When we are still making the final feverish preparations for the New Year, some inhabitants of the Earth not only met it and had a lot of fun, but by this time they even managed to rest and sleep. For there are places in the world where the New Year is celebrated much earlier than here. In our photo gallery we present those places where the New Year is celebrated first on our planet.
13 PHOTOS
1. Traditionally, Kiribati will be the first to celebrate the New Year 2015. More specifically, on the Linear Islands, which are located further east than the other islands of this country. In 1994, one of the presidential candidates promised citizens that if he won the election, he would make Kiribati the first to celebrate the New Year in the whole world. He won and kept his word: he moved the demarcation line of time (the conventional line on the map of time zones). Since then, Kiribati has been divided into three time zones, and in the easternmost one, midnight occurs 14 hours earlier than in London. (Photo: DS355/flickr.com). 
2. In the same time zone as Kiribati is Tokelau, which includes a group of islands consisting of three coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunono and Fakaofo. It is a dependent territory of New Zealand. The time zone change here occurred as recently as 2011, and the main reason for this was the problem of interaction in contacts with New Zealand, since previously the island was on the other side of the time demarcation line. (Photo: Haanee Naeem/flickr.com). 
3. Residents of Samoa will celebrate the New Year an hour later. In 2011, there was also a time zone change; the date December 30, 2011 was not in the Samoan calendar. This was done for better interaction and development of cooperation with Australia and New Zealand. Interestingly, the previous time zone change was carried out in 1892 in order to adjust the time to California time. (Photo: Savai’i Island/flickr.com). 
4. At the same time as in Samoa, the inhabitants of Tonga, an island located one-third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii, south of Samoa, will celebrate the New Year. (Photo: pintxomoruno/flickr.com). 
5. Residents of the Chatham Islands will be the next to celebrate the New Year. This small archipelago consists of two inhabited islands - Chatham and Pitta. Other small islands have reserve status and are largely inaccessible to both island residents and tourists. Interestingly, Chatham Island has its own time zone, which differs by 45 minutes (less) from the time in New Zealand. (Photo: Phil Pledger/flickr.com). 
6. After the Chatham Islanders, New Zealand will be the next to celebrate New Year 2015. (Photo: Philipp Klinger Photography/flickr.com). 
7. At the same time as in New Zealand, they will celebrate the New Year in Fiji. This is a state that is located on 322 islands and islets of volcanic origin, surrounded by coral reefs, of which only 110 islands are inhabited. (Photo: brad/flickr.com). 
8. The first mainland state whose residents will celebrate the New Year 2015 (at the same time as the residents of New Zealand and Fiji) is Russia, or more precisely, the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, located in the southeastern part of the volcanic Kamchatka peninsula. (Photo: Jasja/flickr.com). 
9. In the same time zone as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, there are numerous small islands and archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean: Tuvalu, Nauru, Wallis and Futuna, Wake and the Marshall Islands. In the photo: Nauru island. (Photo: Hadi Zaher/flickr.com). 
10. We travel further and move west. Next to celebrate the New Year will be the residents of New Caledonia, a French overseas territory located in the Western Pacific Ocean, in Melanesia, about 1,400 kilometers east of Australia and 1,500 kilometers northwest of New Zealand. (Photo: Tonton des Iles-Bye bye Everyone /flickr.com).
Countries that celebrate the New Year at the same time as New Caledonia are: Vanuatu, Federated States of Micronesia and Solomon Islands.
11. Together with New Caledonia, the New Year 2015 will be celebrated by residents of another Russian city - Magadan. (Photo: Tramp/flickr.com). 
12. On our journey, we finally arrived in Australia, where the first to celebrate the New Year, of course, were the residents of the east coast - Sydney and Melbourne. (Photo: El Mundo, Economía y Negocios/flickr.com). 
13. Simultaneously with the residents of Sydney and Melbourne, the New Year will be celebrated in Vladivostok and on such Pacific islands as Guam, the Mariana Islands and Papua New Guinea. In the photo: the island of Guam. Time zones in Russia are established by Federal Law adopted in the fall of 2014. Before its approval, there were 9 zones; today there are 11 of them. According to international numbering, they range from 2 to 12. Moscow time (hereinafter MSK) belongs to the third time zone. The changes were adopted at the legislative level so that each subject of the Russian Federation belongs to one zone. The exception is Yakutia (three time zones). So who is the first to celebrate the New Year in Russia?
Uelen, Chukotka village
The globe is divided into two hemispheres: Western and Eastern. The line along which the border passes is the 180th meridian. An international agreement has established that a new day begins here. The 180th meridian passes through the water basin and only crosses land twice - the Fiji Islands and the Chukotka Peninsula. That is why every Russian schoolchild knows: in our country the day begins with Chukotka. It originates at the point of the 180th meridian, the border of which from the territory of the Bering Strait is conditionally transferred to land. In which villages does morning come earliest? The “border of the day” is the easternmost villages of Uelen and Naukan.
Here lies the answer to the question of who is the first to celebrate the New Year in Russia. For those in the MSK+9 time zone, it arrives at 15:00 Moscow time. Nearby is the easternmost settlement of our country - the village of Uelen, where about 650 people live. It stretches along the pebble strip separating the lagoon from the Chukchi Sea, and is located at the very foot of the hill, the slope of which is visible at any time because of the black hillocks on them. The inhabitants of the village are Eskimos, Chukchi and Russians, engaged in fishing and sea mammal hunting. It is curious that Yu. S. Rytkheu, a famous writer, was once born in this small settlement.
Naunkan village
In fact, the easternmost village was Naunkan. Founded presumably in the 14th century, the village was located directly on Cape Dezhnev. To the question of where the first people to celebrate the New Year in Russia, until 1958, they always answered: “In Naunkan.”
But 1958 was the last year in the life of the village residents. It was abolished, resettling 400 people throughout the territory of the Autonomous Okrug. Now on the cape only a few monuments have been preserved in the place where one of Dezhnev’s nomads once crashed. May the memory of the most famous natives of the village be preserved, including the famous engraver Khukhutan and the poetess Z.N. Nenlyumkina.
Together with Chukotka, the capital of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Anadyr, first meets Father Frost and the Snow Maiden. The most northeastern city of the Russian Federation, located on the banks of the river of the same name. It was founded as an outpost in 1889 and was called Novo-Mariinsk. Already in the 30s it became the administrative center of the district, and in 1965 it acquired the status of a city. Today its population exceeds 15 thousand people, dominated by Russians, Chukchi and Eskimos. By the way, local residents call the capital of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Kagyrgym, which translated from Chukchi means “mouth”, or Vien (“entrance”). The city is really located in a small neck, from where the path opens to the upper part of the estuary.
Residents of the city, living in permafrost conditions, call the rest of Russia the mainland, emphasizing their remoteness. The distance to the capital of the Russian Federation is more than 6,100 km. Residential buildings built on stilts are painted in bright colors, which look quite impressive against the background of the gray tundra. The facades are decorated with drawings of animals, people, and shamanic drums. There is practically no unemployment in the city. In addition to reindeer herding, hunting and fishing, residents mine coal and gold, work at a fish factory and the largest wind power plant - the Anadyr Wind Farm. So, which Russian city will you meet first? Of course, Anadyr. But it is not the only one located in the MSK+9 time zone.
Other cities of ChAO
Two more cities are located in the Autonomous Okrug, where its residents are the first to celebrate the New Year in Russia. These are Bilibino and Pevek. The first has had city status since 1993 and is located even further from the capital of the Russian Federation - at a distance of 6,500 km. Previously, it was called Karalvaam - after the name of the river on the banks of which it is located. The town was founded in connection with the discovery by geologists of a placer gold deposit and is now considered one of the most expensive cities in the country. At the moment its population exceeds 6.3 thousand people.
Answering the question about which city in Russia will be the first to celebrate the New Year, we should say about the northernmost one - Pevek, founded in 1933. It received its current status in 1967. Its population is 4.5 thousand people. This is an important port located on the shore of the strait that connects the East Siberian Sea and Chaunskaya Bay. At one time, tin deposits were discovered on its territory and two ITK institutions were founded. Today Pevek is one of the gold mining regions. However, after the tin mines closed in the 1990s, the city's population began to decline sharply due to employment problems. By the way, during the New Year, the polar night prevails in the city, lasting until January 16.
Main city of Kamchatka
The Kamchatka Territory is also located in the MSK+9 time zone. The capital of the administrative district is Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. This is the answer to the question of which city in Russia is the first to celebrate the New Year. Almost 180.5 thousand residents of the regional capital raise glasses of champagne before others in Russia. Among them, about 80% are Russians, a little more than 3.5% are Ukrainians. Other nationalities make up less than 1%. Among them are Tatars, Azerbaijanis, Belarusians, Koryaks, Chuvashs and others.
The city is located in the southeast of the peninsula, on the hills, on the very shore of Avachinskaya Bay. There are four volcanoes in the visibility zone, two of them are active. Kamchatka (especially its eastern coast) is an earthquake-prone place, so most buildings are built on five floors. Recently, high-rise buildings have appeared that can withstand a magnitude 10 earthquake. The peculiarity of the peninsula is that there are no land connections with the mainland. To get to Vladivostok, for example, you can only by plane or boat.
Who is the first to celebrate the New Year in Russia: Kamchatka Territory
There are two more cities of regional subordination in Kamchatka - Vilyuchinsk and Yelizovo. The first one is ZATO. It was formed by the merger of workers' villages, where a Navy ship repair yard and a nuclear submarine base were once built. The name of the city is given by the name of an extinct volcano, which is a natural monument. Year of formation - 1968. Population is just over 22 thousand people.
To the question of who celebrates the New Year first in Russia, the correct answer would be: Yelizovo. Located 32 km from this city with a population of 38 thousand people, it occupies the banks of the Avachi River. Here in the mid-19th century there was a village renamed in honor of G. M. Elizov, the commander of a partisan detachment who died in 1922. The village received city status in 1975. Its inhabitants live by fishing and processing fish.
So, we have sorted out which regions’ residents are the first to celebrate the New Year. An hour later, Magadan, Sakhalin Island and eastern Yakutia take over the baton.
This city is the very first in Russia to celebrate the New Year -
This is the city of Anadyr. The most northeastern city in Russia. The administrative center of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug) Its residents will be the first in our country to celebrate the New Year.
The first city to celebrate the New Year is Anadyr, local name is V'en or Kagyrgyn. The geographical coordinates of the city are 66.44 degrees north latitude and 177.31 degrees east longitude. Area - 20 sq. kilometers, population - 14,029 people.
The first people in Russia to celebrate the New Year, as always, are in Kamchatka in a city called Anadyr and this event occurs almost nine hours earlier in time than we meet it in Moscow. That is, if in Moscow the New Year, according to all canons, begins at zero o'clock Moscow time, then in the Russian city of Anadyr, according to the same Moscow time, the same New Year will begin at three o'clock in the afternoon. It’s better to look at the map so that everyone can see how the New Year is moving across Russia and at what hour relative to Moscow time the New Year begins in different regions and cities of our such a huge country.
The very first city that celebrates the New Year on the territory of the Russian Federation is a city like Anadyr. This city is located in the northeast of Russia. Anadyr is the immediate administrative center of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
Anadyr (Kagyrgyn) is the first to celebrate the New Year.
The city is located in the extreme northeast of the Russian Federation.
It is the administrative center of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
Anadyr is located near the mouth of the Kazachka River, which feeds the Bering Sea with its waters.
I think this is the city of Anadyr, which is located in the easternmost Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
The entire territory of Russia is located in the Eastern Hemisphere and its eastern outskirts are the first in the world to celebrate the New Year. The easternmost city of Russia is Anadyr, formerly Novomariinsk, the main city of Chukotka with a population of just over 14 thousand people. This is probably why this city looks very cozy and well-groomed. The very first village whose residents will celebrate the New Year will again be the Chukotka village of Uelen, located at the very tip of Cape Dezhnev. Well, the very first Russians who will be lucky enough to celebrate the New Year will be the border guards on Ratmanov Island, although on the other hand, this island went into the Western Hemisphere for 57 minutes and it would be more accurate to consider these border guards as the last to celebrate the New Year in Russia.
Divided into eleven time zones, Russia celebrates the New Year 11 times. But the very first city where the New Year knocks is Anadyr. As throughout the country, New Year here is, first of all, a family holiday. The traditions of the celebration are practically no different from central Russia: the same bottle of champagne opened at 12 o’clock, a festive table, gifts and festivities all night long. I also heard that in those cities where the New Year comes earlier than the capital city, it is customary to celebrate it twice - local time and Moscow time. The holiday drags on, the fun continues until the morning.
Russia is a very large country with eleven time zones.
A new day comes to us from the East, so the easternmost city of the country is the first to celebrate the New Year. And this is the city of Anadyr.
By the way, the region is in the far north and it is very cold there. For New Year too.
Yes, given the extent of our homeland from east to west, it will not be easy for us to celebrate the New Year! This will happen exactly nine times according to the number of time zones.
Residents of Kamchatka will be the first to celebrate the New Year. In Moscow at this time it will be 16:00.
At 17:00 Moscow time, midnight will come in Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Birobidzhan.
In another hour the holiday will come to Yakutsk, Chita, Blagoveshchensk.
At 19:00 Moscow time, champagne will be opened in Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude.
Krasnoyarsk and Abakan will celebrate the New Year next. And in another hour Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo.
When there are only two hours left in the capital until midnight, the holiday will reach Yekaterinburg, Perm, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, Ufa, and Orenburg.
Then, finally, it will be the turn of the European part of Russia. Together with Moscow, glasses will ring in St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saratov, Arkhangelsk, Rostov-on-Don, Grozny and many other cities.
And an hour later, the residents of Kaliningrad will sit down at the tables.
But the very first, eight hours before Moscow, the New Year will be celebrated by residents of the easternmost Russian city. This is Anadyr, the administrative center of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. In Chukchi Kagyryn.
The distance from Anadyr to Moscow in a straight line is 6200 km.
Despite its capital status, it is small, you can walk from end to end in just 40 minutes, and the population is just over 13 thousand people.
This is a seaport (the largest in the region), a city of fishermen, hunters, gold miners and energy workers. It is also a border city; the US Empire of Goodness is not far from here.
Anadyr would always be, is and will be the lucky city to be the first to celebrate the New Year; it is located and is a subject of the Russian Federation in the Far East, its entire territory belongs to the regions of the Far North.
Residents of the Far East are the first to celebrate the New Year in Russia. The time difference with Moscow for cities such as Magadan and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is 7 hours. While we are still at work, they are already celebrating the New Year in full.
The luckiest people, so to speak, are the inhabitants of the peninsula Kamchatka, as well as the population Chukotsky Autonomous Okrug. The time difference between the capital of Russia, Moscow, and the above-mentioned territorial units is as much as 9 hours! That is, when most of Russia is still preparing for the main celebration of the year, the residents of Kamchatka and Chukotka are already celebrating the New Year in full force))
In the east of our country. In the Far East, these are the cities of Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, etc. The difference with Moscow is 7 hours, i.e. in the Far East, the New Year is celebrated seven hours earlier than Moscow.
New Year comes earlier by Far East, and this is first of all Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky the difference with Moscow is 9 hours, then Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Magadan, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok time difference 7 hours.
So what happens Kamchatka the very first.
When everyone is just preparing for the New Year, the tables are set, Kamchatka accepts congratulations from the President.
The New Year comes faster in those regions that are located in the easternmost part of Russia. In order to find out which time zone is the most distant from Moscow, you need to look at the time zone map.
The map shows that the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (Anadyr) and the Kamchatka Territory (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky) are the most remote and the difference with Moscow is 9 hours. So, it is in these parts that the New Year is celebrated 9 hours earlier than in Moscow.
Residents of the Russian Federation celebrate the New Year before everyone else Kamchatka Peninsula(Kamchatka region) and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. These two subjects of the Russian Federation have a time difference with Moscow of 9 hours and this is the largest time difference in Russia with the capital of Russia, Moscow, and therefore it is there that the New Year is celebrated first in Russia.
The first to celebrate next year are the residents of Vladivostok (7 hours difference from Moscow), Khabarovsk, Magadan - they also have a 7 hour difference, we haven’t sat down at the table yet, and they are already drunk)).
In Siberia there is a 5 hour difference, then Norilsk (4 hours difference) and then the Urals (2 hours difference from Moscow)
In the extreme east, in the Far East, it comes earlier... the further east the territory is located, the earlier). The easternmost (inhabited) points of Russia are located on the island of Sakhalin, as I understand it... or on the islands of the Kuril chain (exactly those that the Japanese dispute), and on the Kamchatka Peninsula. And among the cities - in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - there the time difference with Moscow is nine hours (for Russia this difference is maximum), which means that the New Year will come first in these cities - nine hours earlier, than (for example) in Moscow.
Happy New Year!
Residents of the Kamchatka Peninsula are the first to celebrate the New Year in Russia. Since this peninsula is located in the easternmost part of our vast country. All regions that are in this time zone celebrate the New Year first.
Well, if we take into account space, then most likely they are the first on the planet to celebrate the New Year.
Everyone knows that due to its enormous size, Russia has 11 time zones. And those regions and cities that are located in the very east of Sirana and live, so to speak, 9 hours earlier. That is, when they celebrate the New Year, it is only three o’clock in the afternoon in Moscow. This is Kamchatka, in particular Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk, Anadyr and others.
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, the Netherlands, the Ottoman Empire, Paraguay, the Russian Empire, El Salvador, Great Britain, the USA, France, Chile, Sweden (in union with Norway), Switzerland and Japan. Note site).
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 Date Line were agreed upon in the Northern Hemisphere, so as not to separate territories in terms of dates in Eastern Siberia ( I mean 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 the 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;
