WELCOMING THE NEW YEAR AROUND THE WORLD

New Year here in the UK is of course time for the adults to celebrate having spent weeks shopping for gifts and food for Christmas, it is time to let your hair down.

Of course, we are all aware of how the UK celebrates and when but around the World of course, in some cases more than half a day ahead of us, there are countries popping the champagne and filling the skies with fireworks as 2018 arrives.

The first country to see in the New Year is Samoa but preceded by Kiritimati (aka Christmas Island) at 10 in the morning (UK time) and the last are some of the more remote islands off the coast of the USA.

Here in the UK, Scotland has ‘first footing’ which is a tradition in which the first person to cross the threshold should be a tall, dark male and he should carry coal, a coin or two, an evergreen branch (a Scottish pine or similar) shortbread or oat biscuits and of course a ‘wee dram’. The list of ‘gifts’ is an odd one but they all represent different things for the year ahead. The coal is for warmth, the coin is for wealth, the evergreen for long life and health, shortbread for food and the dram for good cheer and a little bon vivant.

In order of when midnight strikes in each country here you go:

SAMOA 10AM
NEW ZEALAND 11AM
AUSTRALIA MID-DAY – 1PM (HUGE COUNTRY NUMEROUS TIMEZONES)
JAPAN 3PM
CHINA 4PM
THAILAND 5PM
BANGLADESH 6PM
INDIA 6.30PM
PAKISTAN 7PM
AFGHANISTAN 7.30PM
RUSSIA (MOSCOW) 9PM
GREECE 10PM
GERMANY AND MOST EUROPEAN CAPITALS 11PM
UK 12 MIDNIGHT

Whilst a great many of them around the globe will celebrate with fireworks they also have a few ‘oddities’.

In Japan, it is tradition to ring bells 108 times whereas over in Spain, they eat one grape on each strike of the clock to midnight for 12 months of good health. In Denmark, you would not be surprised to wake up to plates smashed on the doorstep whereas over in Bucharest, children dress as bears to protect and heal. They all, in their own way, go towards hoping that the forthcoming year will be good and we will all be blessed with good health, wealth and warmth which is not a bad thing.

If you are looking for some fireworks to drive out those evil spirits (or to get you to imbibe a few more of the bottled kind of spirit) then we have a massive range of fireworks to get you in the party mood. With everything from a single massive rocket to a display in a box, we are bound to have something to suit. Please note that if you are either in the Highlands or in deepest darkest Cornwall, please make sure your order is received in plenty of time to get the goodies to you to avoid disappointment.