Random Bits of Knowledge About The New Year

I’m sure you’re still recovering from New Year’s Eve. And we’ll be back soon with some advice on making — and sticking to — New Year resolutions. In the meantime, here’s some New Year's facts.

The Times Square Ball Drop once had a practical use

Times Square’s famous New Year’s Eve ball drop traces back to a ​19th-century navigation tool​: The “time ball,” invented to help sailors set their ship chronometers accurately from a distance. In 1829, British Royal Navy officer Robert Wauchope used a highly visible ball that was raised and then dropped at an exact moment so ships in port could synchronize their clocks without sending someone ashore. From there, time balls spread to ports worldwide, including New York in 1907, where it was adopted when Times Square needed a replacement for banned fireworks.

Times Square drops roughly ​3,000 pounds of confetti​ at midnight. Organizers do a public “confetti test” beforehand, which is messy, and some of the confetti comes from the “Wishing Wall” where people write their wishes on slips of paper that are then blown all over the city, to be picked up by confused residents.

There are A LOT of New Year’s traditions

Everyone knows about the kiss at midnight. But were you aware you also should eat ​12 grapes​? (In Spain, those pieces of fruit are believed to bring 12 months of prosperity.) In Latin America, people take their ​empty suitcases on a run​ around the block to ensure good travel in the coming year. Or, if you’re in the American South, you’re probably eating some ​black-eyed peas and greens​: the peas symbolize coins, leafy greens represent paper money, and cornbread often stands in for gold, becoming an edible wish for prosperity.

In Japan, the New Year is tied to ​osechi ryori​: lacquered boxes filled with sweet black soybeans for health and diligence, herring or salmon roe for fertility and golden chestnut mash for wealth and prosperity.

In Italy, people wear ​red underwear​ on New Year’s Eve. In the Philippines, they wear ​polka dots​ (though, not so much on their underwear. Mostly in other places.) And in Greece, everyone takes turns ​stomping on a pomegranate​ until it breaks into thirteen pieces — which brings good luck to each month, plus a little extra for trying to wash out the pomegranate juice from your shoes and pants.

Actually, no one really knows when the New Year starts

January 1 hasn’t always marked the start of the year. In ancient Rome, the ​new year began in March​ with the return of spring. It wasn’t until 45 B.C. that Julius Caesar, through the Julian calendar, officially moved the new year to January 1, partly because that’s when new government officials took office.

And, weirdly, the first day of the year is ​25 hours long​. Because the international date line marks where each day begins and ends, and because the line zigzags across the Pacific to match borders (where there are 38 local time standards, including half-hour and 45-minute offsets), it all adds up to taking about 25 hours for all inhabited places to finish the year’s first “day.” Christmas Island is usually the first place to welcome in a new year, while the last inhabited places are Niue and American Samoa.

And if you want to take more vacation this year, you’re in luck. You can stretch ​11 PTO days into 41 days off​ in 2026, if you plan it correctly.

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How did you spend your New Year’s? What big exciting plans do you have for 2026! What wish would you write on a piece of Times Square confetti? Let me know in the comments!

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