. During these last 12 seconds of the year people keep silence and make their secret wishes for the next year. After that they drink champagne and have rich dinner, watching TV concerts and having fun. Some people like starting fireworks outside and visiting their friends and neighbors. As December 30 and 31 are working days, a lot of people also have small parties at work, though December 31 is mostly spent at home or with friends. There is an old superstition that if the first visitor (especially an unexpected one) on January 1 is a man, the year will be good. People also try to start the new year without debts.

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Scotland celebrates New Year as Hogmanay, and with several different customs, such as First-Footing, which involves friends or family members going to each others houses with a gift of whisky and sometimes a lump of coal. Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, hosts one of the world's most famous New Year celebrations with the focus being a major street party along Princes Street. The cannon is fired at Edinburgh Castle at the stroke of midnight and is followed by a large fireworks display. Edinburgh hosts a festival of four or five days, beginning on 28 December, and lasting until New Year's Day or January 2, which is also a bank holiday in Scotland. Other cities across Scotland, such as Aberdeen, Glasgow and Stirling have large organised celebrations too, including fireworks at midnight. BBC Scotland broadcast the celebrations in Edinburgh to a Scottish audience, with the celebrations also screened across the world. STV covers both worldwide New Year celebrations, and details of events happening around Scotland.