Czech Republic's New Year's Eve

For the Czechs, Silvestr is without doubt the noisiest day of the year. People generally equip themselves with fireworks and champagne for the midnight toast and gather with friends to eat, drink and celebrate at parties, in pubs, clubs, in the streets or city squares. In larger cities and especially in Prague, the first detonations of pyrotechics can be heard in full daylight, even before noon, the frequency steadily rising until midnight. In the first minutes after midnight, people toast, wish each other a happy new year and go outside to light their fireworks or watch others'.

All major TV stations air entertaining shows before and after the midnight countdown which is followed by the national anthem. The president gives his New Year's speech in the morning.