WEBVTT - Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year's Eve?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Lorn vog obam here. Every December thirty one, wrongs of

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<v Speaker 1>revelers eager to ring in a new year crowd into

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<v Speaker 1>New York City's Times Square in the final minutes of

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<v Speaker 1>the year. As the clock takes away seconds towards midnight,

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<v Speaker 1>an opulent, oversized ball descends from above, and when it

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<v Speaker 1>reaches its destination, the crowd cheers. The current Times Square

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<v Speaker 1>ball is the seventh version to perform the duty of

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<v Speaker 1>ringing in the new year. The tradition began in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>o seven, when a ball made of iron and wood

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<v Speaker 1>covered in a hundred light bulbs descended a flagpole. The

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<v Speaker 1>latest version of the ball boasts two thousand, six d

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<v Speaker 1>eight eight crystal triangles and thirty two two hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>fifty six l ed modules. The New Year's ball drop

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<v Speaker 1>has its roots in naval history, inspired by the time

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<v Speaker 1>balls introduced in the early eighteen hundreds. These devices were

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<v Speaker 1>fixed to towers and coastal towns and would drop a

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<v Speaker 1>ball at a precise moment of the day to alert

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<v Speaker 1>nearby ship's captains when to precisely set their navigational tools

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<v Speaker 1>called chronometers. The current New Year's tradition is a particularly

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<v Speaker 1>American affair, and the Times square ball drop has inspired

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<v Speaker 1>numerous imitators around the country and even around the world.

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<v Speaker 1>So today, which is New Year's Eve, if you're listening

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<v Speaker 1>on the day that this episode comes out, I wanted

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<v Speaker 1>to share some of the weirdest, most wonderful things that

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<v Speaker 1>people drop to ring in the new year. For more

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<v Speaker 1>than two decades, a city in central Pennsylvania has celebrated

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<v Speaker 1>the turn of the calendar by dropping a massive bologny.

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<v Speaker 1>The spiced tube meat is popular in the region, and Lebanon, Pennsylvania,

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<v Speaker 1>is home to several producers. Plus there's an annual Bolognay

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<v Speaker 1>festival every January. For the first twenty years of the

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<v Speaker 1>New Year's event, a single two hundred pound bologny that's

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<v Speaker 1>about nine kilos would be lowered by an industrial crane

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<v Speaker 1>right before midnight. In twenty sixteen, though, the tradition shifted

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<v Speaker 1>from one massive bologny to twenty individual blocks of bologny

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<v Speaker 1>weighing in at ten pounds or four and a half

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<v Speaker 1>kilos each. The reason for the change the organizers of

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<v Speaker 1>the annual event donate the meat to charity after the drop,

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<v Speaker 1>and it took too long in the hours after midnight

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<v Speaker 1>to slice up one gigantic bologne, apparently for a disco

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<v Speaker 1>ball will be attached to the Bolognay. Let's go next

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<v Speaker 1>to St. George's Bermuda, where revelers don't just get to

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<v Speaker 1>celebrate a few hours before most of the rest of

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<v Speaker 1>the Western Hemisphere. They get to watch a gigantic onion

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<v Speaker 1>drop at the stroke of midnight as musicians, artists, performers,

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<v Speaker 1>and street food vendors liven up King's Square. St. George's,

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<v Speaker 1>founded in sixteen twelve, was Bermuda's first English settlement, and

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<v Speaker 1>the island became a major producer and exporter of onions.

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<v Speaker 1>Glittering golden onion covered in light bulbs descends above the square,

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<v Speaker 1>which overlooks Hamilton Harbor, and a laser show and fireworks

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<v Speaker 1>traditionally follow the event. But back to Pennsylvania. In addition

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<v Speaker 1>to the Bologna that drops in Lebanon, less than two

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<v Speaker 1>hours away, the city of Bethlehem celebrates with an enormous

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<v Speaker 1>peep drop that wraps up a two days celebration known

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<v Speaker 1>as Peep's Fest. This sugary and divisive Marchmallow confection is

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<v Speaker 1>generally produced in the shape of a bird, and it's

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<v Speaker 1>most commonly found in the US around the Easter holiday.

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<v Speaker 1>Just Born, the Bethlehem based candy company responsible for Peeps,

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<v Speaker 1>also makes Mike Nikes and Hot Tamali's. The giant peep

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<v Speaker 1>dropped on New Year's Eve weighs four hundred pounds. That's

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<v Speaker 1>about a hundred and eighty kilos. And finally, let's head

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<v Speaker 1>to sunny Arizona and the city of show Low. This

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<v Speaker 1>locale gets its unique name from its days as a

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<v Speaker 1>frontier town without a name. The story goes that two

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<v Speaker 1>rival cowboys and ranch cooders were playing an extended game

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<v Speaker 1>of poker, and the loser would vacate the city, leaving

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<v Speaker 1>the other with hundreds of acres of land. The deciding

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<v Speaker 1>hand in who would stay and who would go, according

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<v Speaker 1>to city lore, would belong to whichever cowboy could show

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<v Speaker 1>Low by holding the lowest value card possible, and the

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<v Speaker 1>winner turned over a two of clubs. These days, not

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<v Speaker 1>only is the cities main street named Deuce of Clubs,

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<v Speaker 1>but show Low drops a colossal illuminated playing card every

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<v Speaker 1>December thirty one. It's just a block away from where

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<v Speaker 1>a statue commemorating the card game once stood. Once stood

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<v Speaker 1>because the original fiberglass statue accidentally burned down during a

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<v Speaker 1>candle at vigil in it's being replaced by a bronze one.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's to a safe and flame free New Year's Eve.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Christopher Hasseiotas and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio's

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<v Speaker 1>How Stuff Works. For more on this and lots of

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<v Speaker 1>other celebratory topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com, and for more podcast from my heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows