New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2010, is two days away and counting down in Times Square in New York City, and in cities and towns across the United States and around the world. Many celebrations focus on time balls to calculate and welcome the New Year. Other localities drop pickles, acorns, and fish instead of time balls.
The 2011 Times Square "Let There Be Love" Ball
Mineral & Rock Spheres
World's Largest Selection of Fine Mineral, Rock & Gemstone Spheres
www.Rikoo.com/Crystal-BallsTimes Square Beds From$29
Daily/weekly/monthly/Rent Bed&Rooms Clean/Free Internet/Comfort Beds/Hi
www.timessquareliving.comBed & Breakfast New York
Affordable Luxury Free Continental Breakfast, Book New York City Now
www.upperyorkvillesuites.com/
The Times Square ball that will drop on December 31, 2010, measures 12 feet in diameter, weighs 11, 875 pounds and is covered with 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles of varied sizes. The crystals produce millions of vibrant colors and countless patterns.
Waterford Crystal designed 2,688 "Let There Be Love" crystal triangles arranged in a romantic pattern that blends hearts with diamond cutting. The 2,688 triangles are emblazoned with the 2010 "Let There Be Courage" design featuring a ribbon medal defining the triumph of courage over adversity. The 1,152 triangles sparkle with the "Let There Be Joy" theme designed by Waterford artisans in Ireland, of an angel with uplifted arms welcoming the New Year. The rest of the 960 triangles are the original "Let There Be Light" design featuring a radiating sunburst.
The 2,688 crystal triangles are bolted to 672 LED (Light Emitting Diodes) modules which are attached to the ball’s aluminum frame. The Ball is lit by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs . Each LED module contains 48 LEDs, 12 red, 12 blue, 12 green and 12 white for a total of 8,064 of each color.
Images
Jeff Straus, president of Countdown Entertainment and co-organizer of Times Square New Year’s Eve said that "The new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball will be a bright sparkling jewel atop One Times Square entertaining New Yorkers and tourists from around the world not only on December 31, but throughout the year."
New Year’s Eve in Times Square Is a 100 Year Old Tradition
People celebrated New Year’s Eve in Times Square as early as 1904, but it took until 1907 for the tradition of the New Year’s Eve Ball to begin. In 1907, the first New Year’s Eve Ball which measured five feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds descended from the flagpole on top of One Times Square. Jacob Starr, a young immigrant metalworker, built the ball from iron and wood and lit it with one hundred 25 –watt bulbs. For most of the Twentieth Century, the company that Jacob founded, Artkraft Strauss, lowered the ball every year.
The New Year’s Ball has descended every year since 1907 except for 1942 and 1943, when officials cancelled the ceremony because of the wartime dimming of New York City lights. Despite the absence of a ball, crowds still congregated in Times Square and welcomed the New Year with a minute of silence. After that chimes rang from sound trucks parked at the base of the tower, a continuation of earlier Trinity Church celebrations where crowds gathered to "ring out the old, ring in the new."
Ball Dropping Symbolizes Time Passing
The idea of a ball "dropping" to symbolize time passing goes back into the mists of time far distant from Times Square to Greenwich, England. The English installed the first time ball on top of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. The time ball would drop every afternoon at one o’clock so that the captains of nearby ships could accurately set their chronometers which were essential to navigation.
After the time balls had proven themselves at Greenwich, about 150 of them were installed around the world. The United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. carries on the tradition. Every day at noon a time ball descends from the flagpole. In Times Square every year a time ball descends on the stroke for midnight to symbolize the coming of the New Year for over one billion excited people around the world.
People Drop Everything from Pickles to Acorns to Welcome the New Year
Millions of people watch the time ball drop in New York’s Time Square and millions more watch more unusual items drop to welcome in the New Year before their eyelids close over the New Year.
Mount Olive, North Carolina, is celebrating its twelfth annual New Year's Eve Pickle Drop on December 31, 2010, at the corner of Cucumber and Vine Streets. The festival features live music by Samantha Casey and the Bluegrass Jam, free refreshments, and a canned food drive for the Food Bank of Eastern & Central North Carolina. The festivities start at 6 p.m. The New Year's Eve pickle descends the Mount Olive Pickle Company flagpole at 7 p.m. midnight - that's 7 o'clock EST-which also happens to be midnight Greenwich Mean Time. Festival organizers say "that way we are official, we shout Happy New Year!, and we don't have to stay up until midnight!"
Since 1992, Raleigh, the capital city of North Carolina, has earned its title, "The City of Oaks," by literally dropping an acorn as a symbol of new beginnings every New Year's Eve. The acorn weighs approximately 1,250 pounds and measures about ten feet , but instead of investing in a gigantic acorn storage unit 364 days of the year, the town of Raleigh proudly displays the acorn in Moore Square. Then on New Year's Eve, technicians transport the acorn by crane to participate in the midnight count down.
Eastport, Maine, is ringing in the New Year with its fifth consecutive year of New Year's Eve festivities with the Great Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop. To honor both the United States and Canada, two drops will take place, one at 11 p.m. U.S. time and the other at midnight on December 31, 2010. The first drop will be a Canadian maple leaf to honor Eastport's Canadian neighbors and then a giant sardine will be dropped at midnight to commemorate the regions historic sardine fishing and canning past. Celebrations and events take place all over Eastport, but the leaf and sardine drop are held downtown at the Tides Institute and Museum of Art at Bank Square.
MSNBC calls the Great Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop one of America's most offbeat celebrations.
Pittsburgh Raises the Ball
Pennsylvania has numerous towns and cities that drop a variety of objects to welcome in the New Year. Hummelstown drops a lollipop. Duncannon drops a sled, Richland drops a cigar, Steelton drops an entire steamroller and Frogtown, a frog.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a 1,000 pound ball titled "The Future of Pittsburgh," will ascend 74 feet at midnight on December 31, 2010, to the top of Penn Avenue Place as people count down the passing of the old year and the beginning of the New Year. Organizers of Pittsburgh's First Night Family celebration decided to raise the ball instead of dropping it as a symbol of Pittsburgh's revitalization and the hope of a Happy New Year and prosperous future.
References
Aveni, Anthony. Book of the Year: A Brief History of our Holidays. Oxford University Press, 2002
Jones, Lynda. Kids Around the World Celebrate!: The Best Feasts and Festivals from Many Lands. Jassey-Brass, 1999
(source:suite101.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment