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NEW YEAR’S DAY (JANUARY 1)

In the United States the legal holiday is January 1, but Americans begin celebrating on December 31. Sometimes people and cover their faces with masks. According to an old tradition, guests unmask at midnight.

At New Year’s Eve parties across the United States on December

31, many guests watch television as part of the festivities. Most of the television channels show Times Square in the heart of New York City. At one minute before midnight, a lighted ball drops slowly from the top to the bottom of a pole on one of the buildings. People count down at the same time as the ball drops. When it reaches the bottom, the new year sign is lighted. People hug and kiss, and wish each other “Happy New Year!”

On January first, Americans visit friends, relatives, and neighbors. There is plenty to eat and drink when you just drop in to wish your loved ones and friends the best for the year ahead. Many families and friends watch television together enjoying the Tournament of Roses parade preceding the Rose Bowl football game in Pasadena, California. The theme of the Tournament of Roses varies from year to year. Today the parade is usually more than five miles long with thousands of participants in the marching bands and on the floats. City officials ride in the cars pulling the floats. A celebrity is chosen to be the grand marshal, or official master of ceremonies. The queen of the tournament ides on a special float which is always the most elaborate one of the parade, being made from more than 250,000 flowers. Spectators and participants alike enjoy the pageantry associated with the occasion. Preparation for the next year’s Tournament of Roses begins on January 2.

In most cultures people promise to better themselves in the following year. Americans have inherited the tradition and even write down their New Year’s resolutions. Whatever the resolution, most of them are broken or forgotten by February.

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