The beginning of 2023 is not celebrated at the same time everywhere in the world. There are places that celebrate it before us and others that celebrate it after.
Who is celebrating before us?
The first place in the world to celebrate 2023 was Christmas Island, also known as Kiribati, an atoll in Oceania that is part of the Equatorial Sporades archipelago and is in the same time zone as the islands of Tonga and Samoa, which however further away are west. Fireworks lit up the Kiribati sky as our clock read 11am on December 31st.
At lunchtime our glasses were raised to celebrate the start of the New Year in Auckland, the capital of New Zealand.
The New Year was toasted in Sydney about an hour later than in Auckland, while on the 31st at 4pm Italian time it was Tokyo that opened the champagne to welcome 2023.
Thousands of colored lights lit up the Singapore sky in a mesmerizing fireworks display to the rhythm of the music at 6pm Italian time, while in Moscow the countdown ended an hour earlier than here.
The countries celebrating the beginning of 2023 are the last
At 3 a.m. local time, when the barrels and bottles of sparkling wine in Italy had already been used up, the year 2023 also arrived in Rio de Janeiro.
As the clock reached 6 a.m. here, New York joined in the celebrations – as usual in the famous Times Square – while Los Angeles toasted the year 2023 at 9 a.m. on Sunday, January 1st.
The final year to celebrate 2023 will be Hawaii, where beach parties and spectacular fireworks displays begin at 12 p.m. on January 1st. The Hawaiian Islands are – along with Alaska – one of the places in the world where New Year’s Eve is celebrated late.