Art work: Tomas C. Gilsanz, Spain - The Gate

New Years 1999

The transition from the year 1999 to the year 2000 will be a major psychosocial event for most human beings on Planet Earth. Every country on Earth will recognize and celebrate this passage into the year 2000. It will be a momentous time to augur in a totally new epoch for humankind. Then in one years time the human race will finally enter the 21st century.

Where will you be?
What will you do?
Where will you go?
What does it mean to you?

Below is a partial listing of what is going on around the planet new years 1999. Send your events to be listed at Earth Portals. Special travel arrangements are being made by Earth Portals to go to any place on Earth for the passage into the year 2000. Plan ahead, and make your reservations now.

Even though, technically, the new century won't begin for another year, the lure and symbolism of the year 2000 is much too seductive for the world to ignore. "There's no dispute that the new millennium actually begins in the year 2001,'' acknowledges Edward McNally, co-chairman of the Washington-based Millennium Society. "The dynamics of throwing a birthday party for Planet Earth a year early include the magic of seeing the number 1999 turning into 2000 and launching a year of events and celebrations.''

Laos
Laos 1999-2000 - Laos opens its doors.

Iceland
Will light bonfires.

England
Plans a nationwide pealing of bells, and a giant ferris wheel will light up the London skyline.

Sri Lanka
Will hold a gigantic beach bash in Colombo on the shores of the Indian Ocean.

Brazil
Is planning a party in Rio de Janeiro, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

In New York, Times Square
Will be transformed into a kind of cultural crossroads on Dec. 31, 1999, with giant television screens conveying millennium celebrations from each of the world's 24 time zones.

Dublin, Ireland
A giant digital sunken clock is already ticking down the seconds to the third millennium beneath the murky waters of the River Liffey. The clock will erupt in fireworks at the stroke of midnight on the last day of 1999.

Vatican
Declaring 2000 a Jubilee Year -- the church's 27th since the first in 1300 -- and planning a year-long celebration expected to attract some 20 million pilgrims to Rome.

Yale University
Graduate students founded the Millennium Society in 1979 to plan "the largest charity fundraiser in the history of the world.'' Plans include a round-the-globe succession of black-tie parties and concerts at historic sites, including Mount Fuji in Japan, the Great Wall of China and the pyramids in Egypt.

New Zealand
Millennium Adventure Co. has already secured the rights to the world's "first light'' on the slopes of Mount Hakepa on Pitt Island, just east of the international date line, about 745 miles southeast of Christ Church. A motel on the island says it has had plenty of inquiries, but has not taken any bookings yet.
On the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, meanwhile, the city of Gisborne is organizing a Mardi Gras festival and billing itself as the "First City in the World to See the Sun.''

Other Islands
Including the Kingdom of Tonga and the Republic of Kiribati in the South Pacific, are also pitching themselves as the first places on the planet to usher in the next 1,000 years.

Western and American Samoa
As the last places on earth to dust off 1999, they're hoping tourists will come to the islands not to celebrate the new century, but to bid farewell to the old.

Fiji Islands
A Millenium Committee has recently been established to co-ordinate the great variety of events that have been created leading up to / during / and post New Years Eve , 1999 .
Fiji sits on the International Dateline which intersects some of our more pristine destinations such as the Garden Island of Fiji ( Taveuni ) . From this perspective , we will be amoung the first to see the next century .
There is a number of special cruise ships that will be collecting at this point as well as those on land . The actual celebration will involve traditional and contemporary entertainments and will mesh indigenous cultures with Western programs .
Other events planned include arts and cultural , sports and leisure , educational , religious and the like .
Fiji has designed a fantastic , intergrated concept and our Celebration of this unique moment will begin on 01st Jan - 1999 and finish sometime after the turn from 2000 to 2001 !

More listings to come. Add yours by e-mailing your event to: