Millions of Americans gather around their television sets (or on the streets of Times Square, despite freezing temps) to watch the ball drop at the stroke of midnight each year. Kicking off in 1907 to ring in January 1908, New York Times owner Adolph Ochs created the event to draw attention to the Times’s new headquarters, and it’s been an annual spectacle and one of the most popular New Year’s Eve celebrations ever since
United States: Watching the ball drop Millions of Americans gather around their television sets (or on the streets of Times Square, despite freezing temps) to
Spain: Eating 12 grapes The Spanish start off their new year by eating 12 grapes, which symbolize each strike of the clock. The tradition of las doce
India: Building a sculpture of an old man and burning it down “Back in Bombay we’d make an effigy of an ‘old man’ that symbolized