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It is probably the most popular and well known count down of all time. It is time to ring in a new year. And no where on earth is this celebrated more enthusiastically that Time Square in New York City, USA. The time ball is slowly dropped and thousands in the streets surrounding Time Square count down from ten to one then cheer as the ball descends. The ball which is made of crystal and lit by electric lights is first raised to the very top of a pole situated a building at One Times Square, then it is lowered a total of seventy seven feet (twenty three meters). This descent takes a total of one minute, coming to its final destination at precisely twelve midnight. There are approximately one million people who witness this event each year, and a least a billion more watching on television around the globe (one hundred million of those people reside in the United States. They have celebrated the introduction of a new year at Time Square ever since 1904. Originally there was no descending ball but instead there were fireworks over the city, lighting up the midnight sky. 1907 saw the construction of the first ball by Walter Palmer, the chief electrician at the New York Times. It weighed seven hundred pounds and was lit by one hundred twenty-five watt bulbs. They were attempting to draw attention to Times Square and did so in a spectacular way. Over the years there were many changes to the celebratory ball including, colored lights and a lighter weight ball was made from aluminum. It was computerized in the mid nineties and finally the lights were changed to LED bulbs in the mid two thousands until in 2008 it was doubled in size and contains thirty five hundred LED lights. Now the ball, weighing in at nearly twelve thousand pounds is twelve feet in diameter and a permanent fixture atop a pole in Times Square. New Years Eve is also a night for parties and celebrating the passing of one year and the introduction of the new one, hoping for prosperity and good health with the changing of the year. There are formal balls and lots of regalia all around the world, giving those who wish to have a reason to celebrate. The Japanese people celebrate on January first based on the Gregorian calendar but before 1873 they celebrated according to the Chinese calendar and is one of Japans most important times of festival. In Sydney Australia they have a big fireworks celebration display every New Year’s Eve over the Sidney Harbor that offers a fantastic display. Over one million people observe this grand affair, with many millions more watching on television throughout Australia and there are major activities involving fireworks. Larger cities in India celebrate with dances and live concerts. Huge crowds gather in the more popular sites on the coastline such as Gateway of India, Bandra Bandstand, and Juhu Beach. It is more likely for friends to get together than family on this holiday in India. New Years is considered a major social holiday around the world with people rejoicing in another year passing while a new one enters their lives.
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