Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes ProCon History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos
New Year festival
Related Questions
Discover
Traditional Chinese new year decorations. Happy new year of monkey red decorations. The Chinese golden character means luck and happiness.
Year of the Monkey
Sydney New Years Eve Fireworks
Why Does the New Year Start on January 1?
New York City, USA, January 1, 2015, Atmospheric new year's eve celebration on famous times square intersection after midnight with countless happy people enjoying the party
Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year’s Eve?
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.
10 Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci
Thanksgiving Turkey with all the sides
Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?
Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1855), founder of the house of Rothschild; lithograph by Friedrich Lieder, c. 1830.
Where Do Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories About the Rothschild Family Come From?
Baseball laying in the grass. Homepage blog 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society, sports and games athletics
10 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time
New Year festival Article

Why does a ball drop on New Year’s Eve?

verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The New Year’s Eve Ball descends from a pole above Times Square in New York City at 11:59 PM on New Year’s Eve. The New Year’s Eve Ball was first used to mark the new year in Times Square in 1907, though the practice of “dropping” balls to signal the passage of time is an older one. One of the most notable examples was installed in 1833 at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, dropping daily at 1:00 PM in order to communicate the time to passing ships.

Related Questions