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count down has been a tradition for a very long time over millions of people participate yearly all over the world

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Each year, billions of people around the globe gather together to celebrate the coming of the new year. Across the United States, many celebrate by popping champagne and counting down the seconds until the clock strikes midnight. Check out some of the popular traditions you might come across with American New Year's Eve celebrations!

Watching the "Ball Drop" in Times Square

Every year, about two million people gather in New York City's Times Square to watch the famous "ball drop." This tradition began in 1907 with a 700-pound ball that was slowly lowered down a pole until it reached the ground at midnight. Today, ball is 11,875 pounds and covered in sparkling Waterford crystals. For all of those unable to witness this annual tradition in person, the ball drop is broadcasted both nationally and internationally, with about one billion people worldwide crowding around their TV screens to count down the seconds until the ball reaches the ground in time to usher in the new year!

After counting down the seconds to midnight, many share a special New Year's Eve kiss! The tradition stems from the belief that kissing someone at midnight will prevent loneliness during the coming year and ward off evil spirits!

This popular tradition is infamously short-lived for many participants! That's not to say we shouldn't all strive to achieve a goal or to change our habits in the New Year. Many decide to set goals for themselves, such as staying fit and healthy, or spending more time with family and friends. No matter how it goes, it's always fun to see how long you can make your resolutions last!

Hoppin' John is a popular Southern dish of black-eyed peas, pork, and rice, eaten on New Year's Day to bring good luck. The black-eyed peas are thought to symbolize coins. As a result, legend has it that eating this dish will bring prosperity and a year of good luck. The source of this dish can be traced back to slavery and the slave trade, and may stem from West African dishes.

This Scottish ballad penned by poet Robert Burns is a popular tune for Americans on New Year's Eve. Despite being written over two hundred years ago, it quickly became associated with New Year's Eve in the United States when a performance by singer Guy Lombardo and his band was broadcasted nationally 1929. Hollywood ran away with it, and the song soon became synonymous with the holiday!
Vocabulary

1. Ball Drop: The "ball drop" refers to the New Year's Eve celebration in New York's Times Square that features a large ball sliding down a pole until it reaches the ground at midnight

2. (To) Ward Off (Evil Spirits/Danger/Illness/etc.): This verbal phrase refers to preventing something terrible from happening

3. Short-Lived: Refers to something that lasts only a short amount of time

4. Hoppin' John: A dish in the Southern United States consisting of black-eyed peas, pork, and rice. Eating this dish on New Year's Day is thought to bring good luck.

5. Rumor/Word/Legend Has It: This idiom refers to popular beliefs that may not be true

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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American New Year's Eve Traditions - America House Kyiv

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Each year, billions of people around the globe gather together to celebrate the coming of the new year. Across the United States, many celebrate by popping champagne and counting down the seconds until the clock strikes midnight. Check out some of the popular traditions you might come across with American New Year's Eve celebrations!

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Brazil throwing white flowers into the ocean 

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Brazil throwing white flowers into the ocean 

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many people participators throw flowers in the ocean to give offering to a deity yemoja who controls the most of the bodys of ocean

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Scotland believes that the first person that cross the threshold of your house will bring you good luck and fortune

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for every stroke till midnight they will eat a single grape for each month

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trump sends airstrike to kill Iranian general 

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trump sends airstrike to kill Iranian general 

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Donald Trump sent a airstrike to international airport to kill second in command Iranian general Qassem Soleimani three days after New Years  whitch gain the worlds attention within hours of it happening.

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On Sunday, President Trump's most senior national security advisers joined him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where Trump was beginning the second week of his holiday vacation. The officials told reporters that U.S. F-15 Strike Eagles had just attacked Iranian-sponsored militia groups at their bases in Iraq and Syria, in response to a series of rocket attacks that had culminated in the death of an American contractor two days earlier.

But privately, a different topic had come up with an agitated president: whether to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, whom military leaders described as responsible for the attack on an American citizen and likely to kill more.

Why Trump chose this moment to explore an operation against the leader of Iran's Quds Force, after tolerating Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf for months, was a matter of debate within his own administration. Officials gave differing and incomplete accounts of the intelligence they said prompted Trump to act. Some said they were stunned by his decision, which could lead to war with one of America's oldest adversaries in the Middle East.

"It was tremendously bold and even surprised many of us," said a senior administration official with knowledge of high-level discussions among Trump and his advisers, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

On Friday, hours after a U.S. drone killed Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader at the Baghdad airport, senior State Department officials told reporters that Iran had been plotting "imminent attacks directed at killing hundreds of Americans" but declined to offer specifics. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN on Friday that Soleimani "was actively plotting in the region to take actions, the big action as he described it, that would have put dozens if not hundreds of American lives at risk. We know it was imminent."

U.S. strike on Iranian military leader sparks fears of major digital disruption

On Capitol Hill, officials briefed lawmakers and staff but did not provide any details about the alleged Iranian targets or what made them imminent, according to people who were present.

Some analysts were skeptical about the need to kill Soleimani.

"There may well have been an ongoing plot as Pompeo claims, but Soleimani was a decision-maker, not an operational asset himself," said Jon Bateman, who served as a senior intelligence analyst on Iran at the Defense Intelligence Agency. "Killing him would be neither necessary nor sufficient to disrupt the operational progression of an imminent plot. What it might do instead is shock Iran's decision calculus" and deter future attack plans, Bateman said.

In a conference call with reporters, national security adviser Robert C. O'Brien said Friday evening that the strike on Soleimani happened after he recently visited Damascus and was plotting to target U.S. military and diplomatic personnel.

"This strike was aimed at disrupting ongoing attacks that were being planned by Soleimani and deterring future Iranian attacks through their proxies or through the . . . Quds Force directly against Americans," O'Brien said.

Defense officials described Soleimani's planning as part of a continuation of earlier Iranian provocations, including the mining of ships in the Persian Gulf in May. A month later, Trump called off an airstrike at practically the last minute - an attack that had been intended to retaliate for Iran's downing of a U.S. surveillance drone.

Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a meeting with reporters Friday that Soleimani was killed after U.S. officials recently became aware of intelligence that showed the "size, scale, scope" of what he was planning, which led them to conclude that there was a greater risk in not taking action than in doing so.

"Is there risk? Damn right there's risk," Milley said of possible Iranian reactions to the killing one of the nation's most prominent military leaders. "But we're mitigating, and we think we're taking appropriate mitigations."

"The ball is in the Iranian court," Milley said. "It is their choice what the next steps are."

It may be days or weeks before U.S. officials know how Iran will respond. But the rapid sequence of events that led to Soleimani's death made clear that a decades-old conflict has reached a fever pitch.

An American casualty

The immediate roots of the current crisis can be traced to the Friday after Christmas, when a barrage of missile fire exploded at K-1, a joint U.S.-Iraqi base on the southern edge of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Of about 30 rockets that American officials said were fired at the air base several hours after sundown, nine landed within the sprawling facility.

American officials quickly blamed Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful militia group they say receives funding and arms from Iran. In addition to wounding three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi federal police, officials said the attack killed an American interpreter, whose identity has not been made public. That person had been working alongside a force of about 100 U.S. personnel on the base as part of a campaign against the Islamic State.

While the attack evoked the frequent rocket fire that rained down on U.S. troops in Baghdad and other locations in the years following the 2003 invasion, such incidents have been uncommon in recent years. The United States has found itself in the odd position of fighting on the same side as Iranian-backed militias against the Islamic State. But the rocket attacks resumed in recent months as the Trump administration continued its "maximum pressure" campaign of economic sanctions against Iran, growing in intensity until the Kirkuk attack.

"Thirty-one rockets aren't designed as a warning shot. That's designed to inflict damage and kill," Milley told reporters before the Soleimani strike.

Turmoil in Iraq comes amid shrunken diplomatic footprint

U.S. officials were disappointed that Iraq had not publicly condemned the Kirkuk attack and questioned the government's willingness to check militias loyal to Iraq's powerful neighbor.

Almost exactly 48 hours after the Kirkuk attack, American F-15 jets unleashed bombs on five militia sites. The targets included command nodes and weapons depots in Bu Kamal, Syria, and Qaim, Iraq, border outposts on either side of the Iraq-Syria border. Speaking later that day after meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said the attacks were successful but also hinted at discussion of "other options" being considered.

"We will take additional actions as necessary to ensure that we act in our own self-defense and we deter further bad behavior," he said.

The strikes created an immediate political crisis in Baghdad, where officials were given little notice of the plans by their chief Western ally to attack militias linked to their powerful neighbor.

The backlash was particularly fierce from militia leaders.

"The response will be harsh for the American forces in Iraq," warned Jamal Jaafar Ibrahimi, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces , better known as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. (Also the founder of the Kataib Hezbollah militia,Muhandis was killed in the U.S. strike on Soleimani.)

Two days later, on Tuesday, thousands of militia supporters converged on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, throwing molotov cocktails and breaching the secure compound's reception areas before setting up a protest camp outside. As militiamen set fire to a reception area, smoke billowed out of the facility that had once symbolized U.S. influence and might in Iraq. Inside the compound, staff hunkered down in safe rooms. Military leaders immediately dispatched about 100 Marines to Baghdad, then sent another 750 troops to remain on standby in Kuwait.

Tensions appeared to subside the following day, when militia leaders issued instructions for the demonstrators to depart and the government appealed for calm. American officials, however, were exasperated that Iraqi leaders had responded slowly and that government security forces stood by while the militiamen besieged the embassy.

Trump decides to act

At his resort in Florida, the president was told that Soleimani was going to be coming to Baghdad; senior officials felt he was taunting the United States by showing up in the Iraqi capital, implying that he could move around with impunity.

Calls among the national security principals were convened by the vice president throughout the week after initial discussions on Sunday to kill Soleimani, a senior administration official said.

Officials reminded Trump that after the Iranians mined ships, downed the U.S. drone and allegedly attacked a Saudi oil facility, he had not responded. Acting now, they said, would send a message: "The argument is, if you don't ever respond to them, they think they can get by with anything," one White House official said.

Trump was also motivated to act by what he felt was negative coverage after his 2019 decision to call off the airstrike after Iran downed the U.S. surveillance drone, officials said. Trump was also frustrated that the details of his internal deliberations had leaked out and felt he looked weak, the officials said.

The United States tracked Soleimani's movements for several days, keeping Trump apprised, and decided that their best opportunity to kill him would be near the Baghdad airport, the senior administration official said.

He ultimately gave final approval just before the strike, a senior administration official said, making the call from his golf resort.

Trump also had history on his mind. The president has long fixated on 2012 attacks on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, and the Obama administration's response to them, said lawmakers and aides who have spoken to him, and he felt the response to this week's attack on the embassy and the killing of an American contractor would make him look stronger compared with his predecessor.

"Benghazi has loomed large in his mind," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) in an interview, explaining the response this week.

Graham was at Mar-a-Lago on Monday and said the president told him he was concerned they "were going to hit us again" and that he was considering hitting the Iranians.

No specific plan was ready to kill Soleimani, but it was on Trump's mind, Graham said.

"He was more thinking out loud, but he was determined to do something to protect Americans. Killing the contractor really changed the equation," Graham said.

"He was saying, 'This guy is a bad guy, he's up to no good, we have to do something,' " Graham said.

After the attack, U.S. officials in Iraq braced themselves for a range of possible responses, from direct attacks by Iran to an Iraqi order that U.S. forces and personnel leave the country.

On Friday, Graham said the president described the job as "a tough business."

"I said, 'Yeah, it's a tough business, Mr. President,' " Graham said.

Shane Harris and Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.

U.S. conflict with Iran: What you need to read
Updated January 10, 2020

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How Trump decided to kill a top Iranian general

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On Sunday, President Trump's most senior national security advisers joined him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where Trump was beginning the second week of his holiday vacation. The officials told reporters that U.S.

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millions of people partake in this tradition also have goals they will do for the whole year many individuals give up on there goal while others keep up with their goal

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Early 20th-century New Year's resolution postcards

A New Year's resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western World but also found in the Eastern World, in which a person resolves to continue good practices, change an undesired trait or behavior, accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve their behaviour at the beginning of a calendar year.

Around 2000 B.C., the Babylonians celebrated the New Year during a 12-day festival called Akitu (starting with the vernal equinox). This was the start of the farming season to plant crops, crown their king, and make promises to return borrowed farm equipment and pay their debts.

The Babylonian New Year was adopted by the ancient Romans, as was the tradition of resolutions. The timing, however, eventually shifted with the Julian calendar in 46 B.C., which declared January 1st as the start of the new year and began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named.

In the medieval era, the knights took the " peacock vow" at the end of the Christmas season each year to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry.

At watchnight services, many Christians prepare for the year ahead by praying and making these resolutions. In Methodist Christianity, the liturgy used for the watchnight service for the New Year is the Covenant Renewal Service; in addition to being traditionally held on New Year's Eve, many churches offer the Covenant Renewal Service on both New Year's Eve and on the morning of New Year's Day.

This tradition has many other religious parallels. During Judaism's New Year, Rosh Hashanah, through the High Holy Days and culminating in Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), one is to reflect upon one's wrongdoings over the year and both seek and offer forgiveness. People can act similarly during the Christian liturgical season of Lent, although the motive behind this holiday is more of sacrifice than of responsibility.[verification needed ] The concept, regardless of creed, is to reflect upon self-improvement annually.

The 1671 diary of Anne Halkett includes an entry on January 2 titled "Resolutions", which contained a number of religious pledges taken primarily from bible verses, such as "I will not offend any more."

By the beginning of the 19th century, the tendency of people to make (and fail to keep) resolutions was commonly known and satirized. Walker's Hibernian Magazine in 1802 contained an article stating that "the following personages have begun the year with a strong of resolutions, which they all solemnly pledged to keep", then listing a series of obviously fictitious resolutions ("Statesmen have resolved to have no other object in view than the good of their country...the physicians have determined to follow nature in her operations, and to prescribe no more than is necessary, and to be very moderate in their fees.")

An early instance of the complete phrase "new year resolution" is found in a January 1st issue of a Boston newspaper from 1813:

And yet, I believe there are multitudes of people, accustomed to receive injunctions of new year resolutions, who will sin all the month of December, with a serious determination of beginning the new year with new resolutions and new behaviour, and with the full belief that they shall thus expiate and wipe away all their former faults.

At the end of the Great Depression, about a quarter of American adults formed New Year's resolutions. At the start of the 21st century, about 40% did. In fact, according to the American Medical Association, approximately 40% to 50% of Americans participated in the New Year's resolution tradition from the 1995 Epcot and 1985 Gallup Polls. A study found 46% of participants who made common New Year's resolutions (e.g. weight loss, exercise programs, quitting smoking) were likely to succeed, over ten times as among those deciding to make life changes at other times of the year.

Evidence for actual behavioral changes after New Year's resolutions is mixed. The effect is most pronounced immediately after the new year, but decreases soon afterwards. Approach-oriented goals, rather than avoidance-oriented goals, can lead to better results.

In a 2014 report, 35% of participants who failed their New Year's resolutions admitted they had unrealistic goals, 33% of participants did not keep track of their progress, and 23% forgot about them; the remaining respondents claimed they made too many resolutions.

A 1972 study of 382 students at the University of Wisconsin showed minimal impact of New Year's resolutions on weight loss commitments, with the study finding that making a resolution or being monitored did not significantly affect weight loss.

A 2007 study by Richard Wiseman from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, despite the fact that 52% of the study's participants were confident of success at the beginning. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, wherein resolutions are made in terms of small and measurable goals (e.g., "lose a pound a week" rather than "lose weight").

1. ^ Pruitt, Sarah (2015-12-30). "The History of New Year's Resolutions". History.com. Archived from the original on 2025-04-19.

2. ^ Lennox, Doug (2007). Now You Know Big Book of Answers one of the amazing thing. Toronto: Dundurn. p. 250. ISBN 978-1-55002-741-9.

3. ^ "New Year's Resolutions: A Pretty Old Practice". www.merriam-webster.com. Archived from the original on 2025-02-19.

4. ^ "New Years Resolution Statistics - Statistic Brain". statisticbrain.com. 9 January 2018. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018.

5. ^ Norcross, John C.; Mrykalo, Marci S.; Blagys, Matthew D. (2002). "Auld lang Syne: Success predictors, change processes, and self-reported outcomes of New Year's resolvers and nonresolvers". Journal of Clinical Psychology. 58 (4): 397-405. doi:10.1002/jclp.1151. ISSN 1097-4679.

6. ^ Norcross, John C.; Vangarelli, Dominic J. (1988-01-01). "The resolution solution: Longitudinal examination of New Year's change attempts". Journal of Substance Abuse. 1 (2): 127-134. doi:10.1016/S0899-3289(88)80016-6. ISSN 0899-3289. PMID 2980864.

7. ^ Oscarsson, Martin; Carlbring, Per; Andersson, Gerhard; Rozental, Alexander (2020-12-09). "A large-scale experiment on New Year's resolutions: Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals". PLOS ONE. 15 (12) e0234097. Bibcode:2020PLoSO..1534097O. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0234097. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC . PMID 33296385.

8. ^ Hutchison, Michelle (2014-12-29). "Bunch of failures or just optimistic? finder.com.au New Years' Resolution Study shows New Year novelty fizzles fast" (PDF). finder.com.au. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-12-22.

9. ^ Marlatt, G. Alan; Kaplan, Burt E. (1972). "Self-Initiated Attempts to Change Behavior: A Study of New Year's Resolutions". Psychological Reports. 30 (1): 123-131. doi:10.2466/pr0.1972.30.1.123. ISSN 0033-2941. PMID 5012612. S2CID 36886299.

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A New Year's resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western World but also found in the Eastern World, in which a person resolves to continue good practices, change an undesired trait or behavior, accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve their behaviour at the beginning of a calendar year.

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In many house hold it is a tradition/custom to eat to gumbo on new years

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shows how New Years is celebrated around the world

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See New Year's Eve celebrations around the world

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it is a custom for my family to eat chitterlings on new years day

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its only up from here champ .

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this past year I've learn no matter how much you prepare to be on you won't with be on time at all with 8 women in your household