(Paris) Farewell 2022: the eight billion Earthlings celebrated the transition to 2023 on Sunday, leaving behind them an eventful year, between the war in Ukraine, inflation and the coronation of Lionel Messi.
Chasing away memories of COVID-19, forgetting about rising inflation for an evening… For many, New Year’s Eve is an opportunity to leave behind 2022 and its share of bad news.
In Australia, Sydney was one of the first major cities to ring the bell in 2023, reclaiming its title of “New Year’s Eve capital of the world” after two years of closures and festivities stifled by the Omicron variant. In renewed optimism, the city celebrated 2023 with a fireworks display in front of a million people.
Something to contrast with the feeling left by 2022, which saw Queen Elizabeth II, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jiang Zemin and Shinzo Abe disappear.
Mourning for the Bavarian Pope
The last days of the year also saw the departure of two popes with very different registers: Thursday that of soccer, the Brazilian Pelé (82 years old), and Saturday the former head of the Catholic Church Benedict XVI (95 years old).
In Marktl, the birthplace of his “Bavarian pope” in Germany, the atmosphere was not to celebrate the new year. A flag sporting a black ribbon flutters in front of the town hall, under the gaze of admirers with wet eyes.
The year 2022 may be over, it bequeathed its quota of challenges to 2023: global warming has not been reversed, nor has the growth of the world population, now eight billion.
This year also rhymed with the departure of many employees from their jobs after the pandemic, a slap in the face at the Oscars ceremony and the crash of the cryptocurrency market.
But above all, it will forever be associated with the return of war to Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A new series of explosions sounded in the sky of Kyiv less than an hour after the transition to the year 2023.
PHOTO GLEB GARANICH, REUTERS
Traces of the explosions could still be seen in the sky over Kyiv into the wee hours of Sunday morning.
In more than 300 days, nearly 7,000 civilians have been killed and 10,000 injured, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Sixteen million Ukrainians have fled their homes. For those who remain, daily life is punctuated by power cuts, Russian bombings and the curfew.
The latest Russian strikes on Saturday targeted several regions of the country, leaving at least one dead and several injured in Kyiv.
Some intended to mark the New Year with peaceful prayers by candlelight, others to party the night away as a sign of collective resolve.
Filmmaker Yaroslav Mutenko, 23, said the shell that hit the four-star Alfavito hotel near his apartment in Kyiv would not stop him from partying at a friend’s house.
“Our enemies, the Russians, can test our calm but they cannot destroy our spirit,” he said.
Vladimir Putin’s Russia is not in the mood to have fun. Moscow has canceled its traditional pyrotechnic shows after the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, asked residents how they would like to mark the start of the new year.
Wish for a “peaceful sky”
“A peaceful sky above our heads” is the only wish of Muscovites like Irina Shapovalova, 51, a childcare worker.
The national broadcaster VGTRK nevertheless promised “a New Year’s Eve atmosphere, despite the changes in the country and in the world”.
“Moral and historical correctness is on our side,” Putin assured in his vows. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared himself “sure” of “winning this war”.
PHOTO CHALINEE THIRASUPA, REUTERS
Fireworks launched on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand, to mark the arrival of the year 2023
In France, President Emmanuel Macron took advantage of his New Year’s address to renew his support for Kyiv, “until victory”.
In the Parisian capital, the Champs-Élysées have regained their brilliance and the crowds of the great evenings before COVID-19. Nearly half a million people were there, according to the police headquarters, for the New Year’s Eve show, between music stars and a pyrotechnic festival.
In London, the traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks display, for the first time since the pandemic, brought together some 100,000 spectators with tickets for the show, during which a tribute to Elizabeth II was paid.
In Vienna, 1,850 guests were to attend the traditional New Year’s Day concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra, in the golden hall of the Musikverein.
In Croatia, we welcomed with mixed feelings the country’s entry into the Schengen area and the euro zone, with the fear of a surge in prices, but even better tourist prospects.
In front of Puerta del Sol in Madrid, thousands of people crunched 12 grapes to mark the last 12 seconds of 2022. A rite observed by the majority of Spaniards.
In the Middle East, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest skyscraper in the world (830 meters), lit up under the fireworks calling to “start again”.
Resounding return of COVID-19
But in Asia, COVID-19 has made a resounding comeback in China, while vaccination is helping the rest of the world return to some semblance of normal life.
Beijing suddenly abandoned its “zero COVID-19” policy earlier this month, a reversal immediately followed by an explosion in the number of contaminations. Hospitals and crematoriums may be overwhelmed, but rallies are planned everywhere for the transition to 2023.
President Xi Jinping, however, launched an optimistic note a few hours before the New Year: “The light of hope is before us”.
New year, new president. In Brazil, the first day of January will rhyme with the return to power of former head of state Lula.
The mythical Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro was to welcome more than two million people for a 12-minute fireworks display and a dozen concerts.