Fireworks ban sparks innovation
Times Square drew massive crowds since 1904 for New Year's Eve near the new New York Times Tower. Pyrotechnics lit the...
Denmark: Plate-smashing prosperity
Danes turn breakage into a blessing by hurling old, cracked, or unused plates against friends' or family doorsteps on New Year's Eve....
Babylonian Akitu: Vows to gods
Origins trace to ancient Mesopotamia's Akitu festival, 3,000-4,000 years ago in Babylon (modern Iraq, 55 miles south of Baghdad). Held...
Religious and Hollywood giants
Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio), 88, elected in 2013 as the first Latin American pope, champion of migrants and the poor,...
