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Since Jan. 1, 2000, falls on the Jewish Sabbath, New Year's Eve will be quiet in the western part of Jerusalem. But Bethlehem is planning a two-week ecumenical Holy Nights festival that starts Dec. 24 and ends Jan. 7, Orthodox Christmas on the Julian calendar.
Choral concerts are planned for every evening, with organizers hoping to sign up the incomparable Three Tenors--Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti--for a New Year's Eve Concert of Hope in Manger Square.
BOOGIE WITH THE GODS
A thousand years ago in the central Indian town of Khajuraho, the monarchs of the Chandella dynasty commissioned a vast temple complex, consecrated to the great triumvirate of Hinduism: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. What makes the complex unique is that among the thousands of exquisitely carved images are scores of sculptures portraying gods, humans and animals in uninhibited sexual embrace. Once lost beneath dense jungle, the site has emerged in recent years as a popular attraction. "What better way to end the millennium," suggests Betty Bohnenblust, a local hotelier, "than to relive its beginning?"
Until now, March--when India's leading classical dancers perform for the annual Khajuraho Festival--has been the site's busiest time. But in 1999, the government is collaborating with promoters to create a year-long Khajuraho Millennium Festival; major events are tentatively planned for December. "There is no more magnificent sight than when the temples are lighted up at night and the dancers perform," says Bohnenblust invitingly. "It is as if you are transported back 1,000 years to the splendor and beauty of the Chandella kingdom."
Now visitors can live like kings, thanks to the town's two five-star hotels, the Jass Oberoi and Taj Chandella, where prices start at $40, and four other high-caliber establishments. More adventurous souls may want to climb closer to the gods and stay in one of the two tree-house hotels on a riverbank nearby; rooms there start at $10.
FLAME OF HOPE
For South Africans, picnicking on Table Mountain, the flat-topped granite promontory that dominates the dramatic skyline of Cape Town, is a time-honored way of ushering in the New Year. As 2000 approaches, the 3,500-ft. mountain will sport a new look: the giant image of a clock face will be projected onto the front of the cliff, with the city's inhabitants and summertime visitors able to count down the minutes to the millennium.
Cape Town, the capital city where Nelson Mandela made his first public speech after his release from 27 years of imprisonment, is the focal point of South Africa's celebration. In the harbor on Robben Island, where Mandela spent most of his internment, an eternal flame of freedom will be lighted during a ceremony that will be televised around the world. "We are planning a message of light and of hope," says David Jack, who heads the Waterfront Project, one of the world's most ambitious dockland developments. The 15-year, $500 million undertaking, which includes five-star hotels, restaurants, theaters and craft markets, will eventually extend into the city's foreshore via a negotiable canal access system.