People all around the world gathered in groups large and small last night to usher out the previous year, and welcome the arrival of 2010. Under a rare New Year's Eve Blue Moon, crowds watched fireworks, cheered, made resolutions, and counted down to midnight. 2010 is the year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac, signifying a year of bravery and courage. Collected here are some photographs of people across the earth as they welcomed the new year in many different ways.
1. Fireworks explode beside the London Eye and The Houses of Parliament on the River Thames during New Year celebrations in London January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)
2. People with their faces painted "2010" pose during the New Year celebrations in the central Indian city of Bhopal January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Raj Patidar)
3. Workers throw water on people to celebrate the end of the year in Montevideo, Uruguay on December 31, 2009. During the last working day of the year, workers traditionally throw water on people and discard old calendars. (REUTERS/Andres Stapff)
4. St. Sylvester mummers (Silvesterklausen) perform in the village of Urnaesch in the region of Appenzell, December 31 2009. Three very different groups of mummers distinguished as the beautiful (Schoene), the ugly (Wueschte) and the less ugly (Schoe-Wueschte) dressed up in costumes made of twigs, cones, mosses and dried leaves proceed from house to house in small groups singing and ringing their bells wishing families a prosperous year. (REUTERS/Miro Kuzmanovic)
5. People prepare for carbide-shooting, a tradition on the last day of the year to scare off evil spirits, in Zevenhuizen in the Netherlands on December 31, 2009. (VINCENT JANNINK/AFP/Getty Images)
6. In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009, residents prepare to release a wishing lantern to usher in the new year in Chengdu in southwestern China's Sichuan province. (AP Photo)
7. New Year's Eve fireworks based on the theme "Awaken the Spirit" explode over the Sydney Harbour from six barges three hours before midnight on December 31, 2009. Over 1.5 million Sydneysiders and tourists were expected to line the harbour foreshores to watch 120,000 pyrotechnics usher in New Year's Day. (KRYSTLE WRIGHT/AFP/Getty Images)
8. Fireworks explode near Malaysia's landmark Patronas Twin Towers during the New Year 2010 celebrations in Kuala Lumpur on January 1, 2010. (SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
9. Fireworks light up the skies of downtown Beirut to make New Year's Day on January 1, 2010. (ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images)
10. Pakistani youth celebrate New Year's Eve in Lahore, spraying artificial snow in the air on December 31, 2009. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
11. Youths celebrate New Year's Day with fire crackers in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Noor Khamis)
12. A couple kisses on New Year's eve in the center of Brussels, Belgium on December 31, 2009. This year, the theme of the celebration was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. (KURT DESPLENTER/AFP/Getty Images)
13. New Year's Eve crowds line Westminster Bridge before a firework display on December 31, 2009 in England. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
14. Two women toast as fireworks explode during an outside party in Berlin's Kreuzberg district to celebrate the New Year on January 1, 2010. (TIMUR EMEK/AFP/Getty Images)
15. People watch New Year's Eve fireworks over Venice's St. Mark square flooded by high water, early Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Luigi Costantini)
16. Fireworks explode over the Quadriga sculpture on the Brandenburg Gate in celebration of the new year on January 1, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. Thousands of revelers descended on the area in front of the Brandenburg Gate to celebrate. (Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)
17. Russians celebrate the New Year on Red Square in Moscow, with the Kremlin in the background, right, and St. Basil's cathedral in background, left, Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. Tens of thousands of people gathered on the Square to celebrate the new year, and view the fireworks as the clock on the Kremlin's Spassky Tower, right, struck midnight. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)
18. Revellers dressed up as San Fermin Festival bull runners celebrate the New Year in Coin, near the southern Spanish town of Malaga, early January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Jon Nazca)
19. 400 spotlights illuminate the Eiffel Tower during the New Year's Eve in Paris, France on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009. (AP Photo/ Michel Euler)
20. Fireworks explode above downtown Jakarta's Welcome Monument, in Indonesia, early on Friday, January 1, 2010.(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
21. About two millions people observe fireworks from Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to celebrate the beginning of New Year's Day early in January 1, 2010. (GABRIEL LOPES/AFP/Getty Images)
22. Fireworks explode over the statue of President George Washington in the Boston Public Gardens in Massachusetts on Thursday December 31, 2009. (Matthew J. Lee/Boston Globe staff)
23. A couple kiss during New Year celebrations in New York's Times Square January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi)
24. Sushi, portrayed by female impersonator Gary Marion, dangles high above New Year's Eve revelers in a giant reproduction of a woman's high heel at the Bourbon Street Pub late Thursday, December 31, 2009 in Key West, Florida. The Red Shoe Drop has become a Key West tradition to herald the arrival of the new year, answering New York's Times Square ball drop. (ANDY NEWMAN/AFP/Getty Images)
25. Fireworks from the Space Needle light up downtown Seattle, Washington to bring in the new year, as seen from Kerry Park, Friday, Jan. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/The Seattle Times, Cliff DesPeaux)
26. Fireworks explode in the sky over the ocean as seen from Waikiki beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, on January 1, 2010 soon after the clock ticked mid-night announcing the first day of New Year. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
27. Fireworks light the sky in front of Mayon Volcano during New Year's celebrations in Legazpi city, Albay province, south of Manila January 1, 2010. Mayon Volcano, known for its near-perfect cone shape in the coconut-growing central Bicol region, has been spewing ash and burning mud and rocks for more than two weeks. (REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco)
28. A monk stands in front of a fire, burning old items which have been used in temples and shrines, during a New Year's Eve ceremony at the Zojo-ji Buddhist temple in Tokyo December 31, 2009. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)
29. A long-exposure photo created using sparklers shows children writing out "2010", celebrating on New Year's eve in Manila on December 31, 2009. (ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)
30. A sanitation worker cleans up garbage from the New Year's Eve celebration in New York Times Square in the early hours of New Year's Day Jan. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
31. People admire the moment the sun rises above Mount Fuji, which is known locally as the "Diamond Fuji", from atop Ryugatake mountain in Fujikawaguchiko town, southwest of Tokyo on New Year's Day January 1, 2010. Mount Fuji, at 3,776 metres (12,388 ft), is believed to be sacred and is seen as a symbol of good luck, more so during the New Year period. (REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao)
32. A New Year's reveller runs in for a dip in the icy sea during the Saundersfoot annual charity swim on January 1, 2010 in Saundersfoot near Tenby, Wales. Hundreds of brave swimmers ran in to to the sea to welcome in 2010 and raise cash for charity. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
33. A rescue diver watches as a man leaps from a bridge into the River Dove during a traditional New Year's Day annual charity event in Mappleton, central England, January 1, 2010. Teams paddle down a half-mile stretch of the river and then jump off a bridge into the River Dove, one of the coldest rivers in the United Kingdom. Contestants then have to run 500 yards to a pub. (REUTERS/Darren Staples)
34. Malabon Zoo owner Manny Tangco blows a horn with children outside a Bengal tiger glass enclosure as they celebrate the coming Year of the Tiger in Manila December 31, 2009. (REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo)
35. People sprint into the water as they participate in the traditional New Years Dive in The North Sea, in the Hague, on January 1, 2010. This year saw some 8000 participants in the dive, one of 63 dives across the Netherlands. (ROBIN UTRECHT/AFP/Getty Images)
36. Winter swimmers of the "Berlin Seals" association ("Berliner Seehunde") take the traditional new year swim in water at a temperature of at one degree celcius in the Orankesee Lake on January 1, 2010 in Berlin. (MICHAEL KAPPELER/AFP/Getty Images)
37. Japanese young girls pray at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, on New Year's Day Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
38. A woman enters the sea for a swim on January 1, 2010 in Vaasa, Finland to celebrate the New Year despite the outside temperature of -14 C. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images)