Happy New Year

Happy New Year, 2011 is now just a memory, as 2012 has been welcomed in by revellers all around the world. Samoa was the first country to welcome the new year, thanks to a change in its prime position on the international date line. That country now celebrates first, rather than last thanks to the shift. Also greeting the new year well before the UK, New Zealand put on a magnificent fireworks display around Auckland’s Sky Tower.

Across the Tasman, the Sydney Harbour Bridge put on a magnificent display, as one of the most iconic international fireworks displays exploded in the shape of a cloud hinting that “every cloud has a sliver lining”.

Melbourne’s art centre spire exploded with flaming debris during the fireworks display on the Yarra River, though no revellers were injured in the incident.

Hong Kong shared its wealth with a £1m fireworks display lighting up the city’s glittering skyscrapers on Kowloon bay.

London’s magnificent display of fireworks launched more than the new year, it ushered in the Olympic year for the capital.

The London Eye and Big Ben were the focal points of the colourful fireworks displays.

Further north in Edinburgh, hogmanay was celebrated with a fireworks display that threw imposing Edinburgh castle into darkness. The usually dominant building played second fiddle to an impressive display of fireworks.

In New York, tonnes of confetti drifted onto Times Square as the famous ball dropped ushering in the new era.

The New Year’s Day parade will wind through London today from 11:45 am and 500,000 spectators who nipped last night’s partying in the bud early are expected along 2.2 mile route from The Ritz Hotel to Parliament Street.

Happy New Year 2012

Happy New Year 2012, We are all looking forward to a new year but many are fearful of the coming of 2012. Some believe that the upcoming year is marking the end of an historic period. Many think that this year will be a spiritually changing one and far too many believe it will mark the end of the world. This idea has been boosted in popular culture through movies, books and websites detailing how and why this year will mark the end.
The apocalypse was a recurring topic of excitement when I was a growing up in a remote Native community on the James Bay coast. It seemed like whenever a significant date or the announcements of a mystic or religious leader was heard, everyone talked about an end date. When news spread of the end, everyone lived at a more frenzied pace and more people attended the local church. Those end time believer’s plans were tossed to the wind. What was the use of thinking about the future if the end was coming? There was a general sense of fear and apprehension for the future. I have lived through countless apocalypses at this point. I grew so tired of them by the time I was a teenager that I started wishing for an apocalypse for the apocalypse.
When it comes to the upcoming year 2012, most people cite the Mayan long count calendar, a number of years calculated to be a 5,125 year period, according to the Mayan system. This time period actually ends on December 21, 2012 in our modern calendar and it is this date that is falsely explained as the moment when our world will end.
When Europeans first read about Mayan culture and writing, they did so with a Euro perspective. One of the strongest of European ideas were based on Christianity and the image of an end of the world and a catastrophic apocalypse. It was with this frame of mind that a German scholar named Ernst Forstemann, in the early 1900s interpreted some Mayan writing to describe a catastrophic flood and a ‘destruction of the world’. This scholar made no reference to the Mayan long count calendar, December 21, 2012 or even if the events he described took place in the past or would happen in the future. Succeeding researchers in Mayan culture made reference to his ideas and later attributed the events to the end of the Mayan long count calendar. This was an untruth.