Incredible New Year holidays: where tourists can find interesting experiences

The traditional New Year's Eve celebration sometimes doesn't appeal to active people who are looking for new sensations and experiences around the world. One of the most unusual ways to celebrate the New Year is to immerse yourself in the Junkanoo festival, a polychromatic explosion of music, dance, storytelling, and parades practiced in the Bahamas.

It has recently been inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for 2023. This is the first intangible object - a practice, skill, tradition and craft - in an island nation to be recognized as international cultural heritage, writes National Geographic.

A Bahamian New Year tradition since the 18th century. The celebration revolves around pulsating street parades enlivened by cow bells, whistles, horns and goatskin drums. Many participants wear bold outfits. Parades are held every year on Boxing Day and New Year's Day throughout the Bahamas.

Another unusual way to celebrate the New Year is to visit Aruba, where on New Year's Eve the sky is lit up with bright pyrotechnic shows called klapchi. Moreover, tourists are not allowed to arrange fireworks in their hotels, but they can see memorable klapchi events at several resorts, including Ritz-Carlton Aruba, Renaissance Wind Creek Aruba Resort, and Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino.

You can get an incredible experience on New Year's Eve in Oregon by watching whales. There, gray whales migrate along the coast from mid-December to mid-January.

From December 27 to January 1, volunteers staff 15 coastal locations to help visitors see thousands of gray whales swimming south to the warm waters of Mexico. Volunteers point out whales between 10:00 and 13:00, explaining their migration and offering stickers and educational brochures. Visitors can also book a trip with Whale's Tail Charters, Dockside Charters, or Tradewinds Charters to get a closer look at these creatures.

A visit to Maine for the Great Sardine Drop holiday also guarantees a great New Year's Eve experience. In the tiny local town of Eastport, an eight-foot-long lighted sardine is dropped into the main square for revelers to kiss when the clock strikes 12.

This colorful event pays tribute to Eastport's rich fishing heritage, as there were 18 canneries on the island near the Canadian border in the early 1900s. At that time, Eastport became known as the sardine capital of the world. Today, visitors can explore the shops and galleries in the historic downtown area or book sailing cruises from the Eastport docks.

The oldest city in Missouri, St. Genevieve was founded in the 1730s by French settlers. Now, their descendants celebrate the traditional French New Year, La Guignolée, on December 31, which is marked by the ancient French New Year's custom of caroling. In this historic town an hour south of St. Louis, troupes of singers, dancers and fiddlers in costume perform in and around 18th- and 19th-century buildings.

It is emphasized that these authentic shows are a great legacy of the distinctive culture created by the previous settlers. "The ongoing preservation of French Creole stories, traditions and architecture gives the city its unique character and appeal," locals say.