New Year Eve

New Year’s Eve is a time for merriment. Most Americans spend the end of the old year and the beginning of the New Year celebrating with friends. One popular New Year’s Eve drink is eggnog – a thick, yellow mixture of eggs, milk or cream and sugar. Champagne is often served for the midnight toast on New Year’s Eve.

One of the noisiest and most crowded of New Year’s Eve celebrations takes place in New York City at Times Square. Thousands of New Yorkers gather there, and millions of Americans across the country join them via TV.

After celebrating the New Year’s arrival, many people spend this day quietly visiting friends, or watching TV. Two famous festivals are broadcast all over the country – the Tournament of Roses and the Mummer’s Parade.

The Tournament of Roses takes place in Pasadena, California. Elaborate rose arrangements depict a different theme each year. Prizes are awarded to the cities with the most unusual and attractive floral displays.

The Mummer’s Parade, which takes place in Philadelphia, is a ten-hour spectacle. Swedish immigrants who used to welcome the New Year by roaming the countryside in costumes introduced it in the United States. Today the Mummer’s Parade is more orderly but still colourful. Men dress in interesting costumes, some of them impersonate women, since no women are allowed to participate.

New Year’s Day has traditionally been the occassion for starting new programs and giving up bad habits. People talk about «turning over a new leaf». Many Americans make New Year’s resolutions, promising themselves to improve their behavior (to spend less money, to give up smoking, to begin a diet, to control one’s temper). To Americans of all races, the closing of one calen¬dar year and the opening of another is a serious yet happy occassion. They review the past with nostalgia and look forward to a new beginning with renewed hope.