New Year's Eve fireworks over Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

© Wagner Meier/Getty Image

Midnight in Rio. New Year's Eve in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day, is celebrated around the world with revelry, fireworks, and for some, religious and cultural observances. Many countries celebrate with foods symbolic of prosperity, long life, and good fortune for the coming year, and many people sing the Scottish folk song 'Auld Lang Syne' at the stroke of midnight in remembrance of old friends and past experiences. The new year is often personified as a baby in a tradition that dates back to ancient Greeks, and paired with an old man who represents the year that is ending.