New Years Celebrations Around The World

Literally meaning "for old times' sake", the strains of "Auld Lang Syne", a Scottish song rewritten in 1788 and posthumously published after the poet's death in 1796, can still be heard as the clock hands near the midnight mark on New Year's Eve, in almost all English speaking countries. The gathering of Scots dwelling in London, outside St. Paul's Church to sing the modern rendition of the age old folk song is still a common sight even today which makes it one of the most loved new year traditions. People also come together at Trafalgar square, Piccadilly Circus and around the Big Ben to hear the bells that usher in the new year. They also join hands and sing the song out loud.

So integral a part of New Year's Day has it become that citizens of the United States see it as the first indicator of the advent of the new year, even if the clock signaled midnight before the song goes on air. Popularized by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, in the year 1929, wear Lombardo crooned the song at Hotel Roosevelt as the clock struck 12. That night a custom was birthed in New York City for the Americans which made the song a regular on the radio and then television at the onset of every New Years Day at midnight until 1978, with "Happy New Year, America" replacing it on the CBS in 1979 till 1995. Waldorf Astoria mandatorily played it every New Year's Eve until 1976. Amazingly, Lombardo too, had heard the song in Ontario, his native place in London, where too it was relayed for the domicile Scots in Britain.