APIA, Samoa — Sirens wailed and fireworks exploded in the skies over Samoa as the tiny South Pacific nation jumped forward in time, crossing westward over the international date line and effectively erasing Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, from the nation’s calendar.
Samoans who had gathered around the main clock tower in the capital, Apia, cheered and clapped as the clock struck midnight on Thursday, Dec. 29, instantly transporting the them 24 hours ahead to today.
The switch, also observed by neighboring Tokelau, is meant to align the islands’ calendar with key trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
The time jump means Samoa’s 186,000 citizens and the 1,500 in Tokelau, a three-atoll United Nations dependency, will now be the first in the world to ring in the new year, rather than the last.