Five Unique New Years Around the World

Sick of ringing in the New Year at the same old bar or sitting around the living room watching the ball drop in Times Square? Take a hint from some local traditions, and non-traditions, around the world and get creative.

Here's what they're doing in five other parts of the world to celebrate the fact that 2008 is over, and 2009 is at last here.

Drop Something Different
Key West, Fla.

In Key West, they eschew the familiar dropping of the ball in favor of the dropping of the big red shoe with a woman, er, man inside of it.

For the 12th straight New Year's Eve, drag queen Sushi, also known as Gary Marion, is lowered to the pavement along Duval Street in an eight-foot shoe at the Bourbon Street Pub, right in the heart of the island city's main party district. "In New York City, they drop the ball," says Sushi. "In Key West they drop me, in the shoe."

'Sushi' opens the New Year in Key West.

Other locales dropping bizarre objects with more flair than just a lighted ball include the Dillsburg, Pa., pickle drop, the Walleye drop in Port Clinton, Ohio, and the big cheese drop in Plymouth, Wisc..

Hogmanay
Edinburgh, Scotland

Hogmanay is how they party in Scotland at the end of the year. Starting on Dec. 29, revelers in Edinburgh take advantage of parties in the streets, but there are more than plenty of activities for families as well.

On the 29th, "a river of fire" proceeds through the town down the Royal Mile, as a blazing torchlight procession makes its way through the city, accompanied by drummers and bagpipes.