ZAGREB, 1 Jan 2021 - Several Croatian cities, including the capital city of Zagreb, held New Year Eve parties in their main squares on Friday night, while a majority of big towns scrapped plans for outdoor celebrations for 2022 amid a rising number of new cases of the infection with coronavirus.

The fear of a surge in new cases due to the appearance of the Omicron variant limited the festivities that ushered in the new 2022.

The open-air New Year celebrations in Zagreb, Osijek, and Dubrovnik were held in line with COVID protocols, and guests attending the concerts in the squares of those cities were required to have COVID certificates.

Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević joined the revelers in the Trg Bana Jelačića Square on late Friday night and before that he visited the Kosnica shelter for the homeless and firefighters on duty.

In Osijek and Dubrovnik, the mayors also held a toast to welcome the 2022 year.

The entertainment programs featured local pop and folk bands. There were also firework displays.

The traditional farewell parties for the outgoing 2021 year were held in the town of Fužine in the hinterland of Rijeka and some other cities at noon on Friday.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 10 Dec 2021 - Asked about working hours for hotels and the hospitality sector on New Year's Eve, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Friday that the decision on closing at midnight was still in force, however, he did not entirely rule out the possibility of that decision being amended.

"Decisions that are in force refer to working hours until midnight. It's only the 10th of December today... the response team is considering all the possibilities and we won't wait until the eleventh hour but at the moment I would not like to say anything that might be interpreted as a decision or stance," Božinović said after a cabinet meeting.

"You know the rules of the game - if the current decline in the number of infections continues, I do not see any reason why, with some possible recommendations, something could not be allowed for that evening," he added.

Božinović added that one could not forecast how much the Omicron variant, which spreads quickly, would spread.

"A lot is still unknown. Everyone is following the situation in South Africa (...)  the experts there are analysing that variant and we all depend on those results, from governments to vaccine producers," he said.

For the latest news, follow TCN's dedicated page.

On every New Year's Day, the media end up recounting what went wrong (or not so wrong) during the craziest night of the year, the one night when most people feel like they can do anything (however untrue that may be).

In Croatia, we were often shown dramatic images of stuff going horribly wrong during the New Year's celebrations in the previous year, but this year it seems that everything was quite toned down. The first baby born in Croatia came into the world while the fireworks were still going on, at one minute after midnight, in Split hospital. Split firefighters reported that they had a lot of work to do with the fires that were mostly started by the fireworks and other pyrotechnics (which are still very popular in Croatia, especially during New Year's Eve). In Zagreb, the emergency services reported that they had more interventions than usual, 25 of them just after midnight, but nothing really extraordinary happened in the capital during the craziest night. 

Well, one thing did: a young driver managed to get down Schlosserove Stube, the steps that go from the centre of the city to Šalata hill, 162 of them to be precise (source) sometime during the night. The details of the event are not quite known, but eyewitnesses say that the driver didn't seem sober, and nor did the passengers - however, at that time of the night, can one really trust the eyewitnesses' accounts, either?

In Zadar, one driver did exactly what you'd expect after reading this last paragraph if you know where Zadar is located: his car ended up in the sea. He got out on his own and called the authorities to help him, some time around 4 am.

In Varaždin, the traditional New Year's 5 km race was held, which starts at midnight. Over 500 runners participated, and Jan Kokalj from Slovenia and Olivera Jevtić from Serbia won the race in their categories.

The US Ambassador to Croatia tweeted from the Zagreb 360° Observation deck, showing the atmosphere in Zagreb at midnight:

Happy New Year. Zagreb celebrates the start of 2020 in grand fashion on the main square and throughout the city. pic.twitter.com/Mdb6m14J6t

— U.S. Ambassador Zagreb (@USAmbCroatia) January 1, 2020

Here’s where you can ring in the New Year with the sounds of Croatia’s best performers across the country.

With the end of 2016 just a few days away, here are just a few of the many ways you can kiss the year goodbye and ring in 2017 across Croatia.