December 31 · 12月31日
New Year's Eve: why the last night matters more than the first day
除夕（公历）：为何最后一夜比新一年的第一天更重要
Fireworks, Auld Lang Syne, and Edinburgh's Hogmanay — one of the world's biggest street parties.
烟花、《友谊地久天长》，以及爱丁堡的“Hogmanay”跨年庆典——世界最大的街头派对之一。
Across the UK, New Year's Eve does most of the emotional work that January 1st gets credit for — countdowns, fireworks over the Thames (one of Europe's largest displays), house parties, and at the stroke of midnight, the singing of Auld Lang Syne, a poem by Robert Burns set to a traditional Scottish tune, whose exact words most singers only vaguely remember past the first verse.
在英国各地，公历除夕承担了大部分本该属于1月1日的情感重量——倒数、泰晤士河上空的烟花（欧洲规模最大的展演之一）、家庭派对，以及午夜钟声响起时齐声高唱的《友谊地久天长》（Auld Lang Syne）——这是苏格兰诗人罗伯特·彭斯的诗作，配以传统苏格兰曲调，不过大多数人唱到第一段之后，歌词其实都记得不太清楚。
Scotland treats the night with particular seriousness under the name Hogmanay, with customs including "first-footing" — the belief that the first person to cross your threshold after midnight sets the tone for your year, ideally a dark-haired stranger bearing coal, shortbread, or whisky. Edinburgh's street Hogmanay festival is now one of the largest New Year celebrations in the world.
苏格兰对这一晚格外重视，称之为“Hogmanay”，其中一项习俗叫做“第一脚”（first-footing）：人们相信午夜过后第一个跨进家门的人，会为新的一年定下基调，最理想的人选是一位带着煤炭、黄油酥饼或威士忌的黑发陌生人。如今，爱丁堡的Hogmanay街头庆典已成为世界上规模最大的新年庆祝活动之一。
Seen from the other side · 换个角度看
This is one of the closer parallels on the calendar: Chinese New Year's Eve (除夕) plays the same 'the eve outweighs the day' role, built around a reunion dinner so important that hundreds of millions travel home for it. The difference is scale of obligation — British New Year's Eve is a night out; Chinese New Year's Eve is a night you're expected to be home.
这是日历中较为接近的一组对照：中国的除夕同样扮演着“前夜比正日更重要”的角色，其核心是一顿意义重大的年夜饭，重要到数以亿计的人为此千里返乡。区别在于责任的分量——英式除夕是外出狂欢的一晚；而中国的除夕，则是被期待着必须回家的一晚。