Millennial Celebrations
As the year 1999 came to a close, people around the world set up their fireworks and festivities to welcome the third millennium. Here we review some of the celebrative events that took place in various locations worldwide. Coincidentally, this year's holiday season is marked with the multi-denominational occasions: Christmas, Ramadan and Sabbath. The Ambassadors is hopeful that the arrival of a new millennium and the sense of collective celebration will signify a positive turning point in human history, one where the knowledge of the past and the inspiration for the future will tailor a world of hope and opportunity for all.
ASIA & AUSTRALIA
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The celebrations were centered on the capital where a 'China Century Altar' was be erected. This exhibition building with a floor space of 30,000 square meters and a revolving top, and housed a mixture of both traditional and modern Chinese culture and art. There were firecrackers, music, costumed parades, acrobatics and dancing, plus a grand ceremony to inaugurate the New Millennium China 2000 program.
A series of landmark structures were also built in the country's major cities, which were used to celebrate the millennium, in accordance with the local traditions
Khajuraho
, India
A millennium of a different kind took place in Khajuraho, India. Here,
the celebration focused on the 1,000-year anniversary of the Chandela temples.
Shiv Sagar Lake, which is surrounded by the temples, was flooded with light
displays that illuminated the sky as various musical acts provided the soundtrack.
The legend is that the Moon God spotted a beautiful maiden bathing on a moonlit
night. This beautiful maiden soon gave birth to the founder of the Chandela
Dynasty, and the event is celebrated by the blowing of conch shells around the
temples and floating lights on the lake.
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Hong
Kong
Hong Kong celebrated the millennium with a showcase of lanterns at Penfold
Park and horse races. Buildings lining Victoria Harbor will be competing in the
Millennium Lighting Competition from December 1999 to February 2000. More events
are in store for the Chinese New Year on February 5, 2000.
Go to Hong Kong Tourist Association
Uluru/Ayers Rock, Central Australia
Aboriginal people
from Central Australia gathered
for a traditional ceremony illuminated by
torches and campfires. Elders wearing body paint told
stories of the creation of
the landscape in song, dance and dream-time stories.
Twelve-foot high, Mimi stilt
dancers, painted with ochre and wearing huge costumes and head-dresses, appeared from the darkness, representing the spirits of the night.
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|THE AMERICAS
Rio
de Janiero, Brazil
Sambistas of the world united in Rio de Janiero on New Year's Eve. The first
International Samba School Parade took place in the Sambodromo,
a specially constructed arena for revelers. Sambistas, or samba dancers, from
around the world converged upon Rio for the event.
Go to Rio 2000 Samba
New
York, New York, U.S.
For Americans, New York's Times Square was the center of the millennium. The
traditional ball, which dropped at midnight, is six -foot in diameter, weighs
1,070 pounds, and is covered in 600 light bulbs, 96 strobe lights and 92 pyramid
mirrors. The event was actually a party every hour for 24 hours as the new
millennium arrives in each time zone. For example, as the new year arrived in
the Indian subcontinent, a 22-foot-long elephant puppet lumbered through the
Square to musical accompaniment. Five screens broadcasted the celebrations
in hundreds of other cities.
Go to Times
Square Business Improvement District
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Las
Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Depending on how you look at it, New Year's Eve in Las Vegas was either an
unlimited buffet of glitz and glam, or a garage sale of used favorites. Las
Vegas residents and visitors had the choice of the Smothers Brothers ($39.95-$89.95), Stevie Nicks ($177-$227),
Santana ($227), Wayne Newton ($275), Frankie Avalon ($300), or the most
expensive ticket in town, Barbra Streisand ($500-$2,500).
Go to lasvegas.com for
more information.
Chicago Tobago
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley invited two guests from every country in the
world to attend the International Millennium Dinner, but they weren't dignitaries
or celebrities. Just regular folks. "This is the Midwest," says TIME Chicago
Newsdesk Editor Andrew Keith. "People are kind of stoic. There's really no
discernible excitement."
Go to Chicago2001
'A Gift To The World' was the biggest event of its kind in Caribbean
history - a spectacular combination of music, comedy, dance, theater, multimedia
staging, special effects and carnival! It included a medley of the most
memorable international hit songs and dances from all over the Caribbean. There
was a Ringbang Heritage Site, which told the cultural history of the
Caribbean, and a children's folktale and play area.
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WASHINGTON - Fireworks explode above the Washington Monument in front of the reflecting pool as hundreds of thousands of spectators watch during the millennium celebration in Washington January 1. Washington ushered in 2000 with rap, rock, a Steven Spielberg film, fireworks by the Washington Monument and -- for a hardy few -- a midnight wade in the reflecting pool. Photo by Mike Theiler (Reuters) |
AFRICA & THE MIDDLE EAST
The Trance in the New Millennium festival was a three-day concert that combined nature and technology within the context of a musical genre known as psychedelic trance. The genre combines music from the so-called psychedelic rock era with a form known as trance, which is popular in European dance clubs. More than 25 bands were scheduled to perform starting on Dec 30.
Go to South Africa 2000
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Bethlehem,
Jerusalem, Nazareth & Jordan
Bethlehem planned a New Year's
music festival along with the lighting of 2,000 torches. Jerusalem was already
drawing throngs of pilgrims and hosted a variety of millennium events. They
authorities were happy and hopeful that the millennium will boost tourism,"
says TIME Jerusalem reporter Eric Silver. "Along with the December 31 candlelight
procession and the New Year's World Day of Peace Mass, the city illuminated
more than 100 historical sites for the celebrations. On the border between
Jordan and Israel, a peace celebration took place on New Year's Eve. Thousands joined hands to form a human chain symbolizing harmonious relations between
religions and cultures. A firework display and the release of two thousand doves
marked the conclusion of the celebration.
 A reflection on the great pyramid representing the climb of a human being into heaven. The light, laser, visual and musical show lasted for 12 continuous hours. |
Cairo,
Egypt Go to 6th
Millennium Egypt
BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK - A "Peace" dove, one of two thousand
released by the Palestinian Authority as the new millennium dawns
January 1, flies over Manger Square before exploding fireworks over the
Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ. The
Palestinians ushered in the new millennium with music shows, fireworks,
and a displays of fluttering "peace" doves in the town where
the "Prince of Peace" was born 2000 years ago. Photo by Evelyn
Hockstein (Reuters)
Egyptians celebrated not the third millennium, but their sixth. The Great
Pyramids of Cheops in Giza was the backdrop for a weeklong celebration. At
midnight, a 12-hour multimedia opera ("The 12 Dreams of the Sun") by
Jean Michele Jarre began. The event was scheduled to conclude with a helicopter
lowering a
nine-meter gold cap onto the Great Pyramid replicating its reputed original
adornment. Although the capping was cancelled, the celebration was a
monumental one. An
audience of 50,000 attended this psychedelic fusion of the
ancient and the modern. "From
day one, I think the real star that night will be the Pyramids and the state
of Egypt," said Jean Michel Jarre. "Celebrating
the millennium is old meeting new - and maybe in a sense the hieroglyphs
meeting the Internet," he added.
Istanbul, Turkey- Fireworks light the skies over the Hagia Sophia museum, left, and Blue Mosque
marking the Leilat Kadir in Istanbul, Turkey, late Monday Jan. 3, 2000.
According to Islam, Leilat Kadir, the night which Muslims believe marks the
revelation of Koran, Islam's holy book to prophet Mohammed some 1400 years ago.
Photo by Murad Sezer (AP)
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EUROPE
Paris,
France
The City of Light celebrated the year 2000 with light and trees. At midnight on December 31, the
Eiffel Tower was the center of a light show, and pedestrians walked down a red carpet along the Champs Elysees from the Louvre to the Arc de
Triomphe. Along the way, several doors created by leading architects and
designers stood as symbols of the new year. Meanwhile, along the meridian,
a line of trees called the "green meridian" were planted November
25 and will be ready for national day, July 14, 2000, when all French citizens
will be invited to picnic under the trees.
Go to Mission
Paris 2000
Stockholm, Sweden
The narrow medieval streets surrounding the 18th century Royal Palace in the
Old Town were alive with festive lighting, music and theatre. There were parties in the subway, family performances in Globen and a concert on Skeppsbron
bridge. A giant bottle of champagne spouted a 100-meter fountain and the world's biggest
glitter ball appeared in the sky. A
torchlight procession winded through the city, culminating in a concert from
a 2000-strong choir.
At the stroke of midnight, the King and Royal Family toasted the New Year
from the castle balcony, giving the signal to start the fireworks.
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VATICAN CITY - Fireworks light up the sky in front of St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the new Millennium January 1. The 79-year-old Pope, who is fullfulling a personal dream of his papacy by surviving to lead his Church across the threshold of 2000, said he wished that 2000 would be a year of joy and peace. Photo by Paul Hanna (Reuters) |
Vatican
City, Italy
On Christmas Eve, 1999, Pope John Paul II opened the doors to St. Peter's
Basilica to symbolize the commencement of Jubilee 2000. Throughout the next
year, the Vatican will host numerous assemblies and weekly thematic jubilees,
including those for children, artisans, scientists and immigrants. It is a whole
year of celebrations and for forgiveness.
Go to The Vatican
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Fireworks explode over Salzburg Castle and the city while celebrating the millennium in Salzburg, Austria, on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2000. Photo by Pictures Unlimited (AP) |
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People light sparkles at Moscow's Red Square during the Millennium celebrations Sunday, Jan. 2, 2000. Thousands of people gathered on Red Square to mark the Millennium. The first three days of January are national holidays in Russia. Photo by Alexei Kondrashkin <%% 0 PICTURE_OK HEADER_OK 2 1 %%> (AP) |
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ATHENS - Fireworks explode over the temple of the Parthenon during celebrations to welcome the new millennium in Athens January 1. The hill of Acropolis was the center of a light and sound show organized by German director Gert Hof with thousands of lights and fireworks engulfing the holy rock. Photo by Yiorgos Karahalis (Reuters) |
