The New Year 2026 has already been celebrated: who was the first in the world to mark the holiday.

According to ТСН: Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean, as well as New Zealand, Tonga, and Samoa were the first to welcome the New Year.

First Celebrations

The residents of Christmas Island, located south of Hawaii and northeast of Australia, were the first to celebrate the year 2026. This island, also known as Kiritimati, consists of several atolls and stretches almost 4,000 kilometers from east to west.

At 1:00 PM Kyiv time, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, and Tokelau welcomed the New Year. New Zealand celebrated January 1 with bright fireworks in Auckland. Fireworks have become a universal symbol of New Year’s Eve celebrations, creating a festive atmosphere with light shows and loud festivities.

Celebrations in Australia

Australia also joined the celebrations, organizing a large-scale fireworks show in Sydney over Port Jackson.

The world consists of 39 different time zones, so New Year celebrations last for a full 26 hours. Following the initial celebrations are Japan, Korea, China, Southeast Asian countries, and then Europe.

While the last preparations are taking place in Ukraine, in other parts of the world, glasses are already being raised to the year 2026. The residents of the Line Islands and Kiribati were the first to celebrate, initiating a grand New Year’s relay.

Welcoming the New Year is not only a joy and festive spirit but also a wonderful opportunity for people from different corners of the globe to unite in a common celebration. The first to plunge into the New Year were those living on Christmas Island, and subsequently, other countries take up the relay, creating a unique feeling of global interaction.