At the end of the year, you feel sad about leaving this year behind, while getting excited about entering a new one!
There are some really exciting festivals to help elevate these bittersweet feelings into something fun all over the world. Let’s check out some of the festivals to usher in the New Year!
People in the Netherlands face the New Year with such enthusiastic passion.
The ‘diving festival’ to celebrate the New Year’s Day first began in 1960, and it has since become overcrowded with people trying to brave the winter cold every year. It’s held from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. on January 1st in over 60 regions throughout the Netherlands. The biggest crowd gathers at the Scheveningen beach. Over 10,000 people jump into the cold winter sea wearing swimsuit and the orange Santa hats that symbolize the Netherlands. It’s easy to pick up on the sense of passion exuded by the Dutch merely by looking at them plunging into the North Sea in the biting cold!
If you want to ring in the New Year with warmth and glamour, head to Australia!
The average temperature in Australia in December and January is usually around 75℉. With the weather being completely opposite from the cold Northern Hemisphere, it’s perfect for a warm winter trip. The ‘fireworks festival’ on January 1st, exuding a heat that puts it on par with the balmy weather, may really compel you to go.
The splendid and beautiful fireworks festival lasts for about 10 minutes from the moment that New Year’s Day arrives every year! The view around the Opera House is like a fantasy world that is so breathtaking that it will make you speechless. As many as 5 million tourists head there from all over the world just to experience this show, so you can just imagine the scale.
The real festival begins with the fireworks embroidering the sky above Sydney Harbour Bridge. People all dance together regardless of nationality, age and gender, embracing the New Year with joy and fervor. The fireworks festival is a delightful event where people all encourage one another’s New Year’s resolutions with great music, delicious food and booze.
If you want to experience the most delightful New Year’s Day you can expect to have in your lifetime, make your way to Australia!
In Korea, people spend the last night of every year and the first day of the next with a peaceful Bell Tolling event.
The ‘Watch-Night bell rings’ at Bosingak in Jongno, Seoul, for a total of 33 times at the stroke of midnight on December 31st, wishing for the nation’s peace, people’s good health and longevity, and overall well-being. Many people congregate around Bosingak to hear the sound of this bell, bearing wishes of their own. The sound is so clear and magnificent that it seems as if it cleanly knocks any lingering thoughts out of your mind and lets you begin the New Year with a fresh mindset.
There is another event that wishes for peace in the New Year, which is ‘watching the first sunrise’. From all over the nation, hordes of people gather around the spot where the sun rises first in order to see the first sun rising on New Year’s Day. The East Sea is considered the best vantage point to see the first sunrise. You can watch the sunrise from along the beach and eat the delicious seasonal seafood to help get over the bitterness of the overnight cold, and you’ll discover the chance to be able to truly experience the serenity of how the East ushers in a new year.
It’s clear that people throughout the world love hosting their own unique special New Year’s festivals! We, ‘NEXEN TODAY’, hope all your wishes come true in 2017 and always wish for your happiness, no matter the time of year. 
