The world welcomed 2026 in waves, beginning in the far-flung Pacific nation of Kiribati, the first place on Earth to enter the new year. On the island’s remote coastline, celebrations were strikingly simple. One couple marked the moment on an empty beach, surrounded by darkness, silence and “countless crabs,” with no signs of modern life – an image that captured the calm before the global countdown unfolded.
As midnight moved westward across the Pacific, the new year arrived in New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Guam, where celebrations blended festivity with tradition. Families gathered for feasts, prayers and music. In Samoa, sharing ‘Ava’ (kava) and communal applause marked the transition, while in Guam, red rice and barbecues accompanied fireworks displays.
In Sydney, however, New Year celebrations took on a sombre tone. Hundreds of thousands lined the harbour to witness the iconic fireworks, but the joy was tempered by grief following the deadly Bondi Beach shooting earlier this month. Just two weeks after a father and son allegedly opened fire at a Jewish festival, killing 15 people in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades, the city paused to remember the victims.
An hour before midnight, parties across Sydney fell silent for a minute of remembrance, as the Harbour Bridge was bathed in white light to symbolise peace. Heavily armed police patrolled the streets amid tight security.
“Right now, the joy that we usually feel at the start of a new year is tempered by the sadness of the old,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a video message. At the stroke of midnight, nearly nine tonnes of fireworks lit up the harbour, marking both resilience and reflection.
“The fireworks have always been on my bucket list and I’m so happy to be here,” said Susana Suisuikli, an English tourist, as the sky exploded with colour above the Opera House.
From Sydney, the celebrations rolled on to Japan and South Korea, where the arrival of 2026 was marked not with fireworks but with tradition. In Tokyo and Seoul, massive bells were rung at temples and public squares—rituals believed to cleanse the past year’s sins and usher in good fortune. Crowds gathered quietly, offering prayers and reflection as the bells echoed through the night.
Across the globe, people toasted the end of 2025 – one of the hottest years on record, shaped by wars, political upheaval and economic uncertainty. The year saw Donald Trump’s return to the White House and sweeping tariffs that rattled global markets, a fragile Gaza ceasefire, and continuing war in Ukraine with no end in sight.
In Hong Kong, a planned New Year fireworks display over Victoria Harbour was cancelled to honour the memory of 161 people killed in a deadly apartment fire in November. Elsewhere, celebrations stretched onward – towards New York’s Times Square, Scotland’s Hogmanay, and Brazil’s Copacabana Beach, where more than two million people are expected to gather for what authorities call the world’s largest New Year’s Eve party.
Meanwhile, a British pharmacist found a rare twist in time – celebrating the new year in Samoa, then flying to American Samoa to welcome 2026 all over again after crossing the International Date Line.
From quiet beaches and temple bells to fireworks shadowed by mourning, the world stepped into 2026 carrying hope, grief, tradition and resilience – a shared moment of renewal shaped as much by reflection as celebration.
Source: BBC, AFP