New Year’s Day: New Year’s Day, the first day of a brand-new year, is celebrated on January 1st. It is customary for people to celebrate the first few minutes of the new year with family and friends. In the United States, people begin celebration on December 31, New Year’s Eve. People may have masquerade balls, where guests dress up in costumes and cover their faces with masks and unmask at midnight. Near midnight people may gather in Times Square in the heart of New York City or watch television. At 11:59 p.m., one minute before midnight, a lighted ball drops slowly from the top to the bottom of a pole. People count down at the same time as the ball drops. When it reaches the bottom, the New Year sign lights up. People hug and kiss, and wish each other “Happy New Year!” On January 1st, Americans visit friends, relatives and neighbors and wish them the best for the year ahead and may write down their New Year’s resolutions, though most of them are broken or forgotten by February!