Fireworks, beaches and champagne - how the world met the new year 2014

New Year's fireworks in Dubai are listed in the Guinness Book of Records, but the celebration of 2014 in the megacities of the world was not the only thing remembered for this.

The new year 2014 has marched across the planet, bursting into our lives under the chiming clock and volleys of festive fireworks. Fireworks and festivities were held in the largest capitals of the world. In this issue you will find the most beautiful New Year's shots from Moscow to New York, from Sydney to Rio de Janeiro.

(Total 18 photos)

1. Lovers under fireworks in the water near Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

In Rio de Janeiro, on the Copacabana embankment, a colorful pyrotechnic show lasted 16 minutes. The salute was controlled by a special computer program, a total of 24 tons of pyrotechnics were used. She was previously placed on rafts anchored in the ocean opposite Copacabana.

2. Indian schoolchildren light fires in the city of Agartala. (Arindam Dey/AFP/Getty Images)

Traditionally in India, on New Year's Eve, banana trees are dressed up and decorated with small oil lamps. Around Christian churches during the holidays, you can see decorations made of red flowers and candles. Midnight mass is held in the cathedrals, and the Christmas service is held in the churches.

3. Confetti during the celebration of the New Year in Times Square in New York. A snowfall of confetti and fireworks in Times Square made the residents of the Big Apple give each other kisses and hugs. (Reuters/Gary Hershorn)

In New York, according to tradition, a giant crystal ball was lowered down the spire of a skyscraper in Times Square. This ceremony is over 100 years old. The ball weighing 6 tons is made of almost three thousand crystal triangles. They recreate it every year. The colorful action was followed by about a million people - local residents and tourists.

4. More than a thousand walruses in festive "dresses" swam into the cold waters of the River Forth in South Queensferry, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

In Europe, there is only one place where the New Year is loved as passionately as in the CIS countries - this is Scotland. Here this holiday is called Hogmanay, and the Scots celebrate it cheerfully, brightly, on a grand scale and until dawn. One of the holiday traditions supported by the inhabitants of Scotland for many years is the New Year's winter swimming.

5. Thousands of people in London lined the banks of the River Thames to watch the impressive New Year's fireworks. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Residents of London gathered to celebrate the New Year at Big Ben. Each stroke of the clock marking midnight was accompanied by an explosion of fireworks. After the twelfth salvo, the sky over the capital of Great Britain exploded with thousands of lights. And then snow with different tastes and edible confetti fell on the heads of the inhabitants of London.

6. Rescuers "rule" the crowd during the celebration of the New Year on the beach in Durban, South Africa. Locals traditionally plunge into the water on New Year's Day. (Reuters/Rogan Ward)

Thousands of traditional bathing in South Africa is not only fun entertainment, but also an occasion to mobilize the forces of rescuers, doctors and police. For example, this year as many as 40 thousand citizens came to the coast. 365 children were lost in the crowd, two of them have not yet returned to their parents, in addition, through the crowd, hundreds of citizens have to be rescued from under the water and pumped out.

7. Girls raise festive glasses in Madrid. (Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images)

On New Year's Eve, crowds of people traditionally gather in Madrid's Gate of the Sun (Plaza de la Puerta del Sol), where the main New Year tree is installed to celebrate the New Year according to an old Spanish tradition - with each stroke of the clock, you need to eat one grape, while making a wish .

8. Celebration of the New Year on Euromaidan in Kyiv. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Immediately after the year came, tens of thousands of people present at Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv sang the Anthem of Ukraine, holding flashlights and mobile phones in their hands. According to various sources, 2014 was celebrated on the central square of Kyiv by 100,000 to 500,000 people. Euromaidanists sang the national anthem en masse on New Year's Eve and intend to continue protests.

New Year's Address of the People of Ukraine to the President of Ukraine

9. Fireworks against the backdrop of the ancient Pantheon in Athens. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In crisis-ridden Greece, fireworks were much more modest than in other European countries. In the Greek capital, hundreds of spectators could enjoy classical music performed right in the open air. And then fireworks began over the Acropolis.

10. A resident of Bucharest with a bottle of champagne. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Romanian capital to celebrate the arrival of the new year 2014 together. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

11. Fireworks lights on the background of the Cologne Cathedral. (Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images)

12. New Year's Eve on Red Square in Moscow. (Reuters/Tatyana Makeyeva)

On New Year's Eve, 50,000 people took to the streets of Moscow - almost two times less than last year, when 90,000 people walked in the center of the capital on New Year's Eve. Everyone wishing to watch the fireworks on Red Square first had to go through metal detectors. Public order on the streets was guarded by about 5,000 policemen, the strengthening of security measures is associated with the recent terrorist attacks in Volgograd.

19. An Indian boy sets fire to a scarecrow, symbolizing the outgoing 2013 year. The picture was taken in Mumbai. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

14. Thousands of festivities celebrated the New Year in the capital of Myanmar, the city of Yangon. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images)

15. Fireworks against the backdrop of the Juche Tower in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

North Korea also celebrated the New Year. True, modestly - no magnificent celebrations, although they like to arrange them on holidays in the DPRK. Pyongyang residents carried flowers to the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. And the current leader of the country, Kim Jong-un, said: North Korea has become stronger because it has been "cleansed of dirt" - everyone immediately thought that he was referring to his uncle, who was executed a month ago.

16. Victoria Bay in Hong Kong. (Reuters/Tyrone Siu)

Hong Kong celebrated the beginning of 2014 on a special scale: the local tourism department prepared a gift for residents and visitors of the city - a grand musical and pyrotechnic show, the largest in the history of the region.

17. Traditional New Year's fireworks in Sydney - the lights of a grand fireworks display over the Harbor Bridge, one of the largest steel arch bridges in the world. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

The year 2014 has arrived in Sydney with a glorious fireworks display. Intricate volleys of colored lights alternated for 12 minutes, and this time the launching pad was the building of the famous Sydney Opera House - a masterpiece of modern architecture. About one and a half million people gathered to celebrate the New Year in the lights of the traditional fireworks in Sydney Bay. The warm summer weather also contributed to the festive mood - at midnight in Australia's largest city it was 22 degrees Celsius.

18. Inscription with sparklers on a long exposure against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. (Reuters/Benoit Tessier)

This year there were no New Year's fireworks in Paris, but the Eiffel Tower turned into a festive glow.

19. A grand fireworks show on the Palm Jumeirah network of artificial islands marked the arrival of 2014 in Dubai, UAE. (Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images)

Tens of thousands of guests came to celebrate the New Year in the Emirates. In the center of Dubai staged a grandiose show. They say that the scale of the celebrations can be entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the most massive.