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  Acrobats stack themselves up on a bicycle in front of a background featuring a Chinese traditional Dragon during a celebration for the upcoming new year in Beijing on December 31, 2011.©AFP PHOTO / LIU JIN
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  A kaleidoscope of fireworks designed by Marc Newson explode over the Sydney Opera House (L) and the Sydney Harbour Bridge on January 1, 2012. Over one and a half million Sydneysiders lined the harbor vantage points to watch the spectacular pyrotechnic display usher in the New Year. ©AFP PHOTO / Torsten BLACKWOOD
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  Jewelry representing happiness, health and money among other things, are being sold at the Wishes Market in Lima, on December 27, 2011. Every year before New Year, shamans from the Andean region make predictions for the next year at this market in the Peruvian capital. ©AFP PHOTO/ERNESTO BENAVIDES
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  An Indian Sikh youth performs a fire act as he takes part in a procession from the Sri Akal Takhat at the Sikh Shrine, The Golden Temple in Amritsar on December 30, 2011. The procession took place on the eve of the 346th Birth Anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh. ©AFP PHOTO/NARINDER NANU
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  Visitors wearing illuminated bunny ears gather during the new year's 2012 celebrations in Kuala Lumpur on December 31, 2011. Predominantly Muslim Malaysia welcomed 2012 with a dazzling fireworks display.©AFP PHOTO/ Mohd Rasfan
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  Fireworks explode to welcome the new year on January 1, 2012 in Cologne, western Germany. Extravagant firework displays lit up the skies from Sydney to New York in a global New Year's party as people around the world set aside their worries to welcome 2012.©AFP PHOTO / HENNING KAISER
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  This photo taken late on December 31, 2011 with longtime exposure shows Filipino youths creating "2012" to bring in the New Year with sparklers at a public park in Manila. Filipinos welcomed in the New Year with fireworks and celebrations.©AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD
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  Thousands of biodegradable balloons are released by Sao Paulo's Commercial Association at Patio do Colegio, site of this Brazilian city's foundation back in 1554, on December 30, 2011. The workers of the association started releasing balloons in 1992 and has now turned into tradition for celebrating New Year.©AFP PHOTO/YASUYOSHI CHIBA
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  Fireworks, launched by French technicians, illuminate the Ebrie lagoon on December 30, 2011 in Abidjan to celebrate the end of the year 2011 marked by violence.©AFP PHOTO/ SIA KAMBOU
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  Visitors stand around a snow church just after its inauguration on December 28, 2011 in Mitterfirmiansreut, southern Germany. The circa 25 meters long church was made of 1,400 cubic meters of snow and aims to commemorate the winter of the years 1910/1911, when so much snow fell that believers of Mitterfirmiansreut were no longer able to go to church in the neighboring commune of Mauth. So they decided to build their own church, made of snow.©AFP PHOTO / ARMIN WEIGEL
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  Fireworks light up the London skyline and Big Ben just after midnight on January 1, 2012 in London, England. Thousands of people lined the banks of the River Thames in central London to ring in the New Year with a spectacular fireworks display.©AFP PHOTO/Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
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  Lady Gaga kisses the ball as NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg laughs during the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square December 31, 2011 in New York.©AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT
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  Revelers take part in the battle of "Enfarinats" in the town of Ibi in southeastern Spain on December 28, 2011. For 200 years Ibi's citizens annually celebrate with a battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers outside the city townhall.©AFP PHOTO/ Jaime REINA

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