Computing Corner

Possibly one of the biggest social holidays in the United States is New Years Eve. While this holiday has no bearing on people's work schedule as some others do, after hours all the rules change. Many companies have come to have a New Year celebration or two with employees staying after hours and bringing their spouses to enjoy some social camaraderie and, for many, a little alcoholic libation. Even people who don't attend a party with coworkers will attend a New Years celebration somewhere.

New York City has hosted the largest New Years Eve celebration in the country for many years now. The famous dropping of the ball, a 1076 foot waterford crystal located atop number 1 Times Square, has become a deeply rooted custom for celebrating this holiday even for those who have never been to New York. This event which begins at 11:59 pm on December 31 and culminates in the ball reaching the bottom of its slide at exactly 12:00 midnight is shown on television all across the country and repeated when midnight arrives in each time zone. Other locations have adopted the custom of lowering something to signify the end of one year and the beginning of another. The objects used range from things as innocuous as oranges to the exotic, a live o' possum in a cage.

Large parties are also held in other cities all across the nation. New Orleans has a long history of New Years Eve celebrations with people gathering in the French Quarter, usually on Bourbon Street to listen to music, dance, and drink. Los Vegas closes the famous strip down to vehicles and people walk all along it moving from party to party in what adds up to be a huge celebration. Seattle, Washington rings in the New Year, not by dropping something, but by raising the elevator on the Space Needle and launching fireworks timed so that both reach the top at exactly midnight.

Even religious groups have large New Year celebration. While not focusing on the consumption of alcohol and revelry that other parties offer, these groups look forward to the end of the old year and the coming of the new with the same fervor as everyone else. Meetings are held in which entire congregations come together to pray and thank God for the many blessings they received during the old year and to ask for continued blessings into the new.
One common thread among all types of gathering to welcome the new year is that the party spans across the midnight shift from old to new. Most people drink a toast at midnight to welcome the new year. Others make NewYears Resolutions, plans to stop smoking, lose weight, exercise more, or whatever other goals they may have to improve themselves. Midnight is the deadline.

Due to the enormous number of parties (and hangovers), NewYears Day is recognized as a paid holiday off work for most workers in the country. Knowing they won't have to get up and go to work the next day allows many people to enjoy celebrating New Year's Eve more than any other holiday of the year.