Time zone by time zone, New Year’s Eve celebrations light up the world in a chain reaction of fireworks displays, Auld Lang Syne, symbolic ball drops and a plethora of local traditions.

Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island, is widely acknowledged as the first inhabited land mass to welcome the New Year. Located in the equatorial Pacific, it’s one of 33 islands and atolls making up the Republic of Kiribati.

Celebrations continue westward around the globe — New Zealand, a portion of far-northeastern Russia, the Marshall Islands — as Earth spins into each subsequent time zone.

In Australia, Sydney rings in the New Year three hours after Kiritimati. This year’s theme, Inspire, celebrates the city’s diverse population and dynamic community while showcasing its stunning harbor and iconic beaches. Official festivities kick off early in the evening when the sky above Sydney Harbour sets the stage for a thrilling air show. Back on terra firma, the harbor becomes a kaleidoscope of shimmering spray against the setting sun as fire tugs blast streams of water into the air. Beginning at nightfall, a rotating series of images depicting the Inspire theme turn the pylons of Sydney Harbour Bridge into a giant public art display. The annual celebration includes not one but two exhilarating fireworks displays — an eight-minute family show lights up the sky beginning at 9 p.m., followed by the Harbour of Light Parade at 9:15 p.m., when an illuminated flotilla glides across the harbor. The highlight of the evening, a spectacular 12-minute fireworks display, commences at the stroke of midnight.

Earth continues its pirouette as the New Year dawns across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and into Europe, where the festivities in Berlin draw merrymakers from far and wide with a roster of cocktail cruises, VIP events and dance parties. This year’s open-air party at Brandenburg Gate is expected to draw more than a million revelers, with music and fireworks culminating in the countdown to 2015.

London and Edinburgh routinely make the list of the world’s top places to welcome the New Year, as does Rio de Janeiro; rightfully so given its year-round party reputation. And while festivities along the Eastern Seaboard are myriad, New York City is the long-heralded epicenter of New Year’s Eve in the United States.

This one goes out to the voice of the American New Year for those of us who grew up tuned in to watch the ball drop in Times Square: Dick Clark, wherever you are, we wish you a Happy New Year! Let’s hope 2015 has a good beat you can dance to.