People celebrate the pagan rite called “Kolyadki” and mark the New Year, according to the Julian calendar on January 13, in the village of Vosava, Belarus January 13, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A man celebrates the start of the New Year, backdropped by fireworks exploding in the background over Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, January 1, 2022. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)

Local residents walk past tiger paintings, that marks the upcoming Lunar New Year of the tiger, in front of a department store in Taipei on January 27, 2022. (Photo by Sam Yeh/AFP Photo)

A woman takes part in a carnival parade as part of New Year's Eve festivities in San Jose, Costa Rica, 27 December 2023. (Photo by Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA/EFE)

Women wearing 2025 headbands attend New Year's Eve celebrations in Jakarta, Indonesia, on December 31, 2024. (Photo by Willy Kurniawan/Reuters)

Students carry a female trainee who has fallen into a stupor during high intensity training at Tianjiao Special Guard/Security Consultant camp on the outskirts of Beijing December 1, 2013. Former Chinese soldier Chen Yongqing has big ambitions for his bodyguard training school Tianjiao, which he says is China's first professional academy to train former soldiers and others as personal security guards. Chen charges 500,000 yuan ($82,400) a year for each protector as China's rich and famous look to bolster their safety and sense of importance. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

First graders attend a festive ceremony to mark the start of another school year in Slaviansk, September 1, 2014. September 1 marks the start of a new academic year for students in Ukraine. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

“When I was 8 years old, my parents paid a smuggler to take me across the Himalayas, a weekslong walk over the mountains from Tibet to India. It was a trek that tens of thousands of other Tibetans have taken since the Dalai Lama fled a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. My parents must have had their reasons to send me here; they must have had the best of intentions. But 18 years later, I still don't know why they did it. They are not political people. They are small farmers who raise barley and a few yak in a rural area not far from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. I have not seen them since I left...”. – Tsering Topgyal via The Associated Press. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)